Cooler than You: Stupid Things I Say and Do

As the leaves fall and seasons change, I’m home again. Home. There’s a familial concept often devoid of proper sustenance and sustainability in a world that is constantly evolving and changing your narrative without consent.  My dog and I walk, we sit in the sun, I write, he guards. The leaves fall as the concrete jungle echoes in the surround sound.   The past twenty-four months or so have been one hell of a ride. Palatable heartbreaks, unpalatable contentions, the loss of self and soul, the absence of ride or die truth sayers. The list certainly doesn’t stay static. About a year ago, my Dad said he had cancer. We had known for a few weeks before we told anyone. We knew. We thought it was lowkey, minor, just another blip on the radar. It was not. Last October, I received an award, and after FaceTiming my Dad, my friends said he looked sad. I couldn’t tell them then. I couldn’t tell them why I was crashing out that weekend. Less than a month later, urgent and emergent pla...

Perhaps it is this time of year.  Perhaps.  Though, this time of year typically means I've bought myself daffodils.  Ironically, I did not buy them in the rain this year.   Someone told me a few weeks back I was very Wadsworth with the daffodils.  Perhaps.  The English Major for Life in me wants to agree with his own English degree self, but the feminist in me wants to knee gut that shit.  I think I'll step back and take the romantic imagery of Wadsworth instead.  "A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze." Indeed, probably one of the more famous poems of the language I type in.  "I Wandered Lonely on a Cloud" was one I recited back in my undergrad days for a lit professor I once had.  All that was a lifetime ago, scores and hundreds of daffodils purchased have come and gone.  As another arctic vortex swoops in, threatening to freeze me in my solitary ex...

Last month, in what has become a yearly tradition, I replenished my soul in the Rockies.  Climbs along trails, falls along paths, and miles alone, and one hike with a partner all brought me endless doses of vitamin D and countless moments of elongated breathes and moments that will bounce in my mind's eye for days and years to come.  Sometimes the weather, the gods, and the universe align.  As I've alluded before, the Rockies and Colorado tend to bring out the universe aligning for me.  That being said, along the way I'm reminded of things.  Well, more than just things per se.  A couple of years ago I published one of my favorite pieces.  Yeah, I know . . . I shouldn't play favorites with the writings, so please don't tell the others.  But, my little piece on the transcendence of the soul in Turkey still rings true on many levels.  Even more so, or more of a side note, every time I head to the Mediterranean it turns into a comedic sideshow ...