John Scholvin

John Scholvin

still can’t fit a half-stack in the trunk

31 Dec 2021

pictures of 2021

The past year resists any attempt to weave a narrative or theme around it. There were some major ups and downs, which sets it apart from 2020, a year that had no ups. But I can’t say if it was better or worse. Different and less linear, for sur...
21 Dec 2021

dark solstice

I mean, they’re all dark, kind of by definition. For most of my adult life, especially since I understood the profound effects of seasonal affective disorder on me, the winter solstice has always been one of the biggest milestones of the year....
25 Nov 2021

eleven plus

Eleven and a half years ago, when we moved into this house, we put together an ordered list of the various projects we’d be undertaking to make the place our own. It was a lengthy list, and right near the top was the living room. This magnific...
07 Jun 2021

blue

For some of these kids, it's the last competitive game they're ever going to play. I’ve been toying with the idea of becoming certified (“patched,” in the vernacular) to umpire IHSA baseball games on and off for a few years. When D...
25 Apr 2021

canal bank road

I did a moderately-to-severely dumb thing today. It started when I got into a wikihole and ended up on the page of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. It’s a fascinating piece of civil engineering, the thing that enabled the reversal of the C...
13 Apr 2021

thirteens

If you had told me on March 13, 2020, that I was done traveling for at least the next thirteen months, and that I’d be working from home every day during that time, I’d have probably been shocked at first. I thought we were just going to...
29 Mar 2021

waning

via today’s NYT I’ve been watching that 70% dot move tantalizingly closer. As interesting and important as this graph is in its own right, perhaps more interesting has been how it has been changing over time. Two weeks ago, the Times was...
28 Feb 2021

poker chips

I spent much of the day sorting through Leah’s old toys to donate or junk, and it was every bit the emotional journey you’d expect. But at the moment, I just can’t bear to write another Big Feels thing about it. So let’s talk...
25 Feb 2021

lasts

A couple of weeks ago I went to buy some new skates. My old ones currently sit in a coworker’s garage outside of Boston. I was playing with the company hockey team1 when I was there every week, and I didn’t have the foresight to bring my...
16 Feb 2021

a year and a day

pic via @coachiex on @tiny_bit_of_giants_blood’s insta I missed yesterday’s anniversary. February 15, 2020 was the last time I took to a stage. It was the TBGB album release party at Martyrs’. (You can still get your copy, and you ...