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  With a draft of the Texas essay behind me and the end of my time at Prairie Center on the horizon, it’s easy to get sidetracked in the studio. I feel torn in multiple [...]

It’s Memorial Day, a time for many to celebrate a long weekend, drink too much beer, and welcome summer. It’s all too easy to forget what this holiday is really about, and while [...]

A few years ago, TRACHODON Magazine published an essay by metalsmith artist Amy Tavern titled “Part of the Process.” In it, Tavern discusses a practice she called “The [...]

Sometimes, even if you have to drive to get to it, and even if you’re grumpy, and even if you’re not entirely sure you really like the Midwest… Even if there aren’t [...]

A few weeks ago I wrote about mapping place, including this photo of the homemade map I’m using to navigate my way through writing new essays based on my recent travels. Any good map should [...]

Continuing this series of posts where Midwesterners speak to what is “quintessentially Midwestern,” I’ve gathered a few more quotes sent to me via email, Facebook, and Blogger. [...]

All week, I’ve been writing about home. Not North Carolina. But not not North Carolina, either. I’m working on the first piece in what I hope ten years from now (har) will be a [...]

It’s just so stunning, I thought to myself as I drove along Illinois Highway 16. I’ve never really seen the sky look like that before. This was mid-afternoon on Sunday–a warm [...]

We took a group field trip to Peoria’s historic, public cemetery that’s built on the rolling hills of a terminal moraine just inside the city limits. Springdale Cemetery is “the [...]