Life & Becoming
I Was Always Here
An old family photograph captures a version of me who seems both familiar and distant, raising questions about identity, memory, and who we were becoming all along.
Jodi Pickens
Fueled by coffee, powered by sci-fi, and on a mission to do more good in this beautifully chaotic world. Podcaster, storyteller, and unapologetic nerd, boldly going wherever kindness and curiosity lead.
Doing More Good
Resilience Is Usually Wearing Ordinary Clothes
Sometimes resilience looks less like a triumphant comeback and more like folded laundry, matched socks, and quietly doing the next ordinary thing.
Fandom & Culture
What Star Trek Taught Me About Hope
Star Trek does not present hope as wishful thinking. It imagines hope as effort, belonging, and the stubborn choice not to abandon one another.
Life & Becoming
The B Major Problem
Standing on a chair with a saxophone taught me that sometimes the ability is already there. What needs to change is the perspective standing in its way.
Life & Becoming
Emotional Raccoons and Other Creative People
Creative people collect strange, shiny pieces of humanity, but creativity belongs to far more people than the narrow labels we place around it.
Life & Becoming
The Life-Changing Magic of Letting Yourself Be a Little Weird
One ridiculous sentence changed the energy of an entire classroom and reminded me that weirdness is not always a distraction. Sometimes it is the doorway.
Life & Becoming
The Art of Being a Person on Low Battery
At nine percent battery, I am technically operational. This is a field report on exhaustion, lowered expectations, and being a person without pretending to thrive.
Fandom & Culture
It's Madonna, People
One surprise Coachella appearance gives my Gen X heart a moment and raises questions about Madonna, cultural memory, relevance, and who gets to decide when an artist matters.
Fandom & Culture
Artemis II, Moon Joy, and the Star Trek Future We Still Want
Artemis II gave the world a reason to look toward the Moon together and wonder whether the hopeful Star Trek future still feels possible.
Doing More Good
We Are Not Alone
When the world feels like too much noise and not enough care, small moments of connection remind us that none of us is meant to carry everything alone.
Life & Becoming
What Spring Has Taught Me About Change
Spring returns quietly, in pieces, reminding me that real change does not need to be dramatic, immediate, or polished to be real.
Doing More Good
Beyond Carrying On
Sometimes carrying on is an act of survival. But eventually, endurance must make room for intention, connection, and the choice to add more good.