Personal Stories
I Spend a Lot of Time Thinking About Hair Removal What About You
Sometimes the hair is all I can think of and sometimes I forget for a few days and then look in the mirror at the tiny whiskers growing out of my chin, my cheeks, my neck, and cannot believe, literally cannot believe, I’ve been walking around like this.
A Conversation With a Kyrgyz Schoolteacher About Wedding Customs (And Costs)
The cost of a wedding in Kyrgyzstan.
When Your Brain Chemistry Screws Up All Your Relationships (Even at Work)
The third in a series about money and depression (but mostly depression).
An American in Israel, Navigating Credit
How credit works in Israel.
My Parents Gave Me Money, But They Also Gave Me Tools
Your parents can give you money, and teach you how to live responsibly. But you have to live your own life.
My Free Lunch
She’s already swiped it again, when I say, “It’s not going to go through.” “No, it’s going,” she says, so chill, so relaxed. For a minute I think, okay maybe it is. Maybe I was wrong about that email and I still have $69.81 in my account, and I actually am going to buy this lunch right now. I’m hungry.
I Could Have Been a Great Opera Singer, If I Were Rich
Saying you want to be an opera singer is like saying you want to be an astronaut.
Initially Nice But Later Incompetent And/Or Crooked Landlords
Any elisions in this timeline represent long stretches without unpleasant interactions with landlords, and uneventful tenancies make boring stories. I rented many apartments throughout Iowa City and Chicago before my first full-scale landlord-induced meltdown, which set into motion a series of motifs I’d revisit over the next eight years.
Growing Up With Money Doesn’t Make You Good With Money
I thought money made me adult, but spending it didn’t.
A Quick Recorded Convo With My Dad About Retirement
My dad and I talked to John Hockenberry from WNYC’s The Takeaway yesterday, and here is our little convo. I was very very wary of Speaking For Our Generation, so it’s all about ME.
But though my own inability to think about retirement is largely influenced by smaller crises of my own making, I wish I’d emphasized that This Terrible Economy has really retarded all of our abilities to earn and save and plan. So just pretend I said that.
