Everything I've put here — the letters that stay free, and the essays that keep them that way.
I have a letter in the works that I am proud of. But as it stands, we arrived at Charleston International Airport at 12:30pm. It is now 1:16am and we are in a Hampton Inn in New Jersey. The future has always been uncertain for me. And I
The sun is beginning to set, though this far north... that doesn't mean much. I have at least 4 hours of light remaining, and as such, I am going to push onwards to the Arctic, so long as I can make out the next few inches of road
"It will be about 7-10 business days before the part comes in," says the man, early 30s, assisting me. I stare at him for a moment - “7-10 business days?” I have a business to run — a letter to write! I reckon he doesn't quite
There is a gray cat, with one lazy eye and both covered in cataracts, on the dining room table. It is not my cat, or my dining room, or my table: I have been married now for just over one month, and we are housesitting in Charleston. Grace objects – "
5 years ago, my brother killed himself. He took a rifle from under his bed, chambered a round, and pointed the barrel at his head. 5 years ago, was the first time I was ever forced to see that image in my head. Since then, it’s become routine. Laying
There's a book that has contagious spread around surfing circles – including my own – for the past 10 years. Barbarian Days is a memoir written by William Finnegan, which documents practically his entire life, through a sort of vessel of boardsport. A few years ago, before I set off
Some days, I have words in the form of sentences which run through my mind faster than I can type – let alone write. If I am quick enough, perhaps I can jot down the essence of the message passing briefly through the cavity behind my eyes. But other days, there
"Why?"
And I think he's right. In my [last letter] I talked about the struggles I have faced the last 2 years: Chasing performance, chasing fulfillment in approval, and generally ... chasing "ego hits." I thought a shared a pretty compelling story with you. And so did my
It’s humbling to cry in front of a group of teenagers, but that’s what happened this Sunday as I was talking to a youth group in New Zealand. I was asked to share with them about Solitude, and while doing so, it took only a few minutes of
There's few things in life people seem to abhor more than suffering. You and I have been sold the promise of an easy life – that's the story of America in the 2000s, at least. But now it seems as though that promise will never come to
I could have waited for something to happen, waited for someone to invite me somewhere, waited for my life to drastically improve in front of my eyes. But I didn't. I wrote an essay about it. Then I sat on a rooftop in New Zealand and talked about
Something I've noticed recently is that the majority of road signs here in New Zealand are 'Give Way' signs — or what we, in the States, call a 'Yield.' Meaning, you do not have the right of way. That which is in flow, continues. And
