So I propose we come up with nicknames for the warblers (and I need your help!) — (TLDR: A lot of birds are named for white supremacists! I wanted to do a project where we collectively come up with fun nicknames for the warblers of North America so bird-watching season can feel safer and more fun for all people. …

Seriously. It could save you tens of thousands of dollars. — I’ve always thought teeth — as individuals, or as a concept — were kind of, I don’t know, hip? Like, a character in a Wes Anderson film might have a little tooth in a little jar that she keeps in a knapsack, along with a manual about toasters, fleece socks…

It’s easier to dislike something than to really miss it. — (A note: this piece was originally written in January of 2020, pre-pandemic. The sentiment remains.) First, two brief anecdotes, separated in time by twelve years. 2004: I lived in Portland, but I was about to leave to go to college. I was going to go to college with my high…

And it is better than every food, and better than basically every thing. — I’m searching my mind to think of the first time I made a pie. I don’t think this was it, but I do recall this time my grandma came to visit — I must have been, like, 14, because I wasn’t vegan yet — and I put together an apple…

Here’s my advice — Last month, I published a book about my many, many diaries. …

You guys. It’s SO MUCH STUFF. — How do you feel about pigeons? There are only three correct answers to this: I LOVE THEM. I AM OBSESSED WITH THEM. PIGEONS ARE TREMENDOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Look, I’m not that in to pigeons, but I have respect for them. I don’t know how I feel about them, Sophie. That’s why I…

And it is awesome and fun. — I am writing this on a treadmill. I’ve really gone back and forth about whether this makes me the worst person at the gym or the coolest person at the gym — I’m walking quickly on this treadmill with a huge green plastic word processor in front of me, and…

If someone’s going through it, there are a lot of ways to be there for them. — Years ago, I Googled “What to say when friend is grieving and it is really horrible and bad.” Google came up with a litany of articles, each one telling me what NOT to say: don’t tell them this happened for a reason; don’t tell them everything is OK; don’t tell…

I’ve Got Your Saturday Afternoon Plans Covered Although I understand that I am about to commit a great transgression of cliché, I’d like to begin with a pair of definitions. What is a book? And what makes something little? I don’t have a dictionary handy (or the internet, which I’m sure you’ll find hard to believe, but…