Writing

Creative Practice

On the craft and daily discipline of making things — writing, revision, comedy, the practice itself.

Kindred sites worth your time: The Paris Review · Poets & Writers · Literary Hub · Austin Kleon.

July 2, 2026
Story

Radioman (in the Willapa Hills)

A childhood errand to a derelict Air Force station in the Pacific Northwest woods, and the stranger in an old jumpsuit who offered to show him around.
July 2, 2026
Story

Mr. Boerum (Mr. Boerum Dies 2 Days Later)

An 1867 Brooklyn dare, a haunted corner near an old Revolutionary War fort, and a friend who never explained what he saw.
July 2, 2026
Story

The Colonel (The Colonel, the NRA, and the Aliens from Mars)

A dark New Jersey road in 1896, a decorated Civil War veteran, and the strangest first in American newspaper history.
July 2, 2026
Story

Cropsey

A campfire legend about a hook-handed maniac who hunted children on Staten Island — and the real, disturbing history that got tangled up in it.
July 2, 2026
Story

The Sailor

A late-night call from a scared friend, a figure visible only out of the corner of the eye, and a question about what exactly he saw that night.
July 2, 2026
Story

My 9th Birthday

Why he stopped celebrating his birthday, and what nearly thirty years of strange, sudden loss taught him about staying alive.
July 2, 2026
Story

DOWAJUSEYO (도와주세요)

A childhood nighttime visitor, a phrase he didn’t understand until years later, and a piece of his family’s history he didn’t know he was carrying.
July 2, 2026
Workshop

Presentation Power

Start with the main point, then use Affinity Mapping and timed edit sessions to build a presentation from the bottom up.
July 2, 2026
Workshop

3 Minute Expert

Take any random topic, form an honest opinion, and practice sharing a polished point in under one minute.
July 2, 2026
Workshop

Telling Your Story

Personal storytelling in community organizing contexts, using Guide to Creating a Brave Space.
July 2, 2026
Keynote

The History of Comedy | We’re Stuck in 1973

A walk through how we got to SNL — and the irony that its once ground-breaking variety show format is the only one left standing.
July 2, 2026
Keynote

Your Story Matters

Everyone’s story has value — the smaller, gentler stories of our own lives, no less than the great stories of survival.
April 26, 2026
Essay

Notes on a Play

Notes on a Play – fred chong rutherford
November 24, 2025
Essay

Anniversary of Invincible Joy Rebel

A year ago today, I had a spiritual transformation, mind, body and soul. It happened on a day filled with strange coincidences, that began with me seeing a bird playing, in a way that reminded me of being a teenager and seeing the same thing on the day I officially quit working for my Dad […]
November 15, 2025
Essay

Individuation Blues

I moved into my apartment in October 2023. I was sad, depressed, angry, and grieving. I weighed 358 pounds, and was bearded, as I looked for a long time. By December 2023 I weighed 361 pounds. I left my old apartment because of memories. I’d lived there for 14 years, and needed a symbolic representation […]
November 13, 2025
Essay

My Best Friend’s Name is Story

Some people don’t have a narrative arc in their lives, not the long life or even short bursts. We have moments of story, if we’re aware enough to know, “I believed this was true, but learned it wasn’t,” and can see moments of change and even transformation.
November 5, 2025
Essay

No More Shame

I have an app to track bowel movements, something easier to do on a phone than with pen and paper, and helpful when you’re working with doctors to manage ulceritive colitis and crohn’s disease. It’s gross. And it hurts. But you can also get little reminders about improvements, and why you’re so tired. This number, […]
October 15, 2025
Essay

THE PARADOX OF CHANGING THE WORLD

A simple truth of life is that we all influence and shape it, through our actions and choices. This is what karma means, not a ledger of good and bad deeds, with rewards and punishments dolled out, rather, the collective effect of every choice we all make. And by all, I mean all, not just […]
October 13, 2025
Essay

Being Yourself

I just woke up, and am feeling off. But I realized something. I’ve been holding on to an old identity, and all the trappings and familiar comforts that come with it. And it’s time to let that go and just be myself. The easiest way to explain it is if I focus on writing, and […]
September 11, 2025
Essay

Writing in Community

My community, the place where I feel seen and safe, is writers. My alignment, the people I feel challenged and inspired by, who I also spark, are harder to describe. I’m still looking for the words. Peace walkers. Kind talkers. The ones who talk to the wind so much that the idea of threats just […]

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