Crystal Stapley

This is what ‘we’ll deal with it later’ looks like. That sign didn’t go up by accident. Someone knew. Someone saw the risk, saw the gap, saw the possibility of everything going sideways and decided at least this   needed to be marked. A rally point isn’t about emergencies you hope for. It’s about the ones you know are possible. And when it’s standing alone, tied to a fence with no one around, it tells you something uncomfortable, the danger was anticipated, but the problem that creates it is...

All is Calm. All is Covered. They call it a half day. Christmas Eve has a way of slowing things down, even at the landfill. The air feels different, carols humming somewhere in the background, sugar cookies cooling on kitchen counters, kids buzzing with that barely contained excitement that only shows up once a year. Smiles come easier today. Even the work seems to carry a softer rhythm, like everyone knows something special is waiting on the other side of the shift. Christmas Eve does bring...

You copied the notes. I carried the weight. 5:32 a.m. The audiobook was still murmuring in the background, coffee was brewing, and that warm, unmistakable “home” scent was filling the room, the kind of smell that tricks you into believing you might actually get a calm morning. Then my phone lit up like it had something urgent to confess. Buzz after buzz. Messages stacking. Screenshots. Tags. All asking the same thing: “Hey… did you see this? Isn’t that… your work?” And here’s the twist: I...