In the year 2000, there wasn’t much in life I loved more than award shows. Not much has changed since then, but the 1999 Video Music Awards marked a pronounced shift in my pop culture trajectory. I hadn’t stopped talking about the show for months and I re-watched it endlessly on my VHS recording. I …
I think the term “growing up” should be amended to “growing in” or “growing out.” “Growing up,” as I understand it, is a physical reference to people as if we’re trees. We begin as a fleshy sapling and over time, earn our rings and sprout upward—some higher than others. At a certain point, we’ve branched …
Clack-clack-clack-clack. The chorus of clacking rang out in the small computer lab as tiny fingers pressed down on the brand new keys of Macintosh keyboards. Like a forest of chatty insects, the clacking filled the room of elementary school children. We were new to this—this “typing” thing—and the foreign and measured coordination required to …
Right now, sexual abuse and misconduct are in every other headline. From Hollywood to the Heartland, an ever-increasing number of men are having to reckon with the pointed fingers and spoken accusations from those they’ve assaulted. Women (and men) are coming forward to stand up for themselves and to stand up to those who …
If you’re a writer, you know there’s nothing more harrowing, more debilitating, or more anxiety-inducing than pressing ‘publish’ on something you’ve been working on for a long time. The reason is simple: Once it’s out there, you can’t take it back. It agonizing to think I possibly made a mistake, said something that reads differently …
Ryan Brinson 