Memorials
2025
“I am both angry and afraid. Angry that life can still take such an ugly and familiar form, and afraid that death will catch me before I get home.”
–John Francis, Planetwalker
God Panels, a seven essay memoir and complaint
2024
“…But you know it’s not normal. If it were normal, you would have experienced it before, when you were normal, normal-er. And you know you aren’t normal because you are seeing an onco-cardiologist, who is in contact with your PKD nephrologist, who saw that you visited the rheumatologist, and when you met with your oncologist, they didn’t refer you to an endocrinologist, because in her words, “you already have quite a few doctors.”
In good graces
2021
“I spent the following year building calluses on the fingers of my left hand, playing a cheap electro-acoustic guitar in front of my family’s television during commercial breaks. I took classes from a music teacher at the strip mall next to the Super Target. He asked what kind of music I’d like to learn. I chose death metal. It was only appropriate, given my plans to melt Brent’s smile right off of his face.”
Julian Harper 