Wild River Blues, about my little brother's and my epic road trip, in which we backpack the East Coast, eat obscene quantities of Cheez-Its, obsess about art and life and then learn not to obsess about art and life, was published today as a Vintage Short Original! This piece makes me intensely nostalgic and I hope it inspires you to hug your sibling.
“Jackson Samuel Menkedick, my little brother, has printed the Tao Te Ching on the back of a bunch of old Excel spreadsheets, looped them all together on a key ring, and placed this makeshift tome on the dash of his forest-green Honda Accord.
One weekend in June, while I am hunched over and sweating, cutting multiflora rose from the trails on my parents’ farm, he announces that he is going to spend the next year driving around the country, backpacking through the national parks, listening to thousands of hours of jazz, and reading the Tao. Instantly, I look up, freeze the clippers, and say, 'I am so coming with you.'"
Read the full Vintage Short.