Dustin Grinnell
The Gift of Pain
The Doctor T. J. Eckleburg Review
A personal essay about a year-long struggle I had with mysterious symptoms that puzzled doctors and frightened me. My journey took me from the West Coast to the East Coast, chronic pain to repressed emotions, the body to the mind, from existential crisis to post-traumatic growth.
Learning to Love My Fate
Quest Magazine
For more than a decade, I’ve worked as a writer for American organizations. I’m good at the work and have found a niche. But I have increasingly started to feel as though I am little more than a propagandist for business and nonprofits.
The Language of My Father
The Atherton Review
In this personal essay, I explore my father’s unique and sometimes incomprehensible written communication style—and what it might actually mean.
How to Fix a Bluey Heart
The Manifest-Station
Devoting all of my spare time to pursuing my goals, I dated casually, avoiding commitment. These were productive years for me, but I was disconnected and lonely.
A Forest Bath in Middlesex Fells
Wanderlust: A Travel Journal
For the last 15 years, I’ve been a city-dweller and I’ve started to feel semi-captive, a condition the naturalist John Muir described as “tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized."
How I Thought My Way Into Illness, Then Thought My Out
Perspectives in Biology & Medicine
When doctors couldn’t find an explanation for my mysterious symptoms, including back pain, aching joints, and tingling limbs, I went on a quest to uncover the root causes.
Sunrise Earth Delivers a Morning Dose of Awe
The Good Men Project
The TV show "Sunrise Earth" gave me a much-needed break from everyday experiences, including the morning news.
Keeping the Channel Open
The Good Men Project
For me, a good conversation is like a tennis match. You talk, I talk, back and forth we go.
Hoedown at McDonald’s
The Good Men Project
A chance encounter with a bluegrass band at a McDonald’s in North Carolina shows a free spirit the value of community.
Walkabout Love
Perceptive Travel
Having grown weary of the workaday, I tapped my savings, quit my office job, and started a year-long walkabout by backpacking through China. This essay won Gold in the "Love Story" category in the 2018 Solas Awards for Best Travel Writing.
Letters from Dad
GoMad Nomad Travel Mag & Living Now Magazine
This essay won Bronze in the "Travel and Healing" category in the 2018 Solas Awards for Best Travel Writing, and third place in the 2017 'Hard Times' Contest from The Writers' Workshop. It was also published in Living Now Magazine.
Backed up in China
Lost Magazine
My first four days in Beijing involved exotic noodle dishes, ancient pagodas and friendly Chinese. It was also four days of not going number two.
Finding Words to Live By in Dad’s Letters
Outside Magazine
A video of my travels through China and across the country on a 1982 Honda Nighthawk.
The Hate Game
The Good Men Project
In the year we lived together, we broke each other down to build ourselves back up. This essay won honorable mention in the 2016 Memoirs Contest from The Writers' Workshop.
Finding My Sleep in China
Travelmag
Three days in Beijing, two traditional Chinese doctors and one good night’s sleep.
In Defense of Quixote
Blog
I left my job and moved to Los Angeles to break into screenwriting. Am I at my most inspired or most delusional? I went to Don Quixote for answers.
Departing Down the Middle
Living Now Magazine
It’s a good lesson in attachment, I suppose. She leaves, I stay. And we’re all supposed to be okay with it. I wonder how a Buddhist might act. The article was also published in Living Now's Magazine (page 30).
A Sudden Stab of Murky Suspicion
The Philadelphia Inquirer
It wasn't our guide who made me suspicious; it was the bystander, a short woman with a vibrant dress and bananas in her hand. A longer version of this article was published in Living Now Magazine (page 42), and on Living Now's website.
Missing Paris
The Expeditioner
Seven miles into the Paris Marathon I was content, blissfully lost in the illustrious City of Light. But then I saw the pacesetter and I was hooked.
The Dizziness of Freedom
The Expeditioner
The birth and rise of bungee jumping. This also appeared in Details Style Syndicate.
In All Fairness
Verge Magazine
When it comes to tipping guides and porters, crunching the numbers may not give you the right answer.
Up Fever Slope
Salon
I knew I was susceptible to altitude sickness. So what made me try to ascend this 20,000 foot summit?
Doubt Isn’t Sexy
The Washington Post & The Chicago Tribune
How do you woo someone when you’re still figuring out your life? This essay was also published in The Chicago Tribune.
A Lesson in Safety
The Boston Globe
When you buy a motorcycle, everyone thinks you’re going to die. You become a cautionary tale for friends, family, colleagues — a dead man riding.