beautiful world
January 17, 2021 Dear Ethan, I just finished reading Sally Rooney’s Beautiful World, Where Are You. Because Conversations with Friends & Normal People read so similarly, I’m considering this her sophomore novel. I’m reading this as Jake concludes the last pages of The Bell Jar & The Awakening for the first time. I can hear our little blue-gray house soaking up all this literature…
thanksgiving
November 27, 2021 Dear Ethan, We’re back in Cape May. Growing up as a kid in Texas, I’d often wonder (and worry) where my future would take me. Rarely did these dreams take me to New Jersey. Cape May is starting to feel familiar to me–the soft blue gray walls of Grammy’s little brown house,…
heavyweights
January 3, 2021 Dear Ethan, The other day, your dad was telling me about a podcast called Heavyweights, where the host helps guests resolve drama from their past through intense confrontations of these people/incidents. Think middle school bullies, high school exes, that sort of thing. December brought along a burst of creative energy. I have…
the awakening
Dear Ethan, Every so often I re-read The Awakening by Kate Chopin. This novel, alongside the short stories “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, were about as feminist an education my conservative Texas middle school was going to give.
the number forty
Dear Ethan, Today, I thought I’d tell you more about you and less about me.
the loss of the creature
Dear Ethan, Today, we are making chocolate chip cookies for your bake sale on Tuesday. I am beyond excited to make something, package it lovingly, and eat the extras with you. I’ve been stressed out of my mind since August–the academic calendar has no mercy–and it feels less forgiving because this year I more or…
my favorite sound
Dear Ethan, Today is one day closer to October. I can feel the chill in the air, and am soaking up any rays of sunshine that I can. They are turning more amber by the day, and then before you know it, we’ll have the clean, white, radiant light of winter. I heard that the…
value systems
Friday, September 24, 2021 Dear Ethan,Lately, I’ve been thinking about the power of small actions, and how to turn words into action. I repeat this in my head through the course of my day, and still, I have no answers. A friend mentioned something that really stuck: how do I know what is true? Where…
on friendship
8.28.21 Dear Ethan, Some friendships run so deep that the beginning can predict its end. And me and Alex–we were meant to crash and burn.
the moon and the stars
August 22, 2021 Dear Ethan, I didn’t write last week. Maybe I didn’t write the week before. I’ve been cozy and content and couldn’t bother with my laptop. What’s been keeping me content? Big stacks of middle-grade readers, which always end on a happy note. This has been a year of re-reading, and the old…
