I think often about the wellness industry—the CBD startups, the essential oil MLMs, the influencers and coaches and self-proclaimed “gurus.” So many people have turned away from medical treatment thanks to the for-profit disaster that is the American healthcare system, and a new set of capitalistic vultures have swooped in to sell their healing teasContinue reading “your friend has a new wellness routine: gratitude edition”
your friend with the new wellness routine: sun lamp edition
When Sean and I announced to friends and family that we were moving to Pittsburgh for at least a year while I completed my master’s program at Carnegie Mellon, we got a pretty consistent reaction across the board: “Get ready for a lot of snow.” Both of us were unsettled by this. It wasn’t thatContinue reading “your friend with the new wellness routine: sun lamp edition”
your friend with the new wellness routine: an introduction
Your friends, offline and on, have a new wellness routine. They swear by it. They’ve never felt [more energized] [happier] [less emotionally unstable] [less existentially unsure of how to carry on in this cruel, unforgiving world]. You should try it. You should try it!!!! Frankly, I love talking about the things people do to feelContinue reading “your friend with the new wellness routine: an introduction”
HeR final mystery: the legacy of digital drew
On the hunt for some now-forgotten object, I stumble across a white greeting card with green, glittering birdhouses stamped on the front. I already know what’s inside the card before opening it, but I open it anyway. Dear Molly, The first thing I want to know when I pick you up is if you hadContinue reading “HeR final mystery: the legacy of digital drew”
where the fourth wall ends
As of writing this, I’m impatiently waiting for the next round of episodes of Love is Blind to come out on Netflix. I’ve watched so much Selling Sunset and Bling Empire that I am beyond qualified to write Uncanny Valley pop music. I’m sneaking in a few written words during Bachelor in Paradise commercial breaks.Continue reading “where the fourth wall ends”
searching for unreality
I tell people lately that I want to live in unreality, just some of the time. I try to explain what I mean and come up only with examples, never definitions. I say, “hotels are unreality,” because they wait in uniform neatness for you and then me to take up residence, to fill loose slidingContinue reading “searching for unreality”
what & how we collect
My dad used to say that I was a collector of trash and that my mom was my enabler. Long before I was allowed to drink, I started keeping wine bottles that I found interesting: a merlot with a Beatles-themed label, a chianti with a bulbous bottom wrapped in straw. Eventually, I ran out ofContinue reading “what & how we collect”
manufacturing fun
The year was 1999 and my family structured a weekend getaway around Pennsylvania tourist attractions. We visited the Johnstown Flood Museum, Jimmy Stewart’s house, and Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1935 western Pennsylvanian home that I was, at the age of four, too young to enter. The most important leg of the trip, at least forContinue reading “manufacturing fun”
there’s your trouble
My love affair with the Dixie Chicks began around age four with the release of the Texan trio’s debut album, Wide Open Spaces. We listened to the CD in the car and on the stereo in our living room. Every other night I listened to it through fuzzy boombox speakers on a cassette tape thatContinue reading “there’s your trouble”
who’s afraid of Sylvia Plath?
I am. Or, I was. Here’s what happened. I was seventeen the summer after I graduated from high school. My family and I took a trip to the beach. It wasn’t something we did often. We were more of a hike-in-the-woods family than a sand-and-surf family. I’m pretty sure we went because I insisted thatContinue reading “who’s afraid of Sylvia Plath?”
Molly Andrea-Ryan 