Dress Codes, Double Standards, and the Eagles of Santa Fe

Dress Codes, Double Standards, and the Eagles of Santa Fe

They call it a club, but it’s really just a private bar where people get overserved without breaking the bank. The place reeks of weed, the drunks slur their way through the night, and nobody bats an eye. But somehow, that wasn’t the problem. The problem was a black tank top. On me.

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A Good Fucking Day

A Good Fucking Day

Today didn’t fix everything. I’m still not the same person I was before the accident, and maybe I never will be. But for the first time in a while, my brain showed up, my bike plans snapped into place, and something I built actually landed exactly right. Some days aren’t about healing or closure. Some days are just about momentum. And today? Today was a good fucking day.

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Compliance Is Not Care

Compliance Is Not Care

I went into my medical records looking for information. I came out pissed off. At the top of every UNM Health record it says my name, my birthdate, and then, predictably, male. No way to fix it. No place to correct it. Meanwhile, the Catholic hospital somehow got it right. This is a story about that moment, and about the systems that insist on explaining themselves instead of listening.

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When Did Dignity Become a GoFundMe?

When Did Dignity Become a GoFundMe?

I grew up poor in farm country Minnesota, back when dignity mattered more than comfort and work was how you solved your own problems. You didn’t crowdfund hardship. You handled it. Somewhere along the way, that changed. Now every setback comes with a digital tip jar, and we call it community instead of what it really is: the quiet death of personal responsibility. This isn’t about cruelty. It’s about what we lost when work ethic gave way to electronic begging, and why that should scare the hell out of us.

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Four Months

Four Months

Four months can hold a lifetime. Concerts. Bikes. A brand-new tire that never got its second chance. Hospital photos I didn’t remember taking, but my body remembers living. Trauma doesn’t change you slowly, it rewires you overnight. You wake up different. And then one day, you have to walk back into your life and see who’s still there.

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When the Fuck Did Everyone Get So Mad?

When the Fuck Did Everyone Get So Mad?

When the fuck did we get this mad? Every intersection has become a toddler tantrum wrapped in two tons of steel. People aren’t driving anymore, they’re piloting their feelings. And the cars, packed with sensors and safety nets, have quietly replaced responsibility with entitlement. The result? Rage, near-misses, and a society that’s forgotten how to fucking behave.

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Going Back

Going Back

We’re taught to see work as a necessary evil, something to survive until retirement finally sets us free. But when your life is violently interrupted, you learn something different: meaningful work isn’t a trap. It’s a tether. And when you’re finally cleared to return, it doesn’t feel like obligation. It feels like coming home.

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The Case of the Swollen Not-Knee

The Case of the Swollen Not-Knee

I didn’t need a mystery solved. I needed fluid drained. Instead, I got bureaucratic gymnastics, a five-figure invoice, and a surgical plan I never agreed to. This is the story of how American healthcare almost turned a simple fix into an expensive, invasive mistake, and how I walked out and fixed it myself.

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Reclaiming MY Normal

Reclaiming MY Normal

After months of hospitals, recovery, and forced stillness, I finally felt like myself again, not because I was healed, but because I was seen. This isn’t a story about rushing back or pretending nothing happened. It’s about reclaiming the version of “normal” that keeps my mind alive, my sanity intact, and my life moving forward.

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