Columnists
Wednesday, May 20, 2026 · Live Oak
On Starting Small: Margaret Atwood and the Single Seed
The author of The Handmaid's Tale once compared writing novels to gardening. Her insight applies to anyone planting tomatoes, learning Spanish, or facing a blank canvas this spring.
The Welder Who Fixed What Insurance Companies Wanted to Forget
A metalworker in Michigan spent three years rebuilding wheelchairs for strangers—for free—because the repair industry was basically dead.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
Homeowners' Associations: Where Democracy Goes to Die (And Takes Your Mailbox With It)
A retiree got fined for his lawn ornament. The ornament was a flamingo. The flamingo was also his late wife's ashes.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
The State Park Nobody Knows About (That's 45 Minutes From Everywhere)
Every region has one—a state park so thoroughly overlooked that the parking lot has actual empty spaces. Here's how to find it and why you should go this weekend.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
Cast Iron Needs Your Respect, Not Your Seasoning Spray
That bottle of cast iron seasoning spray is a waste of money. Here's what actually builds a pan that cooks like it's been in your family for three generations.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
The Split Squat Is Better Than You Think (And Probably Wrong)
Most people do split squats like they're afraid of committing to either leg. Here's why that's costing you strength and why the fix takes 30 seconds to understand.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
How to Cut Your First Dovetails with a $15 Saw and Stop Apologizing for Them
Dovetails aren't magic—they're geometry and muscle memory. Here's how to cut joints that actually fit without dropping $200 on a saw.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
The Nostalgia Industrial Complex Is Selling Us the Same Party Three Times Over, and We Keep Buying Tickets
Every festival this summer looks identical—and that's not an accident. We're experiencing the most aggressively mediocre concert season in modern history, and honestly? I'm tired.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
The Brutalist's Threequel Problem: Why We're Addicted to Movies That Don't Know When to Stop
Brady Corbet's "The Brutalist" is a masterpiece trapped in a 215-minute hostage situation. Here's why epic runtime has become the new participation trophy.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
The Great Squirrel Uprising and Other Things People Have Gone to Court Over
A man sued his own dog. A woman's legal battle with a squirrel lasted years. And somewhere, someone is still mad about a potato. Welcome to the American justice system.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
The Oscars Made Us Watch a Three-Hour Hostage Situation and Called It Entertainment
Every year we pretend the Academy Awards matter while secretly hoping someone will do something truly unhinged. This year, nobody did, and that was the real catastrophe.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
The Cult of Productivity Theater Is Eating Itself, and I'm Here for the Collapse
Everyone's suddenly admitting they use their fancy planner as a decorative object. The great productivity-industrial complex is finally breaking, and honestly? It's the most productive thing anyone's done all year.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
The Fed's Rate Cut Kabuki Has a Real Victim—Anyone With a Savings Account
The Federal Reserve cuts rates this week while pretending it's good news. It isn't, and savers know it.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
The Dangerous Beauty of Unfinished Sentences—Why Collingwood's Philosophy Still Matters
A 20th-century British philosopher figured out what every writer, thinker, and person in an argument needs to know: the moment you think you're done thinking, you've already lost.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
Why Rereading a Poem You Hated in High School Might Actually Save You Today
That dusty anthology on your shelf isn't full of dead words—it's full of people who figured out something you need to know right now.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
The Thing About Affirmations Nobody Tells You: They Work Better When They're Specific to Your Actual Life
Most affirmations fail because they're too vague to believe. Here's how to write ones that actually stick—and why your brain will thank you for it.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
The Farmer's Carry Will Fix Your Posture Better Than Any Gadget
You've probably never heard of it, but this single exercise does more for your shoulders and spine than months of stretching. Here's why it actually works.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
Skip the State Capital—Head to the County Seat Instead
Every state has that one county courthouse town nobody thinks to visit, and that's exactly why you should go there this weekend.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
Cast Iron Won't Save You, But It Might Save Your Dinner
Everyone romanticizes cast iron until they realize they're actually using it wrong. Here's what most people get backwards about seasoning, and why your grandmother's skillet still works better than your new one.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
How to Cut Perfect Dovetails With a $15 Saw—and Actually Enjoy It
Dovetail joints look impossible until you realize they're just controlled sawing and chiseling. Here's exactly how to cut your first one this weekend.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
Fall Stripers Are Stupid Hungry — Here's How to Catch Them Before the Cold Front Kills It
The next 10 days are prime time for striped bass along the coast. Water temps are dropping, baitfish are panicking, and stripers are shoving their faces into anything that moves.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
The Hog's Back Trail Gets Real (And Muddy) in November
Virginia's most underrated ridgeline walk rewards you with a 360-degree view that actually lives up to the hype—if you time it right and watch for one sneaky hazard most hikers completely miss.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
The Death of the Surprise Concert Drop, and Why I'm Weirdly Angry About It
Remember when artists used to actually shock us? Now every "surprise" album has been leaked, teased, and algorithmically fed to us three weeks in advance. What happened to real spontaneity?
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
The Unstoppable Rise of People Who Really Committed to Doing the Weird Thing
A man wore the same outfit for 1,217 days straight. A woman collected so many rubber ducks she had to move houses. And somewhere in between, someone decided that's perfectly normal.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
The Silent Luxury Catastrophe Nobody's Talking About (But Your Mom's Already Ruined)
Quiet luxury was supposed to be the antidote to logomania. Instead, it's become a $3,000 beige prison where everyone looks like they're attending a very expensive funeral for a feeling.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
The Brutalist Backlash Is Already Exhausting and We Haven't Even Seen It Yet
Brady Corbet's three-and-a-half-hour epic is genuinely great, but the discourse around it has become a performance art piece about who's too cool to admit they got bored.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
The Fed Just Admitted It Overshot, But Don't Expect Honesty About What Comes Next
Jerome Powell finally acknowledged the central bank cut rates too slowly last year. What he won't say is that banks and borrowers are about to get whiplash from what comes now.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
Stop Pretending the Met Gala Is About Fashion When It's Actually a Billionaire's Costume Party
The Met Gala isn't fashion—it's performance art for people who can afford to treat a museum as their personal dressing room. And honestly? I'm here for it, as long as we stop lying about what it is.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
The Sentence That Changed How We Think About Failure—And Why We Keep Getting It Wrong
Beckett's masterpiece of misery contains one of the most misquoted lines in literature, and how we're using it says everything about our desperate need for permission to quit.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
Why Shakespeare's Sonnets Sound Like Text Messages (And Why That Matters)
The Bard wasn't writing to impress English teachers. He was writing to seduce, argue, and mess with someone's head—in 14 lines. Sound familiar?
Wednesday, May 20, 2026