· ”Top Ten Reasons a Literary Snob Won’t Go Out with You” republished on the Good Men Project (May 14th, 2012) [originally appeared on EmpriseReview.com]

Being a snob means being discerning and exclusive. Try not to take it too hard.

Read the list HERE.

· “Distance” published on the Good Men Project.

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The day of the stabbing I went for a three-mile run on a trail behind my alma mater after class. My apartment was as close to my college as to my old high school. Helicopters hovered above UHS that day. Classes had ended and kids spilled through the chain link fence onto the trail. I weaved around their sunken-in-the-cement feet like a slalom racer, close enough to brush their backpacks and hear snippets of their conversations: Did you see it? Mikey was red all over. What? Kevin ran, quick. I concentrated on my midway point: three yellow poles giving a warning for kids to watch out for cars at the crosswalk.

Read the entire essay HERE.

· “Two Abortions, Herpes, and 69: Some Things That Made Me Not Go on a Second Date” published on the Good Men Project.

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I had met Missy on an online dating site less than a month before meeting her face-to-face. Missy’s profile picture had been from a few years ago. She had smooth, taut skin framed by a bob of blonde hair. When I met Missy in person she kept pulling at the bottom of her shirt to cover up a bit of belly. But I didn’t care that she was bigger than I would have liked, because I was curious. I wanted to see how far it would go.

Read the entire essay HERE.

· “Shifting” is the 44th out of 100 Acts of Male Goodness on the Good Men Project.

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Outside in the parking lot and on a “Green Sweep”—what Starbucks calls picking up lids, cups, and those recycled corrugated-fiber cardboard sleeves, which cost more than the lid, cup, and the coffee filling it—I walked by my motorcycle. My starchy apron caught around my knees in a gust of wind. The air thinned like the intake before a sneeze. I had two hours left of my shift. If I rode home in the rain, then my clogs would feel like buckets of cement.

Read the entire act of goodness HERE.

·Just in time for Valentine’s Day: “Grand (re)Opening” published on the Good Men Project.

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I asked Lauren if I could take her that weekend to the new Dalí Museum for a date. And so, at the beginning of our third try, I drove Lauren from Orlando to St. Pete. It was a blue-sky Florida Saturday. No jacket needed, no air-conditioner on in the car. The air was light and smooth and crisp.

I was excited and nervous and curious. I think Lauren was, too. I kept glancing at her in the passenger seat. Lauren’s beautiful blue eyes matched the water of Tampa Bay that we crossed.

Read the entire essay HERE.