I grew up in the middle of Florida, in almost every way. My mom and her family were southern country folk. My dad and his family spoke Spanish. I grew up eating black beans with sofrito and biscuits with gravy. We all lived in Central Florida, equidistant from the beach…

At my Pawpaw’s funeral years ago, Dusty Rhodes was mentioned in the eulogy — a wrestler whose picture my grandpa had framed on his wall. I didn’t know who Dusty Rhodes was then. My mom had always mentioned my Pawpaw loving wrestling, how she’d always thought it was “real.” That…

(This post originally appeared on Creative Teacup in April 2016. …

(This post originally appeared on Creative Teacup in April 2016. …

(This post originally appeared on Creative Teacup in May 2020. I visited Chloe on set late 2019.) Everyone thinks I’m an extra. I’m sitting on a circle couch in a fancy hotel lobby in LA, and most everyone else milling about is dressed for a fictional brunch, extras in a…

The morning after the Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions came out I woke up to an email from my friend Emily with one word in the subject line — “Taylor.” I moved from San Diego to Florida a few months ago and my west-coast-friend Emily decided to email instead…

There is a line in Hamilton that isn’t on the cast album, where a letter is read explaining Laurens’ death, proclaiming that his dreams also die with him. That was the first moment I cried when I saw the show on Broadway. I was in the middle of writing a…

The 5 Things 120 People Who Had a Dream Come True Had in Common A couple of years ago I interviewed 120 people about a dream come true in their lives. …

How to Show up Even After You’re Destroyed I have two brothers and they were always better at video games than me. And no — not because they are boys, but because they were willing to die a lot more than I was. …