One time my physician flatly told me, “Mackie, it didn’t take you twelve weeks to gain sixty pounds, you’re not going to lose it in three months.” I looked at… Read more

I didn’t come out until my late 20s. A gay trailblazer, I most certainly was not. But I pretty much knew I had a potential preference for dudes in my… Read more

Don’t ask me how/when/why it happened, but I have this innate ability to sense when something is going sideways in my friends’ lives. I’m not sure if it’s a sixth… Read more

Nearly eight years ago, my physician lit into me at my annual physical. Like, finger-wagging-head-shaking laid into me. He was using a tone I’d never heard. And everything he said… Read more

My folks had been married fifteen years before I burst onto the scene. As they so often pointed out, I was quite an unexpected surprise. (Not unlike a clearance sale… Read more

Two things prompted this blog: It’s Father’s Day. My friend used the word “perseverate” in a sentence. When my non-writer friends casually pepper words like perseverate into a conversation, it… Read more

(Dateline: Des Moines, 5:55 a.m.) Just so we’re all clear, I could easily sleep 12 – 14 hours at a stretch back in my 20s and 30s. The mere thought… Read more

Real talk—I kicked off 2023 heavier than I’d ever been before. My feet were perpetually killing me. I was also cranky and bloated. And don’t even get me started on… Read more

Humor writer Jen Mann is my spirit animal. In the words of Bananarama, she’s a goddess on the mountain top, burning like a silver flame. And in honor of her… Read more

If truth be told, I became mesmerized by Debora Iyall the first time I spied Romeo Void on MTV. It was well, well after midnight and well, well after my… Read more