I did weekly recaps on this site for a while. They were taking a silly amount of time each week, so I stopped. But… I didn’t replace them with anything, so if you don’t follow me on Twitter (and you should), you’ve probably missed some of my writing over the last couple months. I’ve been busy.

The Millions (one of my favorite bookish sites) published my essay on Patricia Lockwood’s excellent memoir Priestdaddy. I’m pretty proud of this essay. You should check it out.

Like military brats, a preacher’s kids learn to make friends quickly and to lose them again without a thought. The wind stirs the branches in the grown-up world and suddenly the kids are packing up their rooms again, looking up a new town name in a Rand McNally road atlas, wondering if it’ll have a Dairy Queen.

My latest essay for Bright Wall Dark Room looked at Mary Pickford’s silent classic Sparrows and my own trailer trash childhood.

For most of us, childhood taught us at least as much about cruelty as it did about charity. My own was rich in both wounds and wonders. I spent my first half-dozen years in a trailer park in the Rust Belt, and it was an ample classroom for the learning of both. Our mobile home park was draped like a dirty shop rag over a few small hills, hemmed in on two sides by swamps of black water and green duckweed.

For Fourth & Sycamore, I interviewed musician Anna P.S.

…and those words convey the weariness that weaves its way throughout the album’s simple but resonant songs. It’s a weariness that keeps a blanket of hope tucked up under its chin, even as the rain keeps falling outside the windows. Grace always lurks around the corner on these tracks that layer delicate vulnerability over the hearty stock of this songwriter’s spirit.

And of course, I’ve been writing a lot about beer. I’ll be getting a professional site up soon for my beer writing and speaking, but for now, you can follow the links below to find what I’ve been up to on the beer-y interwebs.

For Porchdrinking, I’ve profiled Warped Wing’s Trotwood Lager and Rivertown’s Ojos Negros, and written an article about St. Benedict’s Brew Works, the only brewery in the country operating on the grounds of a women’s religious community. I also profiled Scratch Brewing in Illinois and launched a new book review/interview series for PorchDrinking by interviewing the authors of Trappist Beer Travels. I have more articles in the pipeline for PorchDrinking, and starting next month I’ll be writing monthly beer book reviews for them, which is super cool.

For Indiana on Tap, I wrote an article about Indiana’s largest hop farm and covered the Anderson on Tap beer festival.

For Perfect Pour, I wrote about Tornado-themed beers. For SommBeer, I wrote about what I’ve learned teaching beginners about beer.

And for Craftbeer.com, I wrote an article for Cinco de Mayo about Mexican-style craft lagers.

I’ve got a bunch more coming out soon, and I’m also going to be writing regularly for Dayton City Paper’s beer section, which is awesome.

Also on the beer front, I have a new professional website up for my beer writing and speaking—DavidNilsenBeer.com—and a new Instagram account for my beer reviews.

I also wrote plenty of stuff here on the blog in April, May, and June. Check it out!

Thanks for reading!