There are some uncanny parallels between the horror movie Backrooms and my post-2020 life in Western Massachusetts. Between mall vaccine clinics to empty corporate office paces to odd apartments and labyrinthine mill buildings, liminal spaces now feel strangely like home.

2025: A year defined by book group reads and crying in movie theaters. From an unexpected late-blooming obsession with Spock to Alison Bechdel’s latest 'comic novel,' here is a roundup of the stories that offered inspiration and comfort during a chaotic year.

After a year of digital silence and burnout, I’m reflecting on some highlights that kept me grounded in 2025. From handmade zines and Shakers to corpse flowers and Garfield-hugging aliens, these joys are the bridge getting me to next year.

2024 turned out to be the year of the witch, and not just because of Wicked fever. Across books, movies, and TV, there were space witches, island witches, and Marvel witches too. Animated robots charmed me this year, and queer/trans authors and filmmakers produced some of the best content. Oh, and I watched Jaws!

Today I attended Harvard Commencement from my company’s laptop, tuning in to the latter half of the livestream after a couple morning meetings. After four years, I’m graduating with a Master’s in Creative Writing & Literature. This felt like an appropriate conclusion to an (unintentionally) virtual four years.

I've been living in Northampton MA (“Noho” or “Hamp”) for a year now. That’s home of Smith College, murals, coffee shops, dispensaries, and counterculture dreams. It's been exciting, overwhelming, and well... soupy!

2023. The year that saw the Trans Rights Readathon and Barbenheimer. There were bookfairs, author events, queer film fests, and even a Dolly Parton 9 to 5 viewing party. It was also the year I bought my first real TV and hardly watched any TV at all…

Changeling tales are often about how sudden, inexplicable change in a loved one can be terrifying when witnessed from the outside. These stories center the value of consistency and the danger of deviance. But what would a changeling tale look like if it focused on the changeling’s experience instead?

2022. The year of getting back to book festivals and movie theaters. The year I watch Eleven battle Vecna while I battle Covid. The year I read great horror novels but watch bad horror films. The year of bird births and freaky waffle parties…

It’s eight p.m. on Black Friday, and I’m walking to catch the bus to go see “David Boobie,” a David Bowie tribute burlesque show at the Crystal Ballroom at the Somerville Theatre….

It’s officially been a year since I wrote a new poem. It’s also been a year since I last performed poetry in front of an audience. Before the pandemic, being a poet was so central to my creative and even personal identity…