Captain’s Log

I was born on April 27, 1969, roughly three months before Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. This is the closest I…

Every family has rules. Some are written on the refrigerator, where they compete with grocery lists and invitations to events nobody intends…

The first time I understood that a door could be both an invitation and a warning, I was old enough to reach…

Nobody announces the last summer of childhood. There is no ceremony, no certificate, no kindly county official standing beside the road with…

Before I had trouble finding the right button on a website, I had trouble finding the right chord. This was better trouble.…

The house was quiet, which was unusual. For years it had been full of music, children, arguments, laughter, and appliances openly threatening…

I was born on April 27, 1969. I was born again in the 1980s under the teaching of Frank Barker at Briarwood.…

I have been thinking a lot about forgiveness lately, mostly because I have discovered I am not particularly good at it. This…

The first two times I was arrested, I went to the Mountain Brook jail. If you are going to go to jail,…

There are easier ways to lose fifty pounds. You can join a gym, hire a trainer, or count calories on a phone…

There are certain things you expect to find in jail. Bad food. Bad coffee. Bad company. Bad decisions, mostly your own. What…

There are many ways to meet women. Church. Coffee shops. Grocery stores. Dating apps. Mutual friends. And then there is the Jefferson…

There are different ways to disappear. You can run away. You can hide. You can fall off the face of the earth.…

There are things you can lose in jail that never show up on an inventory sheet. Your keys, your belt, and your…

Every ship needs a good first mate. Mine showed up in a van outside the Jefferson County Jail, and his name was…

After my stint in the Jefferson County Jail, my public defender came to me with an offer. Would I be willing to…

Before Montgomery, before room service, there is one more stop in Jefferson County I owe this log. This one goes out to…

Some friendships are born in unexpected places. Mine tend to be born in very unexpected places, usually ones with locked doors. And…

In the military there are honorable discharges and dishonorable discharges. In therapy, it turns out, there is a third option, called an…

Captain’s log, entry twenty. This will be the last one for a while. Not because the ship sank. The ship has sunk…