Columnists
Friday, June 5, 2026 · Washington County
The Affirmation Trap: Why "I Am Enough" Might Be Gaslighting You
Turns out, telling yourself you're enough when you're falling apart doesn't fix anything—and that's actually okay.
Why We Keep Misreading Emily Dickinson—And Why It Matters
Her dashes aren't random pauses. They're a revolution. Here's what your high school teacher never told you about how to actually read her work.
Friday, June 5, 2026
The Paradox of Forgetting: Why Hemingway Was Right to Write Badly First
Ernest Hemingway's famous advice to "write hard and clear about what hurts" only works if you're willing to produce garbage first—and most writers skip this essential step.
Friday, June 5, 2026
The Fed Just Admitted It's Been Wrong All Year—And Nobody's Acting Like It
Jerome Powell conceded yesterday that inflation stays stickier than his team predicted. Here's what that confession means for your mortgage, your job, and the rate cuts you thought were coming.
Friday, June 5, 2026
The Museum Audio Guide Is Dead, and Good Riddance to Boring
Those headsets you rent at the entrance? They're turning art appreciation into a theme park. We need to talk about why the best museums are finally ditching them.
Friday, June 5, 2026
Skip the State Capital—Go to the Courthouse Town Instead
Every state has one: a small town built around a historic courthouse that time mostly forgot. Here's why your next weekend should happen there.
Friday, June 5, 2026
The Farmer's Carry Will Fix Your Posture Better Than Any $300 Gadget
You're probably paying money to fix problems that this 30-second walk would solve for free. Here's why your hands are your best postural correction tool.
Friday, June 5, 2026
Stop Boiling Your Cast Iron Skillet Like a Barbarian
Your cast iron seasoning isn't some delicate thing that washes away. Here's what actually happens when you care for it right—and why your grandmother's pan still works better than your new one.
Friday, June 5, 2026
Fall Stripers Are Aggressive—And They'll Hit Your Mistakes
Autumn has striped bass in a feeding frenzy, and they're so committed to eating that they'll nail lures you didn't even mean to cast. Here's how to cash in before winter shuts them down.
Friday, June 5, 2026
How to Cut Perfect Dovetails with a $15 Handsaw (No Fancy Jigs Required)
Dovetails intimidate beginners because woodworkers love mystifying them. Here's how to cut strong, beautiful joints with basic tools and steady hands.
Friday, June 5, 2026
The Narrows at Zion—Where You Wade Through Scripture
Most people drive past the actual best hike in Zion National Park without realizing it's a walk up a river between 2,000-foot canyon walls that'll make you feel like you're inside the earth's ribcage.
Friday, June 5, 2026
The Viral Concert Moment Everyone's Getting Wrong (And Why I'm Obsessed)
That TikTok of the fan rushing the stage during last week's arena show? It wasn't a security failure. It was art. And I'm tired of pretending we didn't all feel it.
Friday, June 5, 2026
The Brutally Honest Truth About "Shogun" That Nobody Wants to Hear
FX's samurai masterpiece is stunning, expensive, and almost unwatchably boring for 40 minutes at a time—and I'm not apologizing for saying it.
Friday, June 5, 2026
The Strange Custody Battle Between a Man and His Own Skeleton
A Kansas man's attempt to be buried with his wife's remains led to a courtroom dispute that probably never should have happened, but absolutely did.
Friday, June 5, 2026
The Great Skincare Obsession Has Become Unhinged, and I'm Here for the Chaos
We've gone from "moisturize daily" to grown adults spending $400 on fermented snail mucus serums. The skincare industrial complex has officially won, and frankly, it's hilarious.
Friday, June 5, 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.
Friday, June 5, 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.
Friday, June 5, 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.
Friday, June 5, 2026
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.
Friday, June 5, 2026
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.
Friday, June 5, 2026
The Brutalist Is Three Hours of Watching Someone Else's Fever Dream, and I'm Mad I Loved It
Brady Corbet's maximalist nightmare should be insufferable. Instead, it's the most alive thing cinema has been in years — and yes, you'll need a neck pillow.
Friday, June 5, 2026
The "Quiet Luxury" Con Is Finally Showing Its Seams
Beige minimalism promised sophistication and restraint. Instead, it delivered the most aggressively boring flex in fashion history—and we're all pretending not to notice it's collapsing.
Friday, June 5, 2026
Stop Pretending Dance Recitals Are Important Art
Your cousin's hip-hop showcase is not the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and we all need to stop lying about it.
Friday, June 5, 2026
My Sister Won't Stop Recruiting Me Into Her MLM, and I'm Losing My Mind
A family business opportunity sounds great until it's your sister's downline, and family dinners turn into sales pitches. Here's how to shut it down without nuking the relationship.
Friday, June 5, 2026
I Quit My Job to Start a Business and Now I'm Hemorrhaging Money—Do I Go Back?
Six months into your passion project, the savings account is screaming, your partner won't look at you, and you're Googling "jobs that hire people with gaps." Here's what you actually need to decide right now.
Friday, June 5, 2026
My Kid Won't Stop Gaming and Neither Will I—Who's the Real Problem Here?
A dad realizes his anger at his son's screen time is really about the mirror it's holding up to his own habits—and what he decides to do about it changes everything.
Friday, June 5, 2026
My Kid's School Wants Me to Stop Working. I Need the Paycheck. Now What?
When schools expect parents to volunteer constantly, they're basically asking working parents to choose between their job and their kid's education. That math doesn't add up.
Friday, June 5, 2026
I Make Good Money But I'm Still Broke — and I Know It's My Fault
A reader earning six figures confesses to spending like they make seven. We do the math on why having more money doesn't fix a broken spending habit.
Friday, June 5, 2026
I Panic-Sold My Entire Portfolio. Now What?
One reader's stock market meltdown cost them six figures. Here's what actually happens when you let fear make your financial decisions, and how to unfold this mess.
Friday, June 5, 2026
My Kid's Teacher Thinks I'm Lazy, But I'm Just Broke—And I'm Tired of Pretending Otherwise
A frustrated parent confronts the gap between what schools expect and what families can actually afford—and Mama Mae has had enough of the judgment.
Friday, June 5, 2026