Columnists
Tuesday, June 23, 2026 · Brandon
The Affirmation That Actually Works Starts with Saying No
Most affirmations fail because they ask you to believe something you don't. Here's the one that changes everything—and why it works backward from what you'd expect.
Why We Keep Memorizing the Wrong Poems (And How to Fix It)
Your high school English teacher made you memorize "The Road Not Taken," but Robert Frost spent the last decades of his life furious that everyone missed the joke. Here's what we've all been getting wrong.
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
The Dangerous Comfort of the Unfinished Sentence
We've turned incompleteness into a virtue, but Kafka's most unsettling insight was about what happens when we stop questioning the gaps in our understanding.
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
The Fed Just Bet Everything on a Soft Landing That Nobody Believes Anymore
Jerome Powell lowered rates yesterday despite inflation still running hot. The stock market loved it. The bond market didn't. Somebody's about to be very wrong.
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
Stop Asking Dancers to Smile and Start Asking Why We Deserve Serious Art
Contemporary dance is finally allowed to be uncomfortable, challenging, and human—but audiences keep begging it to perform happiness instead of truth.
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
My Husband Took a Job in Another State—Without Telling Me First
She found out her spouse accepted a position three states away from a LinkedIn notification. Now he's confused why she's furious.
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
The "Delulu Is the Solulu" Era Is Over, and Nobody Told the Girlies
Toxic positivity's favorite catchphrase has metastasized into something genuinely concerning — a cultural permission slip to ignore reality entirely, and it's time we admit the joke landed too hard.
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
The Brutalism Renaissance Is Getting Out of Hand and I'm Here for It
Why are we suddenly obsessed with massive concrete boxes, and why does my apartment now look like a 1960s Soviet ministry building?
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
The Brutalist Deserves Better Than Your Three-Hour Attention Span
Brady Corbet's "The Brutalist" is a masterpiece that everyone's pretending to love while secretly checking their phones. Here's why that matters.
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
I Quit My Job to "Find Myself" and Now I'm Just Finding My Parents' Disappointment
A reader walked away from a stable paycheck to figure out their life. Three months in, the panic is setting in—and it's not about money.
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
My Kid's School Wants Me to Ban Books. I Don't Believe in Banning, But One Actually Bothers Me.
A parent caught between her principles and her gut reaction discovers that consistency—even when it's uncomfortable—might be the only honest position available.
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
I Make Good Money. So Why Am I Broke? (And Why That's Actually Fixable)
A reader earning six figures is living paycheck-to-paycheck. His problem isn't income—it's that he never learned to say no. Here's how to stop.
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
Your Gym Selfies Are Hurting Your Gains (And Your Relationship)
A reader's caught between wanting to document his fitness progress and keeping his girlfriend from feeling ignored. The answer isn't what either of them thinks it is.
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
I Panic-Bought Real Estate and Now I'm Panicking: What to Do When FOMO Costs $400K
A reader overpaid for a rental property during the market frenzy and now regrets everything. Here's the uncomfortable truth about fixing it.
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
My Kid's Teacher Wants Me to "Partner" on Homework—But I Work Two Jobs
A frustrated parent questions whether she's failing her child by not sitting down every night to oversee assignments. Mama Mae has thoughts.
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
The Silent Treatment Isn't Communication—It's Just Silence With Feelings
She won't tell him what's wrong, he's exhausted from guessing, and their marriage is suffocating in unspoken resentment. Here's what's actually happening.
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
The Fed Just Admitted It's Flying Blind—And Markets Know It
Jerome Powell's latest pivot reveals the central bank has abandoned its playbook. That should terrify anyone holding bonds, but the real danger is what comes next.
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
The Dangerous Comfort of Certainty—Why the Smartest People Often Ask the Most Questions
We celebrate decisive leaders and confident experts, but history's most brilliant minds spent their lives admitting what they didn't know. Here's why doubt might be your actual superpower.
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
Why Haiku Breaks Your Brain in the Best Way (And Why You Should Write One Today)
The seventeen-syllable poem isn't a tiny thing you write in a hurry—it's a precision instrument that forces you to see the world like a camera lens. Here's why poets have been obsessed with it for 400 years.
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
The Affirmation Nobody Tells You About: Why "I Don't Know Yet" Is More Powerful Than "I Can Do Anything
We've been sold the wrong affirmation. Here's why admitting what you don't know might be the most honest—and most empowering—thing you can say today.
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
Mercury's Trickster Tuesday: Watch Your Words (And Your WiFi)
The planet of communication is doing its best impression of a malfunctioning GPS, and one sign is about to learn why "reply all" exists as a cautionary tale.
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
The Dog Park Revolution Nobody Asked For (But Everyone Needed)
A retired engineer spent two years fighting city bureaucracy to build a dog park with actual drainage. Here's what that obsession taught us about getting things done.
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
The Ichetucknee Gamble: Why Florida's Most Beautiful Spring Run Gets Crowded—and How to Actually Enjoy It
Crystal-clear water, lazy current, and 100 other paddlers in tubes. Here's what most people miss about Florida's most Instagram-famous spring run—and why you should go anyway.
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
The Single-Leg Deadlift Will Fix Your Broken Walking Pattern
Most people walk like their hips are fused together. Here's the one exercise that actually addresses why, and how to do it without face-planting.
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
Skip the State Capital, Drive Straight to the County Seat Nobody's Heard Of
Most people zoom past on the interstate toward somewhere "important." That's exactly why the small courthouse towns in the middle of nowhere are actually worth your time.
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
Cast Iron Is Not Precious. Stop Treating It Like a Wedding Gift.
Your grandmother's cast iron skillet doesn't need babying—it needs cooking. Here's how to use it the way it was meant to be used, and why that crusty seasoning is actually a feature, not a bug.
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
How to Cut Perfect Dovetails With a Handsaw You Can Afford
Dovetail joints look impossible until you realize they're just careful sawing and a little geometry. Here's how to cut them without spending a fortune on fancy tools.
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
Fall Stripers Are Stupid Right Now — Here's Why That's About to End
October's got the striped bass biting like they just discovered food for the first time, but the clock is ticking. Learn what's working before the bite goes cold.
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
The Hoh Rainforest Loop Isn't Actually That Mystical—But the Elk Droppings Tell an Amazing Story
Olympic National Park's most famous walk feels crowded and tame until you realize what you're actually looking at—and why the moss smells like a basement after a pipe bursts.
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
The Live Music Venue Death Spiral Is Real and We're All Pretending It Isn't
Ticket prices have become unhinged, parking costs more than your drink, and somehow the opener is still going on at 11 p.m. — but sure, let's keep acting like concert culture is thriving.
Tuesday, June 23, 2026