Ringer writer Jonathan Tjarks veers from his usual NBA beat to unpack his cancer diagnosis and the shadow it casts over his experience as a son and a father. Unblinking and plainspoken, he somehow manages to strip the emotion out of his writing — but not the emotional impact. I was 12. That’s the age […]
fatherhood
Posted inEditor's Pick
Ben Stiller Sees the World Differently Now
“It was a pretty amazing run. And there was a clarity to it all. He worked hard, pursued satisfying projects, and repeated the things that worked. He made Ben Stiller movies. He was always ascending. Then, starting with the cancer, he got the crap pounded out of him for a few years. His career, his […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
I Had a Chance to Travel Anywhere. Why Did I Pick Spokane?
“After 18 months of pandemic parenting isolation, the writer Jon Mooallem knew just where the cure might lie: a minor-league baseball game in eastern Washington.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
What My Korean Father Taught Me About Defending Myself in America
“And he said something I would never forget. ‘The best fighter in tae kwon do never fights,’ he said. ‘He always finds another way.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Finding My Father Among the Astronauts
“It took more than a decade for me to realize that I never really wanted to become a pilot so much as I wanted to become like my dad, to achieve what others deemed impossible.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Kitchen Dad
“Place the oyster on a bed of ice and go to the next one. It’s possible to refine this technique to perfection. Like changing a diaper.”
Posted inArts & Culture, Essays & Criticism, Highlight, Quote Posts, Quotes
“Over a Glass of Wine and a Pint on a Quiet Friday Night”
“Impending parenthood makes you reconsider the context of your own upbringing, and puts the work your parents did into a new light.”
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Story
Old Dudes On Skateboards
The death of his life-long skateboarding friend prompts Aaron Gilbreath to get back on his board — at 44, with his toddler daughter in tow.
Posted inHighlight, Nonfiction, Quote Posts, Quotes
Companion Fair?
“That’s what Dad’s AAirpass and ultra-elite flying status yielded for him: lifelong bonds.”
Posted inNonfiction
Bearing the Weight of My Grandfathers’ Old Clothes
In adopting outerwear worn by the men who came before him, Aram Mrjoian considers his childhood misperceptions of traditional masculinity.