top 15 books I read in 2020
It turns out, 2020 was by far my best reading year ever. That feels like a logical conclusion in some ways– I had a heck of a lot more time just being inside thanks to the pandemic. Hours I would’ve spend doing literally anything else were spent not being able to do anything at all. […]
bad books can teach us things
As a booktuber, I feel like I regularly get asked if I also want to be an author. The answer is complicated. I’ve been writing for practically my whole life. When I was much younger, that was fiction and poetry, but in my adult years, it became blog posts and reviews and analysis. I haven’t […]
exploring our world through other worlds
I know there is something to be said here about how deeply I feel the lack of travel, thanks to the pandemic. Add to that that I know how lucky I am and what a privilege it is to be able to travel anyway. Sprinkle in how the stress of pandemic has often times meant […]
over and over again
“Mari, you are reading that AGAIN?” Yes. Yes I am.
wishful thinking
For the wishes of one’s old life wither and shrivel like old leaves if they are not replaced with new wishes when the world changes. And the world always changes. – Catherynne M. Valente Wishes are tricky, sticky and always have been: crossed fingers, a puff of air, a trail of candle smoke, a flipped coin, a held breath. Nothing […]
paperwork
I’ve thrown tons of paper out over the years, but I still have accordion folders tucked away, full of it. It takes a lot of paperwork to be a human. I went through these folders today, a little amused by my small collection of official documents: a car title; a birth certificate; a passport I used for the first (second and […]
the stretch of memory
I, like so many others, am currently thoroughly engrossed in the the podcast Serial. To say that it’s giving me a lot of feelings would be an understatement– so many feelings, in fact, that I’ve decided to blog. (Hi, hello, how are you?) Many times we are selfish story consumers; we hear things and think, “well […]
find your name and buried treasure
“Kiss a lover, Dance a measure, Find your name And buried treasure. Face your life, It’s pain, It’s pleasure, Leave no path untaken.” A few times during our Paris vacation, Sweeney and I found ourselves sitting at a kitchen table, taking notes on a bunch of creative ideas, goals and aspirations. It was during one […]
wine, art and statistics
I consider myself a pretty creative person. I mean, on some days. On good days. On most days, I work a 9-5 in a small, claustrophobic office, worried about laws and best practices and policies and mitigating risk. I work across the way and down the hall from “the creatives,” making sure they get their […]
voice
In 2009 when I started this blog, it was under the pretense of having a space to say whatever the heck I wanted. I quickly (though probably not quickly enough) learned the reality: there is no place where we can say whatever we want, at least without being prepared to accept the consequences. Speech, no […]