Or to an auto mechanic! They must be told the weather and which street I was on before I describe the noise it made!

I can't relate symptoms to a doctor without first setting the scene.

What would it be like to seek medical care with wild abandon*?

*when I think I probably need it but am not 100% sure and really can’t afford it

It’s wild how many things are your fault when you’re a parent.

I mean she's worn backpacks forever but this was a handbag.

I should have been better about teaching my kid to carry her own stuff. Her first time carrying a purse without me went fine, actually, but I was nervous.

I'm going to call my silly little fairy tales class a smashing success. A fantastic group of writers and thinkers showed up with beautiful ideas and resonant experiences. Together, we wrote things! AND it brought in ~$1400 for rent relief. Thank you everyone who came or gave or shared it here.

She didn't even know what it meant so I explained it's when you're not causing any harm but adults don't like teenagers.

Angel (S2.E8 The Shroud of Rahmon) It's a dark shadowy shot (the best I could find with my super minimal effort) of Kate holding up a wooden crucifix with the bottom whittled so it's also a stake.

I was watching Angel with my kid and she called this weapon a vampire spork.

Kid is going to the mall with a friend but I don’t think she even knows how to loiter.

Fellow ghost story aficionados, I need your help. I read a short story years ago that I *believe* dates to the very early 20th c about a skeptic who goes to a seance and ends up being haunted by an invisible entity that feels like a hairless animal and has a musky smell. I can't find it anywhere.

So what's the best way to register your discontent (say fuck off) to a newsletter that you happily read on any other platform but has switched to substack and brought you with them without your consent?

Flash Spring 2026 When: 6 Weeks, Apr. 20, 2026 - May. 25, 2026, Mondays, noon-2pm (central) Where: Online through Zoom Cost: $120 Contact: allisonwyss@gmail.com In each of six weekly sessions, we'll read some newly-...

Flash Spring 2026 (4/20/26 - 5/25/26, Mondays 12-2pm Central zoom, $120)

This course is miraculously generative--expect to write a ton of new and exciting flash pieces. And get the empowering sort of feedback that centers and celebrates your intentions as the author.

(I know the book sucks but that one aspect was magical.)

One of my kid’s friends called our bathroom the second secret garden because of the plants I have in there and I am delighted.

Again and sincerely, thanks Epic, we just discussed which of them probably farted inside the Trojan horse.

Fairy Tales and the Subversive Power of Collective Storytelling When: April 16, 6-8pm (central) Where: Online through Zoom Cost: Any amount of mutual aid contribution to https://givebutter.com/stan-eric ($20 is suggested. More is appreciated. But if you're unable...

Last chance. It's happening tonight. (I'm so excited!)

I’ve been an adult for a long time but maybe not so much a community member (because I suck) what is this bring a chair thing I keep seeing are all people meant to own portable chairs?

Or, if you want to take it in a different direction: Can their relationship be saved? That's gold too. But you can have it.

That's bullshit can mean either you're lying or wow that sucks. Then whacky hijinks ensue. You can have that idea. I'm giving away gold here.

That’s bullshit can mean either you’re lying or wow that sucks. Then whacky hijinks ensue. You can have that idea. I’m giving away gold here.

I feel like the kids don’t know how to slouch anymore.

Fairy Tales and the Subversive Power of Collective Storytelling When: April 16, 6-8pm (central) Where: Online through Zoom Cost: Any amount of mutual aid contribution to https://givebutter.com/stan-eric ($20 is suggested. More is appreciated. But if you're unable...

This is Thursday. I'd love it if you could join us.

What I'm afraid of are the smaller ants. The ones I can only see when I am perfectly well rested and concentrating very hard and my face is very close to them. They exist and they must be there always. And there must be smaller ants. And smaller ones than those. Maybe everything is ants.

The trippy moment when it first gets warm and I wonder why that piece of cookie is traveling across my kitchen floor. (It's ants.)

Fairy Tales and the Subversive Power of Collective Storytelling When: April 16, 6-8pm (central) Where: Online through Zoom Cost: Any amount of mutual aid contribution to https://givebutter.com/stan-eric ($20 is suggested. More is appreciated. But if you're unable...

This is Thursday. I'd love it if you could join us.

We haven’t solved the bloody handprint mystery but the kid told me one of her friends wrote on the wall in a different spot. She told me so I wouldn’t think _that_ was a ghost too.

I mostly think one of the kids probably made the handprint. Because it’s new. We do have a (so far friendly?) ghost though.

Kids play down there so it’s probably fine?

There’s a small bloody handprint on the wall of my basement.