While waiting for one of my favorite restaurants to open on a recent Saturday in Evanston, I killed some time in Market Fresh Books, a used book store that sells by the pound. Buried behind the travel shelf I found a battered copy of Farley Mowat’s The Siberians, which you can get for a penny +… Continue reading Full of fine sable
Tag: benjamin van loon
Babson Boulders
As a native Midwesterner, New England has always seemed full of secrets to me. But none as surreal as the Babson Boulders, a seemingly random collection of massive boulders with inspirational all-caps etchings scattered around the forest of an abandoned inland settlement in Gloucester, Massachusetts. I first learned about the boulders six or seven years… Continue reading Babson Boulders
Porcupine Mountains
To ring in the end of a busy summer, and get away from the familiar noise of the city, I recently went north to Ontonagon (on-tuh-noggin), a small town of around 1,500 in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (the UP), near the Wisconsin border and the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, about 400-ish miles straight north… Continue reading Porcupine Mountains
The Night of the Gun
Some words from David Carr’s The Night of the Gun: “Every hangover begins with an inventory.” (8) “I’m not obsessed with my own privates, but I’m not one to point a pistol at them, either.” (13) “Tucked in safe suburban redoubts, kids who had it soft like me manufactured peri. When there is no edge, we… Continue reading The Night of the Gun
New cover story for Profile Magazine
I have a new cover story for Profile Magazine with Allie Hope of Virgin Hotels. It’s not online yet, but here’s a picture of the cover. Stay tuned.
New issue of Boneshaker: A Bicycling Almanac
A few years ago I was browsing the magazine racks at Quimby’s and came across Wolverine Farm’s Boneshaker: A Bicycling Almanac. The content ranged from creative to informative and I ended up writing an essay for them about my experience cycling in Chicago. The potholes, the asshole drivers, the expected civility. Due to various complications, the… Continue reading New issue of Boneshaker: A Bicycling Almanac
Desert Solitaire
I recently read Edward Abbey’s, Desert Solitaire. Here are some of my favorite parts: “I’m a humanist; I’d rather kill a man than a snake.” (17) “We have agreed not to drive our automobiles into cathedrals, concert halls, art museums, legislative assemblies, private bedrooms and the other sanctums of our culture; we should treat our national parks… Continue reading Desert Solitaire
Every job I’ve ever had because I’m a lazy Millennial
I was riding the train back form work the other day and standing next to these two Naperville-looking Baby Boomer dads in jean shorts. They were on their way to the afternoon Cubs game, fighting their upcoming senility to remember the last time they rode the L. “Must have been ’94? ’95? Whenever Blues Traveler played the… Continue reading Every job I’ve ever had because I’m a lazy Millennial
The Iceland Ring Road: Part I
I took an eight-day drive with my wife and partner Sarah around Iceland’s famous and rugged Ring Road. It was like a weeklong movie filled with mountains, swamp gas, lucid dreams and horsemeat. In these posts, I explain how we did it and what we saw along the way.
The Iceland Ring Road: Part II
I took an eight-day drive with my wife and partner Sarah around Iceland’s famous and rugged Ring Road. In the last post, I explained how we did it. In this one, I explain what we saw and ate along the way. Against popular currents we took a counterclockwise route around Iceland’s 830-mile Ring Road, starting and… Continue reading The Iceland Ring Road: Part II
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