There comes a time when every forward-minded consumer must take stock. If you look around your home, you will find a series of purchases that have defined you and your presence in the global marketplace. Are you green? Fashionable? Vegan? Accidentally vanilla-orange scented? Minimalist? Beige? Localist? The things you buy, both with careful consideration and with indiscriminate laxity, are all variables in your developing shopper’s profile. This personal history of fiscal activity speaks volumes about you and your relationship with the world, and it’s about time you gave it …

I’ve wanted to save the world since I was about five years old. I had just had my hopes of becoming a fairy princess ballerina crushed, and I felt pressured to pick a new career path as soon as possible. Aha! Champion of Goodwill and Defender of the Less Fortunate. That’ll do.
A part of me wants to say that it took about 15 years for me to understand what an undertaking that title would be – that there are international laws I need to learn, trade policies, and third-world languages. …

Today is a momentous holiday. It celebrates a good friend of ours who has never failed to give us an interesting night out, a quirky bit of gossip, a fun alternative to a mainstream idea, or seriously crazy weather. January 29, in short, is Kansas Day.
Back in 1861, when the land that is now our beloved home was known as “Bleeding Kansas” for its violent massacres and disputes, the Unites States officially declared Kansas a free state of the Union. Being the land of abolitionist extremist John Brown and an …

Are you getting tired of the same old routine? We all sympathize.
There was once a time when boozing after a long day of class and work was all we could ask of life. Hell, I can remember when talking on the phone  (to girlfriends I had just left at the bus stop) was a perfect way to spend the afternoon.  If I think back even further, all I ever wanted to do with my spare time was put bugs in jars. Eventually, perhaps, my nightly cup-of-coffee-and-a-good-book routine will get old. …

Out of simple curiosity, I decided to count the number of houses I’ve lived in. Nineteen. I’m 23 years old. Needless to say, I was a child totally unphased by spontaneous relocation. As an adult, I’m intrepid. With all of this packing and unpacking, and the strange collection of homes I’ve claimed, it takes a truly remarkable location to make an impression. For instance, the cement-walled hostel I lived in while working in West Africa, or the farmhouse nestled between two sloping hills of purple wildflowers in eastern Tennessee. Or …