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JB
JB

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Aug 25, 2021

The Prayer of a First Binge

The apartment is quiet. It’s the morning after my twenty-seventh birthday. My roommate, Evan, is out of town for a few days. This is also the first day off from my job I’ve had with the place all to myself, after moving in nearly eight months ago. Waking up massively…

Mwc Space

3 min read

The Prayer of a First Binge
The Prayer of a First Binge
Mwc Space

3 min read


Aug 25, 2021

Dancing for a Last Breath

One: The bedroom door slams shut. My body catapults forward. I’m sitting up in bed — chest heaving like an abused bagpipe. But there is no air entering my body. Breathing is suddenly a foreign language. I try to scream for help. My mouth spreads into a gaping hole, but…

Mwc Death

8 min read

Dancing for a Last Breath
Dancing for a Last Breath
Mwc Death

8 min read


Apr 9, 2021

When Moderating Alcohol Fails

An evolving series of lessons — On July 27th, 2011, I had my last drink. (Well, kinda. But that’s what this story is about. Let’s stick with 2011 for now.) It was also the day that I went into the hospital due to alcohol. For the two weeks prior to the hospital, I had been riding…

Addiction

8 min read

When Moderating Alcohol Fails
When Moderating Alcohol Fails
Addiction

8 min read


Apr 8, 2021

What It’s Like To Be 14 Days Sober — Again

It’s great…but not really — Today is day fourteen. An official two weeks where I have not had any alcohol on any day. And I feel amazing. Which is an absolute and egregious lie. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve gotten stronger each of the fourteen days. My memory is slowly coming back. Coordination issues are…

Addiction

8 min read

What It’s Like To Be 14 Days Sober — Again
What It’s Like To Be 14 Days Sober — Again
Addiction

8 min read


Jan 9, 2020

The Infinity Room

Misinterpreting anxiety as spirituality The You Who are Getting Obliterated in the Dancing Swarm of Fireflies is a permanent exhibit in the Phoenix Art Museum, also known as The Firefly Room. Thousands of LED lights hang from the ceiling, with mirrors on all four of its surfaces. Though it is…

Anxiety

4 min read

The Infinity Room
The Infinity Room
Anxiety

4 min read


Published in

Our Human Family

·Aug 3, 2019

When Good Intentions Go Bad

Graduate to antiracist actions — My first day of college presented an opportunity to graduate with more than just a degree. I was attending the welcome banquet for a scholarship program that had accepted me. As an Arizona boy new to southern California’s Azusa Pacific University, the buffet of Mexican food from the local restaurant…

Racism

5 min read

When Good Intentions Go Bad
When Good Intentions Go Bad
Racism

5 min read


Jul 16, 2019

How to Not Die

Portrait of my time in a mental health hospital — There is one way in and one way out of the psych ward. A yellow line is drawn on the worn tile floor, twenty feet inside the doors that slide open when the doctor swipes his identification card across a panel. I am somehow aware that once I cross this…

Short Story

8 min read

How to Not Die
How to Not Die
Short Story

8 min read


Jun 13, 2019

Navigating the Racism of White Males

A long US history of white men practicing and perfecting the message of diversity-as-threat and identity politics — Let’s get straight to the point: NO ONE plucks the strings of identity politics more than white men — both now and from the earliest days of forming the US nation. Today, I respond to one white man in particular: Mike Jankanish, a high school teacher and occasional op-ed contributor…

Racism

6 min read

Navigating the Racism of White Males
Navigating the Racism of White Males
Racism

6 min read


Jun 10, 2019

White Christian Mess

Anti-racism depends on brutal honesty with our moral history — I come from a largely Christian family, raised in a modern Protestant church, having become a “born again” Christian at age fifteen. I have also identified as white my entire life — and, more influentially, I have been easily identified by others as white. From my early years and into…

Unpopular Opinion

5 min read

White Christian Mess
White Christian Mess
Unpopular Opinion

5 min read


May 31, 2019

Breaking from Reality

A glimpse into one psychotic episode — alcohol withdrawal and hallucinations — The front door to the apartment keeps slowly creaking open and closed. I’m aware it’s not real, but I continue propping myself up in bed to check that no intruder has entered. My step-dad, Bill, sleeps on the floor, a few feet from my bed — here to help if…

Short Story

9 min read

Breaking from Reality
Breaking from Reality
Short Story

9 min read

JB

JB

176 Followers

Storytelling with compassion — towards ourselves & others

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