The Rabbit Hole

Jason is an iconic character. You have to understand who he is and why he has a vendetta against teenage and twenty-something camp counselors. Motivation and its resulting behavior are crucial elements in character development. That foundational understanding of the status quo must be in place before things begin to shift and change in the face of challenges and adversity.

If you've spent any time in writing circles, you've probably heard authors describe themselves as "plotters" or "pantsers." Maybe you've even heard the compromise term "plantser." For those unfamiliar with the terminology, here's the breakdown: Plotters  meticulously outline their entire story before writing a single scene. They know the beginning, middle, and end. They have character arcs mapped out. They've planned every plot twist, every emotional beat, every chapter break

It's September, which means back to school. I'm grateful that we live in a town with a great school system, which includes classes and after school activities for band, drama, and other arts. Whenever I get to thinking about the transitional nature of back to school season, I think about one of my favorite movies, which I can't watch without crying.

Released in 1998, You've Got Mail captured something about the early internet and those first few forays into social media (no one called it that then, but that’s what it was) that still hold true today: How you show up is entirely up to you.

Trust is that fragile thread of connection weaving through every relationship. When it's strong and unbroken, it holds everything together. When it's weak or fraying, it can unravel it completely.

When I was looking for the perfect song for Chapter 19, I wanted something that spoke to what was going on not through Autumn’s perspective, but her mother’s. As I said in a previous post, most songs should be interpreted as representing what’s going on in Autumn’s head, but not all of them do. This is one of the exceptions.

I was curious what it was about this movie that had him so excited to show it to me. At the start, it was macabre, then amusingly offbeat and quirky as Harold crossed paths with Maude. I don't want to ruin the movie for anyone who hasn't seen it yet, but suffice it to say that when the important scene arrived, I paid very close attention.

Chapter 15 is set on New Year's Eve 1995. Autumn has traveled by train from Boston’s South Station to Penn Station in NYC, beneath Madison Square Garden, where Phish will be playing their New Year’s Eve show that night. Having no friends interested in taking the other half of her pair of tickets, she is there alone. For the first time in her life, she is venturing beyond the confines of her comfort zone in pursuit of a kind of joy she’s not sure is meant for her…but she hopes

I'm probably not the only one who first heard Elliott Smith's "Miss Misery" during the end credits for Good Will Hunting. I've already written about why that movie sits comfortably in my top five favorites of all time, so it's probably not surprising that a song from its soundtrack would make its way into Autumn's playlist.

You can peek through your fingers at the monster, you can squeeze your eyes shut during the gore, but you can't escape the soundtrack. It crawls under your skin. It tells your nervous system that something is wrong before your brain consciously registers the threat. Music doesn't just accompany horror. It creates it.

Mixtapes, recorded on cassette tapes. The real deal, carefully curated, painstakingly assembled, given as gifts that said more than words ever could. Whether you're a Gen Xer who remembers making them, or a Gen Alpha kid who's fascinated by retro tech and how it worked, this post is for you.

Will and Autumn are very different people, but underneath their surface differences, they're the same person. They're both brilliant in ways they don't recognize. They're both carrying trauma from childhoods where the adults who should have protected them didn't. They're both convinced they're not worth loving, and they're both terrified of letting anyone get close enough to prove them wrong.

My read on "Phantom Limb" was that it was about being trapped in a time and place that's fundamentally out of step with who you are, but there was no alternative…not yet, anyway. Until that path becomes clear, you’re left with a gnawing awareness that something needs to change.

"Scarlet Begonias" was my first favorite Grateful Dead song. After years spent resisting the allure of discovering for myself why so many of my fellow Phish fans ranked the Dead just as high (or higher) on their list of favorite bands, I finally gave in and asked a friend to make me a copy of their favorite show. Not surprisingly* (to anyone who traded Dead tapes), the show they gave me was Cornell 5/8/77.