recent essays

  • “After School Special”

    For what better stewards can I imagine but our children, newly made and fresh from the United Backyards of America. Read at Terrain.org.

  • “A Wider Space”

    My sophomore year of high school, I moved into our house’s upstairs bathroom. Read at Commonweal.

  • “A Fire in This House”

    Parental shortcuts never turn out well. Read at Image. (Photo by Travis Bara)

  • “Waterway”

    In the house I grew up in, my brother Justin kept a turtle pond in his bedroom. Read at Commonweal. (Image by Travis Bara.)

  • “Feathers”

    A few weeks after my four-year-old son’s emergency appendectomy, I notice how often he collects feathers. Read at Commonweal. (“Painted Finch” by John James Audubon, CC.)

  • “Raising Children for a Future We Can’t Imagine”

    I go into the woods with my two boys after reading about a dusty cave on the coast of Spain. Read at Sojourners.

  • “Unspeakable Grief, Unshakable Heavens”

    “I can’t stand to watch a show where something bad happens to a child,” one friend said. Read at Sojourners. (Image by Travis Bara.)

  • “Sand Stories”

    I climbed the ladder to the jungle gym, and what I saw surprised me. Read at Literary Mama. (Image by Travis Bara.)

  • "Love Bombing" (a story)

    The thunder and lightning pushed into my dreams just before I woke. Read at Other Journal. (Image by Travis Bara.)