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Points of failure: Adult costumes
Last month my niece snapped back at me for the first time. I was devastated. She’s five years old and just starting first grade. While on a video call, I may have lost some cool-uncle points by suggesting that she eat healthy snacks at school instead of Oreos. “You’re not my dad,” she pushed back. I recognized her defensiveness. As she grows, some of the baby innocence is lost and turns into personhood — with all its pros and cons. After that happened, I realized how I'd rece
3 hours ago2 min read
Week #28: Bravo
A trip to New York on a whim, a friend on two different stages, and closing the gap between what I say and what I do.
6 days ago1 min read
Week #27: Hijacking
September 7th - 12th. Getting called out by a 2000-year-old philosopher.
Sep 131 min read
Points of failure: Adding resistance
I haven’t been able to complete a work of fiction all year. It’s frustrating. Staying the course is challenging when it feels like not much is happening.
Aug 292 min read
Points of failure: The Luis Alberto Urrea Interview
Enjoy my conversation with Luis Alberto Urrea—NY Times bestselling author, Pulitzer finalist, and genuinely the coolest guy.
Aug 11 min read
Points of failure: Rushing back
My eagerness to make things work before they were ready created a bigger setback.
May 312 min read
Maladjusted
On the morning I finally acknowledged my back pain, I’d already been waking up stiff for months. Now look at me, almost forty and lying face up on a massage table for all the wrong reasons.
May 2116 min read
Points of failure: The full view
In April I completed something that started twenty years ago.
Apr 263 min read
Points of failure: Learning to listen
On noticing the signals from within
Mar 223 min read
Paúl Rivera Melo
Paúl Rivera Melo is a Dominican-born, Chicago-based touring musician and writer of essays and short fiction. With roots in the Caribbean, his work draws from the melodies and vocabulary of the region, while using the unique scope of his diaspora experience to craft stories of striving and survival.
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