Nature During the Pandemic

I recently read a New York Times article about the increased number of people, especially novices, spending time in nature.* The piece opens with a story about a hiker in a German national park who realizes he left his smartphone somewhere back on the trail. He and...

First Ice

Every day last week I rode my bicycle on a trail that runs behind the hospital and then along a side channel of the Mississippi River. Even though it’s been a mild late autumn, fishermen were already on the ice, either putting in tip-ups for bass or jigging wax...

The Gap Between Sean’s and Ruth Ann’s Houses

For longer than a century, there was a single set of railroad tracks running north and south through La Crosse. At either end of the city, the tracks branched out into two parallel sets, but within the city limits, there was only one. Northbound trains and southbound...

More Than a Hobby?

I have read personal essays by authors who say they need to write. I have never thought of writing as a need, and I don’t have a sense of what it might feel like. The best I can muster up is a joy for writing. On most days I consider myself lucky that the act of...
Steven Simpson