A republic, if we can keep it. — “I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag.” — Molly Ivins “So what, my dear compatriots? How will you label me now? Un-American? It won’t fit, I’m afraid. I’m even more American than you, only against the grain. Which, if you will think a moment, serves to put me in the tradition.” — Henry Miller, STAND STILL LIKE THE HUMMINGBIRD, 1962

The experiments didn’t hurt, usually. They were more psychological than anything else. I know I’m still fucked up from some of it, but I’ve learned how to deal with the memories. For example, I always panic when I see a butterfly, but I know how to calm myself down right…

Learn something new, just because. — This story is behind Medium’s membership paywall, which means the writer earns through our Partner Program. To become a Medium member, click here. When is the last time you approached a task with the unclouded, pure and open mind of an eager child? If you’re like me, you probably can’t…

Cataloging desire on Amazon.com — What does it mean to want a thing? What does it mean to want this thing so much that you verbalize that request? …

What do you have to say? — Sometime in the years leading up to the Civil War, dearly beloved Massachusetts weirdo Emily Dickinson wrote a poem that would be taught in endless American public high school English classrooms of the future. This is my letter to the World That never wrote to Me — The simple News that…

An illustrated horror fairy tale — Irina knew what they were thinking. But she hadn’t done it. It wasn’t her fault, no matter how hard they all stared. Even the priest, that sanctimonious hypocrite, that lecherous fool — even he fixed her with a look of penetrating disapproval. She gazed at the priest, and she did…

Compose a letter to your future self — When I was a kid, I used to write letters to myself as an adult. I think I got the idea from one of the Emily of New Moon books by L.M. Montgomery. I wrote a letter from myself at 10 to myself at 20. I wrote a letter from…

Remember, your body is real — When we live inside our heads, fretting about this or that, focusing on one project or the other, it’s rather easy to forget that nature gave us a bunch of other parts besides our worried brains. In fact, those parts — when taken as a whole — make up an…

Imagine what could’ve been… — I’ve never seen the 1998 film Sliding Doors, but the concept is fascinating: what kind of life would you have if you made one seemingly small alternate choice? In the spirit of lives we’ve never lived — and, I suppose, films I’ve never seen — we’re going to do a…