Stories

400 Words content. True personal stories that might or might not also appear in the print magazine.

Derek, 33, Portland

Posted to Autobiographies on 3 April 2008, with no comments so far.

by Derek—Age 33—Portland, OR I now reside in Portland, Oregon. I arrived here two years ago in a beat-up truck with everything I owned crammed into the bed and cab. I was fleeing Lee’s Summit, Missouri, where I had worked for a shady sub-contractor for the Justice Department—blowing the whistle led to my termination. I [...]

Flux

Posted to Work on 11 November 2007, with 7 comments so far.

by Erin—Age 30—Saskatoon, Canada Each day is quite different from the last. I am a mother. I am a grad student. My work, however, can scarcely be summed by such labels. When I was five, my parents decided to go to grad school. In the five years that followed I was very much on my [...]

Easy

Posted to Work on 9 November 2007, with 6 comments so far.

by Holly—Age 42—Killingly, CT I leave my quiet home on the lake and arrive at work every weekday at 11:00 am. Standing behind the register of our family restaurant, I take in its familiar sights and sounds. A three-year-old throws a tantrum when his pregnant tattooed mother takes away the salt shaker he was busy [...]

Switch

Posted to Work on 7 November 2007, with no comments so far.

by Nate—Age 33—Petaluma, CA When it all started I took phone calls and fixed problems. Technical people called me, software engineers, and I helped them do things that I could never explain to my family. I felt like I had two lives: my days were filled with cubicles and computers, my nights were spent with [...]