Seconds after I turn 30, my sister Ava hands me a tequila shot. The entire New Orleans bar had just erupted in a huge “Happy Birthday!”, undoubtedly due to the urgings of my two amazing baby sisters, and I am flushed with good feelings already, not to mention plenty of alcohol. “Love you,” she says,… Continue reading Ava
To get myself through the day, I used to listen to a lot of podcasts. The tasks required of me at work were mostly mundane and mindless, so the background chatter never distracted me. Instead, it transported me somewhere else, outside of the gray walls of the cubicle and into the creative minds of the… Continue reading Clean Getaway
I arrived back in Austin on Monday after a 17 hour drive from my hometown. The week was full of freezing temperatures, familiar faces, and enough butter and sugar to last me for all of 2018. For the first half hour after leaving Cincinnati, we drove in silence. Fat, cold tears streamed down my face,… Continue reading Resolutions
When I brought this blog back to life several months ago, my entire intention was to shift its focus from (poor) attempts at covering Austin’s food scene to intimate glimpses into my kitchen and–by extension–into my life. If I haven’t made it clear yet, food is a love vehicle for me. It reminds me of… Continue reading When the Blog Backfires
I grew up with a lot of one-liners. It’s kind of my dad’s thing. A favorite one of mine? “Frankes don’t fall down.” We were brought up to persevere. My sisters and I, in spite of the (very human) moments when we crumble in momentary self-pity, are not ones to fold. Maybe it was my… Continue reading Great Expectations
In the summer of 2005, my friend Carlie and I bought tickets to see Tom Petty on the Ohio River. We sat in concertgoer traffic and blasted Full Moon Fever and Wildflowers, so excited to be out on our own. It might not have been my first parents-less concert, but it was the one I… Continue reading To Tom Petty, With Love
In Texas, it never really smells like fall. In the most real sense, fall requires things to slowly turn brown, die and decay, and though that happens here, it’s hardly gradual. It goes from summer to winter almost instantly. October here means 75 degrees and breezy with cooler nights and crisp mornings, but it’s not… Continue reading Homecoming
My father has had the same morning routine since I can remember. I don’t actually know what it looks like–his door was always (mostly) closed in the mornings–but I recognize the sounds and smells: the radio clicking on, the shower knob turning, the creaky medicine cabinet opening and shutting, the Old Spice aroma filling the… Continue reading Ritual
My baby sister turned 24 last week. She celebrated, to my shock and horror, by jumping out of a plane and skydiving through the air with her boyfriend, an adrenaline junkie whom I have yet to meet. She told me it was happening in a text the day before. The detail was crammed between her… Continue reading Layla
It’s been two and a half years since I packed up my little red car, left Ohio behind for the third time, and drove the 18 hours to Austin. At the time, more than anything else, I was following a burning desire to demystify the one city that has always enchanted me. I pictured a… Continue reading Home, from scratch
(Somewhat) Daily News from the World of Literary Nonfiction
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