A short history of that infamous homewrecker, the Crossword Puzzle — If Wardle is the Wardle of the Wordle, then Wynne was the Wardle of The World. Put less stupidly, Arthur Wynne’s 1913 “Word-Cross” puzzle for Joseph Pulitzer’s World newspaper was not the first such puzzle, but it was the first to be laid out in a recognizable proto-crossword format, and…

There are a lot — It was a mistake to sell my apartment in Brooklyn. It was a mistake to come back to Los Angeles for a boy. It was a mistake not to swim through a magical underwater tunnel in Kauai, that led to a cylinder-like rock formation with a ceiling to the sky…

What you don’t want to know about parental grief — I’m pretty sure you don’t want honesty. You want to hear that I’m moving on, accepting her death in whatever context acceptance means for you. You don’t want to hear how hard this is. You don’t want to know about her ashes inside the handmade urn that sits on the…

How underdogs chase progress not perfection — “Are you just learning to swim?” That’s what a stranger asked me while I was joyfully swimming in the Pacific Ocean. I laughed and replied. “Oh — am I that bad?” I told him I’d been practicing open water swimming regularly for the past two years and I was surprised…

I lost my son to suicide. Now I’ve lost the necklace I got to remember him. — After an unseasonably gray start of summer in the Pacific Northwest, a glorious stretch of sunshine and bluebird skies promised blooming wildflowers, pristine mountain lakes, and expansive views: perfect weather for hiking. My dusty, trail-worn, teal-colored summer daypack waited by the garage door, a faithful partner ready for the next…

We love the Stranger Things resident metalhead, just not in real life — It wasn’t that it hurt getting shoved into lockers, but that it confirmed I was “the freak.” When checked into a metal grey locker while walking to class, some jock would sneer, “Watch where you’re going, freak!” Sometimes they’d call me “faggot” or “queer” depending on how malicious teens wanted…

The Ukrainian refugees had finally reached a safe haven. Then things changed. — When the attacks began I joined a group on social media, a long, scrolling roster of Ukrainian women and children seeking refuge in the United Kingdom. The photos were different, but the messages were always the same. Now there is war in our country. Now we must leave our home. …