Columnists
Tuesday, May 5, 2026 · Maitland
We're Doing the Hard Stuff Again, and It's Working
Three stories about people who picked the difficult path instead of the easy one—and discovered that's where actual change lives.
Lawn Violations, Literal Fortresses, and One Man's War With Geometry
An HOA president discovered a neighbor had built a defensive structure in his yard. The homeowner's response was not to take it down.
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
The Farmer's Carry Will Fix Your Posture Better Than All Your Stretching
You've been doing it wrong for years. Here's the one loaded walk that actually addresses why you're hunched over your desk.
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
Skip the State Capital. Go to the County Seat Instead.
The real action in small-state politics happens in the courthouse town, and that's where you'll find the best pie, the oldest bars, and people who actually know what's happening.
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
Cast Iron Is Not a Personality Trait, But It Might Change Yours
Everyone's obsessed with their cast iron pan these days, but most people are using them wrong. Here's what actually makes them worth the fuss.
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
The Viral Concert Moment That Broke My Brain (And Why Stadium Tours Need to Stop Pretending They're Intimate)
A major artist's recent "surprise" setlist pivot has everyone convinced they witnessed something spontaneous. They did not. Here's why the theater of fake intimacy at massive venues is getting exhausting.
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
How to Hand-Saw a Perfect Mortise-and-Tenon Joint Without Losing Your Mind (Or Your Fingers)
The mortise-and-tenon is furniture's strongest joint, and you can cut it with hand tools that cost less than a fancy coffee maker. Here's how to get it right the first time.
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
The Traitors is TV's Most Honest Show About Why We're All Garbage People
Netflix's psychological warfare masterpiece proves we're happiest when we're lying to our friends—and that's exactly why it's brilliant.
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
The Quiet Luxury Scam Has Finally Jumped the Shark—And We're All Worse For It
Beige minimalism promised sophistication. Instead, it delivered $3,000 t-shirts and the spiritual emptiness of a hotel lobby.
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
The Time a Man Married a Hologram (And Other Unions That Make You Question Everything)
Love is love, they say. But what happens when one party exists only in pixels and light? Welcome to the increasingly weird world of unconventional marriages.
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
The Fed Just Signaled a Recession Nobody Wants to Say Out Loud
Jerome Powell dropped the inflation fight harder than a portfolio manager in August 2022, and Wall Street is pretending this is good news while doing the math on what it actually means for your job.
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
Stop Pretending the Divorce Gallery Walk is Real Art
Instagram has convinced millions that standing alone in a white room looking contemplative counts as a cultural experience. It's time we admit what we're actually doing here.
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
The Art of Strategic Forgetting: Why Some Quotes Haunt You and Others Vanish
Not every memorable line should stick around. The best quotes aren't the ones you remember—they're the ones that change how you think and then disappear into your bones.
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
Why Dickinson's Dashes Changed Everything (And Why They Still Matter for Your Writing)
Emily Dickinson didn't follow the punctuation rules of her era—and that radical choice invented a completely new way to make language breathe on the page.
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
The Affirmation You're Probably Getting Wrong (And Why It Matters)
Most people repeat affirmations like they're trying to convince a lawyer. Here's what actually works—and it has nothing to do with fake positivity.
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
The State Park Nobody Visits Is Your Best Kept Weekend
There's a state park in every region that somehow flies under the radar while everyone else crowds the famous one an hour away—and I found mine this season.
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
The Farmer's Carry Will Fix Your Posture Better Than Any Brace Ever Could
Stop slouching at your desk. A single exercise—literally just holding heavy things and walking—rewires your entire postural system in weeks.
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
Cast Iron Won't Ruin You, But Seasoning It Badly Might
Your grandmother's skillet isn't magic—it's just iron that's been fed better than you've been feeding yours. Here's how to actually build a non-stick surface that lasts.
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
How to Cut a Perfect Dovetail Joint With Nothing but a Saw, a Pencil, and Stubborn Determination
Dovetails look like dark magic until you realize they're just geometry and patience. Here's how to cut your first one this weekend without spending $200 on fancy tools.
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
The Narrows at Zion Are Crowded as Hell, So Try the Virgin River Walk Instead
Everyone's photographing The Narrows. Meanwhile, the actual river—quieter, weirder, and just as stunning—is waiting five minutes down the road where you can actually hear yourself think.
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
Fall Stripers Are Running Hot — Here's How to Load the Boat Before the Cold Kills It
October striped bass are absolutely feral, and the window is closing fast. If you're not on the water at dawn this week, you're leaving money on the dock.
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
The Live Music Industry's Obsession With "Immersive Experiences" Is Ruining Everything
Concert venues are adding projectors, fog machines, and "interactive elements" to every show. Stop. We paid for a band, not a theme park.
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
The Brutalist is Three Hours of Unhinged Perfection, and Critics Are Too Chicken to Admit It
Brady Corbet's maximalist epic should be exhausting. Instead, it's the most alive film in years—and everyone's pretending it's just "very long" because they're afraid of not understanding it.
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
The Curious Case of People Who Forgot How to Be Normal
A man sued over a sofa, a king invented a sport nobody wanted to play, and somewhere in Nebraska, the law still technically forbids ice cream on cherry pie. Welcome back to reality.
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
The Surprisingly Bitter Underbelly of "Cozy Girl Summer" (And Why Everyone's Getting It Wrong)
Everyone's romanticizing quiet productivity and candlelit book nooks this season. But this trend isn't wholesome—it's just burnout with better marketing.
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
The Fed's Real Problem Isn't Inflation—It's That Nobody Trusts Them Anymore
Jerome Powell spent two years telling Americans prices would fall on their own. They didn't. Now his credibility is the casualty, and that matters more than any interest rate.
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
The Art of Useful Ignorance: Why Not Knowing Everything Makes You Smarter
We've been taught that knowledge is power, but philosophers have long understood something we've forgotten—there's a particular kind of wisdom in knowing what *not* to study.
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
The TikTok Ballet Problem Nobody's Talking About
Ballet is having a viral moment, but the internet's obsession with impossibly perfect pirouettes is making dance worse, not better.
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
Why Haiku Breaks Your Brain (In the Best Way)
A 17-syllable poem shouldn't make you feel like you've been struck by lightning, but haiku does—and now you can understand why.
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
The One Phrase That Actually Stops Your Brain From Spiraling
You already know "just think positive" doesn't work. Here's what does—and why your nervous system finally listens when you say it right.
Tuesday, May 5, 2026