Generation Meh

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Category: The Other Stuff

  • Thanks For Asking

    My coworker asks if I’m well. “Well? Not really. Maybe well-ish, I guess?” “Unacceptable, Sport” “I’m fine. I’m here. I’m doing my job. The rest of it isn’t germane.” “Germans? What Germans?” Our internal phone system isn’t the greatest. And yes, he calls me Sport. The point in this is that I didn’t lie. I…

  • First Course

    I have no time for spare words. Words that get in the way of other words that tell the story I’m looking for. I am ruthless about getting rid of them. Like sweeping my arm across the table and pushing all of the small pieces to the floor. Take the tablecloth with them. Then you…

  • U-Turn

    My job is to make sure the driver doesn’t fall asleep. That’s why I’m here, even though I’m very tired, too. I watch him out of the corner of my eye. Watch where his hands are on the wheel. Watch if they’re slipping or shifting. He doesn’t like small talk, so I don’t try. The radio only…

  • The Balance

    Some things get better as others get worse. I am better at saying goodbye. When I’m distracted, I mumble it under my breath.  Just to be safe. Just in case I never see you again. I am getting better at using names.  Sometimes, it’s less intimate than “you” and people always want to hear how…

  • Under The Sun

    I When he hears where I went to school, he insists on pulling up Facebook on his phone. I don’t like this game. “Do you know Chris?” “Matt?” They sound familiar, I tell him politely. It’s not really a lie; everyone knows a Chris and a Matt. This is enough for him. II “You have…

  • 20 More Questions

    We’re waiting at (not in, not by) the car. I’m sitting in the back, wilting in the heat. He’s standing outside, eating an ice cream sandwich shaped like a fish, leaning forward so he doesn’t drip on his shirt. Improbably, there is country music on the radio. Something about pina coladas. He’s not listening to…

  • Seize Or Be Seized

    What if “carpe diem” really means “Better you than me, sucker”? I think about that sometimes. I’m not entirely sure where the line between genuine encouragement and dirty secret schadenfreude is. But I bet it’s a lot blurrier than you think. What if the people telling you that you should quit your job because it’s…

  • Intermission

    If someone had told you about this moment, would you have believed them? This time, I am standing by the railroad tracks, staring at the cranes, scenery broken up by a man in coveralls riding past on a bicycle from WW II. My hard hat pinches because I wear it too tight, like a vise.…

  • All Of The Things You’re Secretly Scared Might Be True*

    Psst…and everyone else is scared of them, too. That you’re unlovable That you’ll never be happy or don’t even have the capacity to be so That people are nice to you out of pity or duty, but not genuine affection That if you really shared what you thought and how you felt, you’d be shunned…

  • Here Be Monsters

    “We’re different kinds of writers.” This followed shortly after,” I know you like writing and all that journalism stuff.” No, I like pad thai and Christopher Guest movies. I am a writer. And you are unable to distinguish between common homophones. Journalism is how I put myself through school. People actually pay me for my words.…