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I Was Born on the Thumb of a Hitchhiker’s Curse, Part 1

I Was Born on the Thumb of a Hitchhiker’s Curse, Part 1

When my parents named me after a hitchhiker they picked up in a blizzard somewhere between Wyoming and Nebraska, I don’t believe they had the intention that I become a hitchhiker myself. But that’s what happened. I became someone who flings his thumb into the road at...

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Tom Cat the Owl Man Was My Cellmate

Tom Cat the Owl Man Was My Cellmate

Before I was taken to my jail cell, the guards made me undress and put on ‘blues’. My new wardrobe. Criminal pajamas. Then one of them taunted me by loudly spitting out from over his desk, “Hope you don’t have claustrophobia!” I did have a fear of enclosed spaces and...

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In the Middle of the Night, I Searched for Stories

In the Middle of the Night, I Searched for Stories

In the middle of the night, I would wake up under a heavy, red blanket. I’d peer out into my dark, little room from high on my brass bed and survey the shadows on the walls. If there was nothing scary, I’d slide the blanket off my little body and prepare for...

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The River, the Railroad Bridge, and the Man with a Knife

The River, the Railroad Bridge, and the Man with a Knife

The air was so cold that it felt like my lungs would crack when I breathed. We were rushing from the car into the street. Four white-trash, teenage punks on a Friday night rampage. Out onto the icy blacktop of our Central Minnesotan wasteland. Into the freedom of...

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A Waterman’s Homecoming and Near Death in Nosara

A Waterman’s Homecoming and Near Death in Nosara

It had been years since I paddled out. When I stepped out onto the beach in Nosara, Costa Rica, there were lines upon lines of gorgeous, glassy waves. Shimmering, blue, and peeling both to the left and right. I felt like a little boy getting ready to open birthday...

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How I Became an American Ghost in the Czech Highlands

How I Became an American Ghost in the Czech Highlands

On my final day living in the Czech Highlands, yellow light from the train station hovered over the snow falling on the tracks. It was a cold December night, and my friends had kept me out drinking until the last train left Havlíčkův Brod at midnight. I found a car...

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Put Down the Phone and Turn Off Your Screens

Put Down the Phone and Turn Off Your Screens

How to take breaks from media, messaging, and the digital world   This morning, I woke up, put on my robe, climbed slowly down the stairs, had my vitamins, and put a pot of coffee on. I did the dishes from the night before, cleaned the kitchen, prepared a cup of...

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