Now Frolic

A Cigarette, a Smile, a Conversation With a Stranger. The Small Rituals of Connection are Becoming Endangered. I was standing outside a club in Brooklyn when I noticed two people trying very hard not to look at each other. One was sitting on a concrete barrier near the smoking area, the other standing in a loose circle of friends several feet away. Every few minutes, one of them would glance over. Then the other would. Then both would immediately find something else to focus on. A cigarette. A drink.

Photo Essay: Living Traditions in the Heart of Salt Lake City 40 Years of Celebrating a Community Shaped By Many Cultures “Diverse” isn’t the word I would use to describe Salt Lake City. It was founded on July 24, 1847, by Brigham Young and Mormon pioneers, eventually contributing to the displacement of the local Ute, Shoshone, Paiute, and Goshute peoples. Since the city is fairly young, there aren’t many historic buildings, nor are there impressive skyscrapers adorning the town.

The Immersive Performance that is the Ren Faire Last year, my friend Bella and I made the journey to the Irwindale Renaissance Pleasure Faire, about an hour outside LA proper. We did not do it correctly, waiting until the last possible day when it was 102 degrees. Our mead, albeit delicious, quickly became room temperature, and we only lasted about an hour at the event. Since then, we decided there was one thing for these maidens to do … run it back.

How Memories Center and Follow Us Anywhere We Are Gloria in excelsis Deo echoed like a morning bird song in the grand hall of Westminster Abbey. Holding the congregation in a blanket of harmonious joy, the choral voices make the space feel otherworldly — like being heralded by the angels themselves.

The More Artificial Life Gets, the More Valuable Outdoor Sports Become Why Sports Matter More in the Age of AI I’m not anti-AI. Spellcheck (the OG of writing assistants) alone has saved me some mishaps from being educated in Canadian English then moving to the U.S. where efficiency strips the ‘u’ from color and honor. My grandfather thought computers would solve that.

Someone Has to Go First Before that, it is just a room with sound. People stand in clusters, drinks in hand, talking over the music as if it were incidental. Bodies face each other instead of the speakers. Movement is minimal, cautious, negotiated. Everyone is aware of being seen, and more importantly, aware of how they might be misread. The DJ can be excellent. The system can be perfect. None of it matters yet. The music sits atop the room rather than moving through it.

I’m a Nervous Wreck Who Still Travels the World Because the World Will Never Be in a Perfect Place for Adventure, and Neither Will I Anxiety lives in my body the way an Emerald Ash Borer squirms its way into a tree. Writhing, ever-present, and deadly. It devours me from the inside out, crushing my will to do anything much of the time. My anxiety and I live in symbiosis — one not existing without the other.

When I decided to really get into running, I went all in on the gear. The $300 shoes, reflective kit, water pack, phone armband, wireless headphones. All of it just to go out for a 30 to 40 minute run. It felt like I was doing it right because I looked the part. At some point, I started running with less. Maybe I got tired of putting everything together, or the old running shirt was easier to throw on at dawn. Maybe I forgot the water pack one day and realized I didn't need it at all.

Dinner happens, but only briefly. There's a window - somewhere around thirty minutes - where we gather in the kitchen like we meant to do this properly. Gabe is at the stove or just stepping away from it, moving with an ease that makes it clear he'll do this again next week and the week after that. He never makes the same thing twice, which feels generous in a way that's easy to miss until you realize you've come to expect it. Most of the time, he absolutely nails it.

Everyone has a comfort show. Often it's a heartwarming sitcom like Schitt's Creek or a nostalgic drama like Gilmore Girls. My friends have defamated my character, critiquing my past comfort show choices like Criminal Minds or House, MD. On the surface, I do realize it seems like a huge red flag to fall asleep to shows about psychopaths or deadly illnesses.