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An Exercise in Trading Places
I really like this article from Esquire, examining the different lives of four men across the income spectrum. It’s hard to imagine the way other people live—how they plan their finances, what keeps them up at night, what they do on a daily basis—especially if, like me, you’ve never been exceptionally rich or exceptionally poor. Esquire‘s…
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Stories of Conversion
Kelsey Osgood asks: “Can an Outsider Ever Truly Become Amish?” In this collaboration between Longreads and Atlas Obscura, Osgood profiles two cases of Amish conversion: one successful, one unsuccessful. She writes of her experience in an Amish church: I sneak a few furtive glances around the room, and then look up to Alex, who is…
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Inked!
I got my second tattoo finished today! Here it is next to the original sketch I drew: It’s on my right ribs, so the image is a bit distorted since I’m raising my arm to show the entire piece. I got it done by Matt Kolling at Uptown Tattoo — check them out if you’re…
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Baseball (Reprise)
It’s worth bumping this post from April of last year, because it’s (sadly) still relevant. No, I didn’t take the deep dive into baseball I said I was going to. But, surely I will this year…? What am I doing to make that happen? Following some baseball personalities on Twitter. Watching a couple Opening Day games…
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I, too, will continue my boycott of North Carolina.
Our governor (yes, the Minnesotans said a year residency was long enough to claim him as my own) recently announced a travel ban to North Carolina for state employees in light of the state’s anti-anti-discrimination bill. The bill overrides and forbids local anti-discrimination policies in the Tar Heel State. In a statement, Gov. Mark Dayton said:…
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April Fools’ Day Wrap-Up
I made it through the day unscathed. A coworker put a Post-It note on the bottom of my computer mouse, rendering the clicker on-screen immobile for a couple seconds. For my part, I clipped a loud, chirping plastic bird to the bottom of my boss’s chair. She didn’t find it until the end of the…
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The Story of How Under Armour Won Steph Curry
Clickbait title notwithstanding, this story from Ethan Sherwood Strauss is pretty incredible. It took me awhile to get around to reading it (the dynamics between a millionaire athlete and billion-dollar companies didn’t much appeal to me), but it surprised me with its substance and drama. While the article avoided all the predictable David vs. Goliath cliches,…
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Updates to the Blog
Pretty much the only element of this site I’ve been keeping properly updated is the What I’m Reading section—where I archive the best articles I’ve read and, starting this year, keep a running list of books I’ve read (good or bad). It’s useful for my reference, but otherwise it hasn’t served much of a purpose…
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Here’s the plan. I ripped my pants.
This post originally appeared on Medium. I work for a really big mall. One of the biggest malls in the world, in fact. I usually work downstairs in the offices in the mall’s basement. But last week, I was sent aboveground to help set up an art exhibit on the second floor. Curators had laid…
Timothy Pate 