ArcaMax

I'm catching sight of, over the hill of another year, the third year of my 40s. I suppose that could be a surprise for those of you who haven't been reading this column long enough and were lured in by its title. That's right, us millennials? Solidly middle-aged.

At a civic engagement group a few weeks back, a speaker in their 20s lambasted the...Read more

There's a difference between doing something and doing it right. You can check a box, sign your name, make the announcement, and hold the press conference. But that's not the same as solving a problem. And too often these days, we're watching leaders choose the performance of action over the practice of responsibility.

Doing it right doesn't ...Read more

There's a word we should live again. I would like to be whelmed and not overwhelmed. Not underwhelmed and just whelmed. It's the state of being fully present in the flood of life, not drowning in it but not standing on dry land either.

That's where I want to live most days, especially on days with one-on-one meetings, but from flow to overflow ...Read more

The city in which I serve as a councilor is not a sanctuary city; however, it adopted a welcoming city solution back in 2017. It affirmed us as an immigrant-friendly city and made clear that our police should not detain or arrest people based on their nationality or ethnicity, nor seek proof of a person's citizenship status, and should not ...Read more

There is always a moment after tragedy when the public is told to summon empathy, usually for the person who caused the tragedy. But this week the ask for empathy was for someone who many felt didn't deserve it and who wouldn't have offered in return. Many people bristled, asking why they should care about someone who actively promoted damage in...Read more

A TikTok video I saw the other day suggested that I should reclaim my attention to the present. Mid-scroll, the app that makes money off my distracted brain suddenly wanted me to log off and be present. That's like the bartender telling you to quit drinking while he pours the next shot.

Be present, as if the present is some enchanted meadow we'...Read more

My daughter and her best friend started their own business. They made business cards and put the QR code to their Red Cross babysitting certification on the back. Their first client was a neighbor with a toddler who came to our house, where I could watch all three of them, and be a business respite program. I overheard one of them lament after ...Read more

I've spent most of my career as a freelance writer being a generalist. You don't delve too much into one subject because, really, you can find an expert on a topic who would love to rattle on with acronyms for at least a solid hour.

It's been one of the privileges of journalism to meet with people who believe in your capacity to share their ...Read more

I used to believe in quiet resistance. You choose the right moments to slip wrenches into the gears without drawing the guard's attention. Movies love a covert operator like the whistleblower or the silent saboteur who knows that noise gets you caught. But we're not in the movies.

Lately, the vibes, as the kids would say, feel different. There'...Read more

I used to use the website, the Wayback Machine, to find incriminating teenage poetry on long-lost LiveJournal accounts written by people who are now normal accountants and thought their old emo phase wasn't going to haunt them. Yesterday, I used the Wayback Machine to see a government website delete parts of the Constitution.

The chaos is real,...Read more

There's a joke that goes, "I wouldn't tell anyone that I won the lottery, but there would be signs." Most recently, I told a friend that I'd buy her a vintage car that could park next to my brand-new-to-me DeLorean.

My fantasy of coming into money -- maybe through the lottery, or forgotten Bitcoin, or a long-lost magical trust fund -- always ...Read more

There was a running joke with my in-laws that a compliment on cooking would be, "Well, now you can get married." This started after I began collecting the most exotic peppers at my Mexican grocery store, names I had never even heard of before, and threw them together in a blender with boiling water, chicken bouillon, and some cross-border, ...Read more

I told him that heaven was this: the midmorning light, a beverage in hand, and us heading to the porch. The kids are at school. The chores can wait. Some mornings aren't about doing. They're about being. If you're lucky, you can be with someone who makes even your weirdness feel like it belongs.

This morning, I was on the porch with my husband....Read more