A couple weeks ago, I was sitting at one of Madrid's many spectacular cafés with three friends and I asked them that cliché question that everybody hates, but which I think is worth contemplating from time to time: What would your ideal life look like?
10 Cities
How music can save a life
In my lowest times, I've always turned to music. It lifts me up, consoles me, gives me perspective, and it often articulates my emotions better than I can. On at least one occasion, it has literally saved my life.
Epilogue
Epilogue: For the first time in my adult life, I didn’t have a goal. I wanted a lasting relationship, a reason to stay, a purpose for a life in Brooklyn.
The Art of Jumping
Chapter X: The progression of the day had brought us together, our legs touching as I argued with myself whether or not I should kiss her. It seemed a foregone conclusion, but I’d been wrong before.
Allston That Ends Well.
Chapter IX: Allston is the cirrhosis-stricken liver of Boston’s college nexus. Calling it rat-infested inaccurately characterizes the natural ecosystem.
St. Roch Blues: A storm rages in New Orleans
Chapter VIII: She held out a box cutter. “Take this. Just in case.” The darkened St. Roch neighborhood was no place to walk without protection.
Gray Clouds: Diagnosed and depressed in the Emerald City
Chapter VII: It was mid-January and I had returned to familiar territory: jobless and scrambling to put together enough income to make it another month.
Letting It Ride: Remembering (and forgetting) what mattered in Music City
Chapter VI: I arrived in Nashville defeated. I had crawled through San Francisco and Chicago amidst the worst of the Great Recession and come out the other side, officially in the latter half of 10 Cities/10 Years; I was drained, bitter, and ready to give up.
