January - 2017

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A-J ARONSTEIN

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Road

Road

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood. I looked at the snow-covered roads. The snow hadn’t quite filled their ruts. Looked up at the trees and felt the heavy snow-laden silence of the canopy pressing down. I squinted up at the snow as it fell, and then looked back down at my phone, padding at it with my gloved hands. Dammit, I thought. No service. The blue dot representing my location hovered over the cabin, which was the last time I had data service, before setting out. It was

Uber

Uber

Dear Uber -- Thank you for inviting comments. The continued participation of Uber's CEO Travis Kalanick on the president's Business Advisory Council suggests that he desires to act as a collaborator with an administration that has -- not two weeks into its existence -- demonstrated a willingness to run roughshod over many values that make this country (and companies like Uber itself, which rely on the sweat, brains, and creativity of immigrants from all around the world) stro

Script for Calling Congress

Script for Calling Congress

Hello. Well. Hi. Hey there. You guessed it, I'm nervous. I haven't done this before. And frankly, I don't feel a hundred percent awesome about that. But here it is. I've sat on the sidelines too long. I'm getting up there on the dance floor. Hair is gelled. Faded jeans that are way too baggy for me. The DJ is playing Dancing too Close and I'm in the Iona Grammar gym smelling like a quart of Polo Ralph Lauren cologne and this is it. I'm going to ask Diane to dance. Because it'

Dry

Dry

Oliver grew up in Cambria, a suburb on the outskirts of Chicago. Later, he remembered watching his mother load his father into the Deck every morning, wiring him up and then -- once he was safely checked into the program for the day -- reclining the Deck to a comfortable position that wouldn't leave his father's feet tingling at the end of the day when he came out. One morning, as his mother was loading his father into the Deck, Oliver sat eating cereal and watching the rain

Dumb Day

Dumb Day

It is, by any account imaginable, the most ridiculous outfit that I own. He made me bring it all out here in the cart. I wanted to bring clothes to romp around on the trails around the cathedral. To storm off into the wet fields and find the unfound parts of the glades around town. It's beautiful around here, and we used to do that kind of thing all the time. Nope. Couldn't afford to use the space for clothes that I wanted to bring. Had to bring this giant robe, the ridiculou

Into the Forest

Into the Forest

Harvey never ordered the tuna at Tuna Del Mar. He ordered the burger. Or the fish and chips. On one hand, Portia had fancier tastes, so Harvey needed to make sure he had enough cash to cover both of them. And on the other, when it came down to it, Harvey knew what he liked. He liked burgers and he liked fish and chips. "Why don't we ever go anywhere else other than Tuna Del Mar?" Portia asked the previous Tuesday night, just as Harvey was digging into some fish and chips that

Canoe, Part I

Canoe, Part I

The Wisconsin River runs more than 400 miles from Michigan's Upper Peninsula to the Mississippi River. In its middle section, much of the land on its banks is owned privately, but forests of jack pine and red birch and a few scattered remaining Norway pines lean into it. Eagles and hawks swoop around its bluffs. Laura Bush, former First Lady of the United States of America, supposedly said that Menomonie -- a town on the Wisconsin and home to a number of canoe rental companie

Till It's Boring

Till It's Boring

Someone once told me, "Write about yourself until you find yourself boring." Well, someone more famous said, "I contain multitudes." Which is not really necessarily a way of saying that I'll be interesting forever. I just think that more research is necessary. I have to dig through all this trash. Give me a minute at least. Maybe we don't contain multitudes. Maybe we just contain one thing, repeated infinitely in different ways. Maybe we're just repeating ourselves. But then

Hot Chocolate

Hot Chocolate

Little girl in the pink coat and the white hat with the pom pom on top. With mom or maybe babysitter. Given the neighborhood, maybe foreign nanny. Holding a to-go coffee cup of what has to be (right?) hot chocolate. Skipping down the stairs and holding the cup with two hands. Singing something that's echoing off the stairwell walls. That mom or maybe babysitter. The quick reflexes when the cup hit the deck, top down, comically sitting on the ground, lid flat. For a moment, ma

Use Value

Use Value

Rain. And a delayed subway. A long work day. They're all long, with soggy peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at my desk. Wrapped in aluminum foil. The same lunch since 1990. I shouted out of my office, "In all my life, I have never not wanted a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that was put in front of me!" Silence. Still early to be making jokes about peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. (Though I do love them). On my mind: billionaires who need to decide whether to take their

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