the bruises were fist kisses

spending time together is easy when you spend so much time apart. i gave up my freedom but i gained a second heart.




second heart is all i need this fall cuz you know i need someone to sing me to sleep.




making good decisions is easy when you haven't got a choice. telephone turn on sunshine when it sends you the right voice.




hello to the angry phone bill. they charge for my whole life. wise man, he once told me, cut the cord with a kitchen knife.




kitchen knife is all i need this fall cuz you know i need someone to sing me to




...zzz...






credit where credit is due.
"the bruises were fist kisses" accredited to Ben White
photos by alex johnson
lyrics - "Coupla Easy Things" Bishop Allen

i brought you this

marysol foucault
wheat toast

go there. seriously. for the following reasons.


max key


miranda lehman


sarah k. meadows


hanne piasecki



bryan schutmaat

lina scheynius

fae young scherling

need another reason? fine, one more.

Even the Canadian thinks this is messed up!

I apaprently started writing about this on May 23 so you know like a really long time ago but never posted it. It's funny so I'm posting it now. Enjoy!

So check it, about a month ago I hung out with my brother and his Canadian. And we're telling him all sorts of crazy family stories and we're like seriously, totally blowing this guy's mind and his mind being blown by situations that I, at this point, think of as normal totally blows my mind. So this is just a few days after my mom totally hung up on me so I tell him the story. The entire time he thinks I'm on the phone with my sister because the story prior was about my sister so he's all like, whoa, that's kinda messed up and I'm like dude, I know, my mom like totally hung up on me. And he's like Holy crap! Your mom hung up on you? That's like seriously messed up. Whoah!! Like Whoah!!! Eh. (Cuz he's Canadian).

But now when I tell this story some people like to focus on the wrong part of the story. Some people like to focus on the reason I called my mom. That's not important. I ask you, my dear reader, not to focus on my inability to function on my own, and to focus on the fact that my mom hung up on me! Okay, here goes:

So one Friday night, about a month ago, around 11:30pm, I called my mom. I called because I wanted to get her opinion on whether or not my milk was still good. Let me explain, see I got this new milk, this all-organic natural milk and the carton claimed it was good until May 15. This happened around April 15th so I thought maybe it was a typo cuz since when does milk stay good for a full month! But I thought, maybe this is special milk and maybe all-organic natural milk stays good for an absurdly long time. The milk didn't smell particularly bad but I'm not a good judge at those sort of things so I wanted back up. Now as I was on the phone with my mom I read another part of the carton that said that the milk was best when used within five days of opening and it had been a week so I realized that the milk probably wasn't okay but before that I wasn't sure. Okay? Get over it.

So I call my mom and she answers and I pose the milk dilemma to her. She tells me to smell the milk. To taste it. See for myself if it's sour. I inform her that I can't tell, thus why I called her for reassurance. There's a pause and she asks how she should know if my milk is good or not. I ask her if she was sleeping because her responses are a little slow and she assures me she wasn't. She asks me if I'm coming home on Saturday and I tell her that I am. I ask again about the milk and she again tells me she can't help me. We chat about nothing. She's still slow with her responses. She asks again if I'm coming home on Saturday and I inform her that my answer hasn't changed in the last two minutes so yes I will be home. I inform her that the milk isn't chunky or anything, so maybe it's okay to drink? There's a pause and she responds that she doesn't care whether I drink the sour milk or not. I wonder what I did to piss her off. I wonder what I said. She asks yet again if I'll be home on Saturday and I answer again that I will. I wonder what I'm forgetting about Saturday that it's this huge deal. I go to ask her but then...she hangs up! She just hangs up on me! My own mother!!

All night I'm worrying about what I said, what I did, what the heck next Saturday is! So the next morning I give her a call back. She's in a much more pleasant mood. I ask her about the phone call last night and she laughs. She hangs up on me and then she laughs about it! The nerve!!! She says she woke up this morning and vaguely remembers talking to me and telling me that she didn't care whether or not I drank the sour milk and she said she felt really bad about that. She doesn't even remember hanging up on me. Seriously. No love!

I don't know. I think there was more to this story but since I started writing this in May and it actually happened in April - well I just can't remember. I still think it's funny though. Cuz my mom hung up on me. Ha.

I've got a bike. You can ride it if you like. It's got a basket, a bell that rings, and things to make it look good.

I was twelve. Anthony was in his first year of college so he couldn't go. It was my dad's annual union picnic. We hated these things but we went every year for my dad. He was in his element there. We just stood around awkwardly. It was better together, but it was just me and it was no fun.

There was a pool but it was crowded. There was food and games but I was too young or old to enjoy most of it. There were raffles. Things no one needed or wanted. Except the bike. I wanted a bike. I was going to wait until Christmas - that was the bike holiday. Kids didn't just get bikes on any random day. Birthdays and Christmas and it was summer so I had some time to wait. But there was one there. At this picnic I didn't want to be at. My dad could tell I wasn't having fun no matter how hard I tried to pretend. He appreciated my attempt and he bought a raffle. "You're getting a bike today," he told me. I wanted to believe him but didn't want to be too disappointed if I didn't win. The day dragged on. My dad was having a good time and I tried to stay out of the way. It was the last union picnic we would go to. The year before Anthony was there and he kept me entertained. His being there also meant my dad could drink because Anthony could drive home. This year, it was just me and my dad and it wasn't the same for either of us. We stayed until the raffles were pulled. I didn't win. I wasn't too disappointed. I was just ready to go home. I would wait until Christmas.

As we drove I put the day behind me, the crowded pool, the picnic food, and the bike. Driving down rt. 18 I didn't realize where we were going until after we pulled into the parking lot of the bike shop. "I told you you were getting a bike today," my dad said as he got out of the truck.

It was a deep purple Trek bike and it was perfect.

The point is, someone stole my bike. I'm going to beat them up if I find them. I hope it wasn't you.