stories
creative nonfiction, editorial, personal, and ephemera
One morning, during the predawn zazen—in between the velvet, inky silence and the deep, sonorous tones of the rin-gong—there is an especially long meditation period, or so it seems. Time seems fluid here, elastic. A minute feels like an hour. An hour is a lifetime is the blink of an eye. Time is everything and has no meaning at all.
How a walk in the woods became a snapshot of empire [This piece was originally published on Substack.] In a vain attempt to escape the reality of navigating systemic failure at every turn on top of all the imperial fuckery being imposed upon the world—especially in the South West Asian North Africa (SWANA) region (commonly…
Let’s start with the word nobody in the nonprofit sector wants to say out loud: Marketing. I know. It feels wrong. Marketing is what corporations do to sell you things you don’t need and can’t afford. Marketing is manipulation, it’s spin, it’s the dark arts of capitalism dressed up in brand guidelines. Nonprofits are mission-driven,…
“Most likely to be the Oprah of fitness.” It’s what you’d expect to see scribbled in the margins of Robin Arzon’s high school yearbook. In truth, Robin was more book worm than boot camp. She would rather paint and create, sketch and write than sweat. By the time high school rolled around, Robin assumed…
I was hired to launch Specialized’s women’s digital magazine, Your Ride, Your Rules. As Editor-in-Chief, I wrote the feature articles, developed the editorial calendar, created workflows, and directed photographers and other editorial contributors. It’s been said that to succeed in bike racing, one must reach deep into one’s “suitcase of suffering” to pull out the…
My commitment to equity is deeply rooted in personal experience and professional growth over more than two decades in Portland. As a white-bodied, neurodivergent individual who has experienced housing insecurity, I’ve navigated complex societal structures that have illuminated the pervasive nature of systemic inequities. These experiences have shaped my understanding of intersectionality and fueled my…