We have room. — As a first-grader in the early 2000s, magic to me was coming home to see cable being installed. “Let’s go around the room and say what cable provider we have,” said my homeroom teacher one day in class. What was the context? I can’t remember, but one of my earliest…

A poem — I’ll admit I’m a thief. My being is a collection of inspiration, stolen from every personal connection I’ve encountered in this lifetime. Locked within my internal treasure trove, a gathering of gems pile high. Is any original thought mine? I’m a comedian who recycles jokes from movies and shows, an…

Working a service job shows you the breadth of humanity, and I was pretty sick of people’s bullshit. — If there’s one thing I was proud of back then, it was being exactly what people needed: unassertive in relationships, appeasing in conflict, and passive in life. It made me the perfect servant — an employee of the month. Clothed in tan bellhop attire akin to Esteban Julio Ricardo Montoya…

I’ve been grieving parts of myself that no longer align with the person I want to be — I’ve spent a good chunk of my life attempting to recreate the magic of fleeting moments. A few nights ago, one of my best friends and I visited our alma mater. Here was the precursor to adulthood — walls that once felt like freedom. We ended up leaving around 10:00…

Don’t be afraid to show your depth to others — “We are all bodies of water, guarding the mystery of our depths, but some of us have more to guard than others.” ― Deborah Smith, Alice at Heart Before the year began I was approached by three witches in a dream. They offered to heal me and I eagerly complied…

We all have the power to transform the mundane into something memorable — I am prone to unrest and occasionally like to invite chaos into my life. So when two of my girlfriends and I were simultaneously going through heartbreak, I devised a plan: we would cut and dye our hair, burn the scraps in a firepit, and speak our goals into existence…

What I wish I knew before dating — When I look into the past to pinpoint where it all went wrong, hindsight brings me back to the floor of my ex-boyfriend’s bathroom. I was a junior in high school who spent the bulk of my time on Tumblr when I wasn’t hanging out with my boyfriend. Like most…

Are you still punishing yourself for not knowing better? — “I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.” — Maya Angelou There are plenty of things I’ve done that I’m not proud of. Like most people, I carry the burden of mistakes I made when I didn’t know better. But for…

It’s not a question of whether you’re whole, it’s about uncovering and dusting off the parts of you hidden away. — Days before I submitted my two-week notice, a coworker told me “I think you need to find yourself.” I was back at my parents’ house right after graduating college, working a job that had no relation to my degree. Meanwhile, all my friends were flourishing in new cities with the…