3rd Place West Side Stories Grand Slam —

The solitude of non-transactional writing — Portions of this essay were part of Counter Arts’ original guidelines. To read their current guidelines, click here. I wonder what my stance would be on ‘writing what the algorithm wants’ if my livelihood depended on what I wrote online. I often tell my wife that no job is…

A clueless tourist on honeymoon rents a scooter and almost dies in Tulum — All relationships have a similar dynamic. There is a person with a strict and strong moral compass. Everything is black and white for them. The other person is barely out of prison. People will align with one camp, “yeah, if it weren’t for me, he or she would be in…

A red light is an opportunity for reflection. — As he slowed down for the red light, he thought of the laundry list of annoyances stressing him. Then, he committed; with the red light as his witness, he swore to the skies that he would change. He will try all life and productivity hacks and confront all his demons…

Congratulations, your toddler can walk. — I have only pulled my pants up without wiping once in my life. It was because I felt the big one coming. And I don’t mean the big one as in, “oooff, that baba ganoush did not agree with me. …

When you are attacked for who you are — He stared hard at the table. He wanted to lose himself in the reverie of mindlessly looking at the grain and how whoever painted it gingerly followed the natural weaving of the wood. He didn’t want to think again about his attacker, but he began describing it to the police. …

Poema para la madre (English/Spanish) — The menacing vastness and beauty of the universe and the night would be palid and timid enemy against the shelter of a cozy home. A house doesn’t contain heat because of its bricks nor the wood burnt at its fireplace; but maintained toasty by the devotion of the mother. Irrelevant…

Parenting is simple because it is made up of simple tasks. — Simple tasks such as dressing your kids, getting out of the house, helping them brush their teeth, or putting them to bed early, so you can finally catch up with one of your twenty streaming platforms and chill. …

Review of Spalding Gray’s Impossible Vacation… Kinda — I’m tired of myself. I’m tired of saying I’m tired. I’m tired of saying life has become hectic and chaotic. So I’ll stop. Soon. If my memory serves me right, there might be one or two drafts worth publishing that might involve me talking about how tired I am. I…