Apocalyptic upbringing: how I recovered from my terrifying evangelical childhood
One stormy night in the summer of 1992, I walked down the basement steps of my parents’ house to await the apocalypse. The Iowa air
Category: Autobiographical
Don’t Kill Your Heroes, Don’t Even Meet Them
Growing up in the tiny hamlet of Clear Lake, Iowa (population 7500), there weren’t many opportunities for me to encounter my heroes of music, film,
I Had a Giant Testicle for Two Years and Didn’t Tell Anyone
From the ages of 17 to 19, I believed that God had cursed me with a swollen left testicle that was the size and shape
Oprah and I Have Chiclephobia: The Fear of Gum
Despite watching many hours of Fox News each week, I rarely find myself agreeing with the network’s outrage cheerleaders. But last month when Charles Krauthammer appeared on The
Records and Girls: How My Two Favorite Addictions Stripped Me Of All Reality
As far back as my pre-school years I was showing signs of an unhealthy obsession with both girls and music—behaviors that remain with me today
How Tom Robbins Taught Me to Use Drugs Like a Grown-Up
In his new memoir, Tibetan Peach Pie: A True Account of an Imaginative Life, novelist Tom Robbins writes, “Not one word of my oeuvre, not one,
How to Quit Smoking With the Help of Unlit Cigarettes and Pop Culture
I’ve hardly left my room in three days, and I’m beginning to smell the poison making its way out my pours. Both sweat and snot
How Bill Maher and Russell Brand Helped Me Mend A Broken Heart At The High Plains Comedy Festival
Comedy festivals are the perfect antidote to a nasty breakup. Not only because laughing activates several different sections of the brain, strengthening neurons that lead