I’m just waiting for the Big Red Button to say Dash Now. — It’s 5 pm on Wednesday and I need cash. Even dull gig work pays some of the bills. What do I do in the meantime? Sit down on the couch. Close and reopen the Dasher app, trying to refresh my request to the job gods. I implore, I’ll even accept Burger King! No response. Close and reopen…

I'm a dasher and I can see how much I'll be paid before I decide to accept a delivery or not. With the guaranteed base pay being $2.50 for most orders, it's not worth the gas if there's no tip. Many Dashers won't accept an order unless it pays a…

William Stafford once wrote, “My aim is not to be a writer, but to write” (from the book Sound of the Ax). I’ve thought of myself as a writer for much of my life. The tricky part is how to make writing, actually writing, the first priority of my life. …

In 2011, I was fortunate to hear the poet Naomi Shihab Nye speak at Earlham College in Indiana. …

Buy the cheapest notebook that’ll fit in your pocket. Spiral-top ones are good for keeping pages together through the ruggedness of daily use. Don’t get too fussy about the design. Expensive ones may be nice, but then you might feel that only nice things can go in it. Keep it…