This Unquiet Mind

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Kristen Martin

Moments Before Disaster: Travel Edition

I know the bathroom is just around the corner. It should only take five minutes for me to dash in and dash out, especially if I lighten by load by leaving my bags on the train. I tell a fellow passenger that I'll be right back.

Weekly Journal 4.12.26

Short attention spans, DTF, and neighborhood walks

Breaking Down in the Sludge

I grew up in an era where shittiness and cracks in the system were much less evident ... I believed that things were set up in my favor and that stuff just worked.

Weekly Journal 4.5.26

Celebrity memoirs, espresso tonic, and Great Wolf Lodge

Presence of Mind

My mind is like a junk-science research lab where technicians stay busy pouring mixtures from one flask into another, never producing actual results.

Weekly Journal 03.29.26

Joni Mitchell, roast chicken, and cats in the yard

I Bought a Coffee Mug

Mugs feel like a thing you should always buy secondhand unless you find one that's extra special. Like children's clothing, they are easily destroyed by their owners, and are consigned to thrift shops in bulk when someone finally decides to clean out that overcrowded cabinet.

Weekly Journal 03.22.26

Shipwrecks, lamb burgers, and dreams

Magnetism

"I'm your little magnet," my son said as he stuck himself to my body like static cling.

Weekly Journal 03.15.26

Salmon, fiction books, and sad television