COVID Cole

I have always been an introvert by nature. Though I have been able to mask it through jobs, or sports, or more outgoing friends, I have always been someone that would ultimately rather stay within myself. It can be a lot of work building up the emotional or mental energy to put yourself out there...

Before I sleep, I wake

I close my eyes and wrap the sound around me. It is a Bell X1 night, like many before it recently. And as I settle in, I feel my expired youth calling out to me, asking me why. Why were you afraid? Why didn't you feel enough? Why were you so concerned with being accepted?...

Fatherhood Now

And upon these little faces I'm reminded of all I've done The good, the bad, the ugly and all of those I've loved And though the days may bury me In panic and in fear I know that they too will grace me With all that I hold dear So as I face each day...

Song 1

  I have always fancied myself somewhat of a creative person, but I've never desired to be an "artist." I consider it both a blessing and a curse. Blessing because being an artist is no joke, it isn't something one can venture into half-heartedly. And while there is a lot of art that doesn't appeal...

My Favorite 100 Songs

As someone who has written critically about music and typically tries to objectively evaluate whether a song or album is "good," it is hard for me to reject my own desire to be fair as to quality and just be subjective about what I like. To disregard a song's significance in its time or our culture,...

The Incomplete

In the in-between posts period, which can sometimes be months, I'm not usually going without attempts at a post. Every couple weeks something will come to mind, or get partially created, but they often end up in my graveyard of Drafts. Instead of just wiping them all and starting fresh, this time I'm going to...

The Veils – Total Depravity

It is common lore that the devil has the ability to take many forms and on Total Depravity, The Veils fifth studio album, it seems to have taken over the soul of Finn Andrews. Andrews, the lead writer and singer of the English-New Zealand quintet, is the perfect channel for the devil's words - pale...

The Passing

The Passing 8-2-16 I look down upon my arm sun spots peppered across it like stars in the sky every one a reminder of the years and all the memories that make up my life   I'm somewhere between the beginning and the end too young to feel old and too old to be young...

Youth, Revisited

Sometimes when I talk about my childhood, it sounds eerily similar to an episode of The Wonder Years. In retrospect, my childhood was sickeningly idyllic to many in the outside world. It's not that it was always perfect, and I definitely wasn't always the nicest, or coolest kid, but I'm not also not naive to...

Prince 1958-2016

Upon hearing of Prince's passing April 21st, a friend of mine asked me what it was about him that was so important. It's a fair question, especially for millennials and those that have grown up in a time of internet, celebrity and pop stars. Most people under 30 years old probably know Prince more for...