Essays

About once a year, usually when I see the web hosting charge hit our bank account, I remember that I have a website, and that I used to write a whole lot. I still write a whole lot - just not things I publish on the internet. Trust me, no one wants to read the policies I write, the memos I compose, the compliance narratives I draft, or the myriad other functionary forms of writing I crank out. Over the last ten years, my career has changed dramatically. When I first started w

Author's Note: I wrote this essay a long time ago. As I think should happen with most folks, my political and social opinions have drifted over the years, and some of the things I wrote in this essay aren't things I'd write again if I wrote this essay today instead of years ago. For those who are too young to remember (namely, the college folks reading this), one could once express an opinion about a political or social issue without being utterly demonized by those who hold

Author's Note: I wrote this essay a long time ago. As I think should happen with most folks, my political and social opinions have drifted over the years, and some of the things I wrote in this essay aren't things I'd write again if I wrote this essay today instead of years ago. For those who are too young to remember (namely, the college folks reading this), one could once express an opinion about a political or social issue without being utterly demonized by those who hold

Author's Note: I wrote this essay a long time ago. As I think should happen with most folks, my political and social opinions have drifted over the years, and some of the things I wrote in this essay aren't things I'd write again if I wrote this essay today instead of years ago. For those who are too young to remember (namely, the college folks reading this), one could once express an opinion about a political or social issue without being utterly demonized by those who hold

When I was a kid, I didn’t get Ticonderoga pencils very often. The reality is that my mom usually couldn’t afford Ticonderoga pencils. Instead, I got whatever was cheapest. It makes sense, really. When pot roast is a treat rather than a regular dinner, it seems foolish to pay extra for something like pencils. Say what you want about poor people and the seemingly stupid financial decisions they make – and my mother certainly made her fair share over the years – but they under

Author's Note: I wrote this essay a long time ago. A lot of people have read it since I wrote it. At least two million on my website alone. The essay has taken on a life of its own, re-posted and shared and otherwise plastered all over the interwebs. Versions of it are assigned reading in more classes than I can keep track of, and I still sometimes get invitations to speak from folks who find this essay. I usually don't accept those invitations anymore, though, because I have

Author's Note: I wrote this essay a long time ago. As I think should happen with most folks, my political and social opinions have drifted over the years, and some of the things I wrote in this essay aren't things I'd write again if I wrote this essay today instead of years ago. For those who are too young to remember (namely, the college folks reading this), one could once express an opinion about a political or social issue without being utterly demonized by those who hold

Author's Note: I wrote this essay a long time ago. As I think should happen with most folks, my political and social opinions have drifted over the years, and some of the things I wrote in this essay aren't things I'd write again if I wrote this essay today instead of years ago. For those who are too young to remember (namely, the college folks reading this), one could once express an opinion about a political or social issue without being utterly demonized by those who hold

Appalachia is a place. It is defined on maps, even when competing mapmakers disagree about its boundaries. It is also a culture, even though that culture is not uniform in nature across the region. For generations, America's most talented writers have understood the power and importance of place in the human psyche. Imagine Faulkner's work set in the midwest, or Steinbeck's work set in New England. It just doesn't work. Place matters in the telling of any decent story. In Ap