Ming’s favorite animal is the trilobite. He thinks they’re cool. Ming is a survivor. When I ask, “Why do you like trilobites so much?” he says it’s because they lived a long time. They’re extinct now, but they lived this huge fuckton of years. Mistakenly, Ming pulled his own name, for the Las Vegas Catholic… Read More »
“Tell me you washed that after you picked up cat bones,” I told Ming. “It went through the dishwasher twice!” he said. We laughed. Yeah, we have a funny life. I was referring to a pair of long tweezers that Ming was using to extract beads from a plastic embroidery thread organizer box, for me.… Read More »
I planned a personal retreat, to visit nature every day, pray, sing a lot, and avoid social media. I needed to really bad. My stress level was too high, and I needed a deep rest. I looked forward to my retreat like a dog to a bone! My personal retreat didn’t go as planned, but… Read More »
“It’s 6,” Ming said, seeming troubled. “Yeah? What time do you want it to be?” I asked. “Hmm,” he said, frowning at his phone. “What’s wrong?” I asked. “The lights should have gone off. That’s my cue to leave.” It was a day of the week when he serves a morning meal to the hungry… Read More »
Yesterday I had maybe the gnarliest panic attack I’ve ever had. Wow, it was an altered state. So powerful, like–I don’t need to use drugs, ever. I went to another dimension: terror world. I lost part of myself. Thought I was dying. Afterward, I was amazed that I survived. I’ve had a panic attack now… Read More »
I awarded my good friend Ariel a Master’s degree in love. She’d already matriculated and completed the coursework long before I came around. But it took the University of Laura-Marie to actually award it. Ariel said it was her first Master’s degree, which is surprising. I thought for sure she would already have earned them… Read More »
This post “praying in a riverbed” is a letter to my good friend that you are invited to read, like eavesdropping, but you’re wanted. Dear friend, I asked Ming to take me out to the desert. Today he took me out to Late Night Trail which is just outside of Las Vegas. There’s a riverbed right… Read More »
“I picked some peppers,” Ming said. “Did you pick a peck of peppers?” I asked. “Maybe!” he said. “How much is a peck?” “A lot!” I said. “I think it’s a fourth of a bushel!” Ming looked impressed. “Yeah! Thank you, fourth grade! In case I got lifted up and transported to a farm, and… Read More »
Recently I heard this song by Killer Mike about Ronald Reagan that blew my mind. History like this–wow. And the ending makes me exclaim every time. Such a brilliant culmination of everything he said before that, and such a strong, real response to that weird flag waving, teary-eyed nostalgia I remember, when Reagan died. The… Read More »
“Hey, lover. We were at Trader Joe’s the other day. And there was this couple, bike hippies–they had a lot of tattoos. I think they might have had backpacks. Do you remember them? I think they were white people,” I said. “No, I don’t remember them,” he said. “Well, I was looking at those people. … Read More »