Losing my parents
One morning recently as my preschooler daughter climbed in to her customary spot for breakfast, she remarked out of nowhere, "now you don't have any family left!" It only took a moment to clarify that she was putting together my…
Category personal
Goodbye, mom.
My mom, Cynthia Hardie, passed away on Friday December 7th, 2018. There's so much to say about this, what she means to me, who she was in the world, and what the last few weeks, months and years have been…
Writing to be read
Last week I had a short humor piece published in McSweeney's Internet Tendency. It's been exciting not only because I adore McSweeney's as a publication and am honored to have a byline there, but also because it reminds me how…
Article on Strong Towns
I've been enjoy and appreciating the articles on Strong Towns for a while now. They bring a provocative and practical long-term view to the conversation about how cities and towns in North America can become strong and resilient. Their mission…
This Year's Garden
It's been over 10 years since I've had the time, space and inclination to have a real garden, so it's been a lot of fun to plant one this year. The main focus was having an outdoor project my daughter…
When I grow up, I want to be a generalist
Like many other kids, early in life I was confronted with questions about what I would be when I grew up. What one single area of study, profession and career would I build my life around? I gave the question…
My personal website through the years
It's been a few years since I made any big changes to the layout or appearance of this website. So, I took some time recently to make a bunch of updates, and they went live this week. It's now more…
2017 Year in Review
Happy New Year. As arbitrary Gregorian boundary conditions go, I've been really looking forward to the end of 2017. And as I've done in the past I'm posting a few thoughts from the year. (Previously: 2016, 2015, 2014, 2011.) Personal…
Getting notifications about my new posts
If you previously followed my writing on ChrisHardie.com via your WordPress.com account, you may have received notifications via email about new posts. I'm turning off that functionality, so you will not receive those emails after this post. If you use…
Leaving Facebook
A month ago I deactivated my Facebook account and I haven't used it since. In the larger scheme of things this is a relatively inconsequential decision, and one that I may even eventually reverse. But for the benefit of my…