I had nothing to do today so I decided to take myself to an afternoon movie. The theater I prefer isn’t near my apartment so it requires a trek downtown, a sacrifice I’m willing to make. It was the sort of summer day when the wafting scent of sun-warmed tar on the streets reminded me …
One of the most significant landmarks of my upbringing was Crider Road. Nestled between two Dallas suburbs, the trees clung to its entrance like heavy curtains making it feel more like a passage into Middle Earth than a service road in North Texas. The road wasn’t gravel but couldn’t be defined as fully paved either …
Continue reading "On Crider Road, Kick-the-Can & Change Around the Bend"
There’s a palpable feeling of helplessness that descends when tragedy erupts in our world. Having spent my childhood in Dallas, I basically lived at the off-ramp of Tornado Alley, right in the parking spot of the swampy Gulf air. Annually, our springs and summers were peppered with torrential thunderstorms and green skies that heralded the …
Continue reading "On Hurricanes and Humans: The Importance of Showing Up"
I blame my lack of Spanish proficiency on my fifth grade teacher, Ms. Craiger. When the school year began, one of the key selling points of her classroom agenda was that we would spend time each Friday learning Spanish words and phrases. Living in Texas and being at an age where those phrases could get …
Continue reading "The Great Spanish Language Saga: One Man’s Journey to Freedom"
The first day of school has always been somewhat of a disaster for me. Correction: The first day of school has been an outright catastrophe, the sort of calamity that echoes of “best laid plans” on the fritz. Where most associate apples and pencils, primary colors and new backpacks, I associate moments of utter …
Ryan Brinson 