To succeed as a journalist, one must first accept the you’re going to lose your job a lot. — To succeed in journalism, one must possess two key traits: (1) the ability to shape every thought, interaction, and possibility into a story, and (2) the strength to transform the words “we’ve eliminated your position” into an opportunity for growth. Often. So much more often than you want to believe. …

This game is addicting and I want to quit. — I look over at my husband from the opposite side of the couch. It’s a moment I never want to forget, no matter how mundane. It’s a Monday night. He’s sitting comfortably, PS4 controller in hand, fighting virtual crimes as a New York City superhero. He’s having a blast, especially…

For writers, the future of AI has its pros and cons. For editors, AI is already a nightmare. — You’ve likely heard both sides of the AI-generated content debate by now. Either it’s coming for our writing jobs or it isn’t — at least, not yet. We often discuss AI as if it’s still a far-off game-changer. But it’s already here. In journalism, AI has already become a part…

At every lowest point you reach, the only way is up. — The longer we live, the more we encounter heartache. Fear. Anger. Anxiety. The toughest things life hands us are almost never the things we ask for. The strongest people are those who can rely on what they’ve learned from the past to dictate the direction of their future. Surviving hard…

It doesn’t take much to convince strangers you’re the worst. If you’re reading this right now, you are using the internet. Most likely this is nothing new for you. …

People of a certain age are harshly judged for treating their dogs like children. It’s madness, I tell you. — The internet is a great place to judge strangers you will never meet in real life for behaviors that neither harm nor concern you. The most recent example of this that has drawn me in enough to write about it on my day off is — deep breath — people…

You’re too old to be afraid of the dark. You’re also a human being facing very real monsters. — At what age are you supposed to grow out of being afraid of the dark? I don’t mean the unmanagable terror that overtakes you when you have to go downstairs alone in the middle of the night and can’t turn a light on or risk waking up your loved ones…

You don’t know me at all, actually — that’s the point. — There is life to live beyond the screen. This may be one of those lessons you have to learn, forget, and re-learn a few times until you truly get it. …

In the fight to preserve human rights for the historically excluded, Star Wars fans draw strength from the stories that teach them they can win. — “In my life, when you find people who need your help, you help them, no matter what.” — Ahsoka Tano When people turn to fictional universes like Star Wars, not all of them do so with the intent of escaping into an alternate world. Sometimes, escapism is a valid coping…