Author: Ari Willis

Dear Family, You already know how scatterbrained I am, but just in case you needed a reminder, I’d like to share a story: I had a panic a few minutes ago when I looked at my watch and realized that it was the twenty-sixth, meaning that there were only two days left in February. Then,…

Dear Family,  Insert obligatory self-deprecating joke in place of an apology for how late this letter is. To my credit, I made the commitment to myself to get it done before Christmas, and given how much of the body of this letter has been completed, I think I might actually manage to keep that. Take…

Note: This letter was written over the course of two weeks, so it’s a hot mess. Forgive me.  Dear Family, Since the composition and posting on my last letter, July was lovely. The first five days of August, however, have been TERRIBLE.  I am sick. Well, I’ve actually been sick for exactly fourteen days now,…

Dear Family, I need you all to know that I am queer as heck.  That’s how I’d planned to start this letter, when I began work on it near the end of May. It was important, but it didn’t end up flowing well in the context of the rest of the letter. So I’ll write…

Dear Family,  Listen, I warned you in September’s letter that updates would be sporadic, so I shall stubbornly plead not guilty of all charges, on the grounds that there was an exculpatory clause included in our contract. Even though I’m fairly certain that the word “plead” is not used in breach-of-contract lawsuits. Or “charges,” for…

Dear Family, As many of you know, my house, where I have lived for longer than I can remember, is just a fence jump away from the woods. (Well, it’s less a “fence jump” and more a “gate open,” as our backyard fence does in fact have a back gate, but the former sounds more…

Dear Family,  If you are reading this, you may have noticed a couple of things. First and foremost, I have not written a letter since April. I swear I’ve been meaning to, but I only ever manage to find the motivation in the middle of a month, at which point I think, “Well, I should…

Dear Family, Today, I learned what color a blue crab is.  And no, I do not mean that I just discovered that there is a species of crustacean called the blue crab. I am a Marylander, born and raised, so I have been aware of the existence of these azure arthropods for longer than I…