https://www.maggiepahos.com/essays daily 0.75 2026-06-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a04ad1380bd5e0c030a3398/1617812003082-TJ9I9C7DMWPDCZ6C1JF0/breavity.jpeg Essays - “The Present Is Alive. The Past Can Be Too,” craft essay March 31, 2021 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a04ad1380bd5e0c030a3398/1576100608570-4F0BOBX0OCZQILSK3APV/Screen+Shot+2019-12-11+at+4.43.13+PM.png Essays - “Like That,” essay December 4, 2019 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a04ad1380bd5e0c030a3398/1543797550311-2C4GS1YILBYTUCC5L1E4/bark.gif Essays - “If Only We Could Love So Loudly,” essay Issue 96, Winter 2018 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a04ad1380bd5e0c030a3398/1522771768097-CTU02AZPLWIV7GW449GW/med+3.png Essays - Being a Wife Is Not a Feminist Failure, essay March 29, 2018 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a04ad1380bd5e0c030a3398/1510272275681-1XM4AOX66OAFVR0TZRCZ/nowheremag.png Essays - "324," essay, f inalist in the fall 2017 travel writing contest March 9, 2017 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a04ad1380bd5e0c030a3398/1510259177993-XF98VAWATNV60L5L6ODY/the+rumpus.png Essays - "Woman of the Earth," essay May 17, 2016 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a04ad1380bd5e0c030a3398/1510259009099-YMZ78ZKNQMM5HBYLU9UN/brevity.gif Essays - "Blue," essay January 18, 2016 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a04ad1380bd5e0c030a3398/1510259521505-EFMPFEISCS9DJV5T3ZGP/hippocampus.png Essays - "Comeback," essay April 1, 2015 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a04ad1380bd5e0c030a3398/1510271871009-P58C3SBK2164QQHRMC03/flyway-logo-horizontal.png Essays - "With Heat and Blood That Moves," essay December 1, 2014 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a04ad1380bd5e0c030a3398/1510259684639-WYDAY2T3L7CLPWJG5HM3/pig.png Essays - "Love Your Space and All It Holds," essay April 25, 2014 https://www.maggiepahos.com/about daily 0.75 2026-06-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a04ad1380bd5e0c030a3398/1510265849829-S3YS28VNZTPBLT8P9TMG/IMG_9905.JPG About I am a writer and teacher living in Portland, Oregon. My writing has appeared in the Rumpus, Brevity, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and elsewhere. I have written a memoir about the year I spent traveling with my boyfriend through Ghana, South Africa, and Europe following my mom’s death from breast cancer when I was twenty-two. Most of my published essays are excerpts from the manuscript or are on the same subject. I am also at work on a collection of short stories focused on grief and belonging, as well as a novel, The Olive Theory, which follows four friends in their early 30s in Portland, Oregon, as they navigate personal tragedy. I grew up in Chicago but am currently based in the Pacific Northwest and am compelled by the way place affects our senses of identity and community. I hold an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Chatham University with concentrations in Travel Writing and the Pedagogy of Creative Writing. In 2011, I graduated from Elon University with a BA in English (creative writing) and in Art History and a minor in African/African-American Studies. I have taught creative writing in the Allegheny County Jail, the Orleans Parish Prison work release program, and Our Clubhouse, a cancer support center in Pittsburgh. In the summers, I've been a leader for National Geographic Student Expeditions and Putney Student Travel, and I’m a founding teacher of the Midwest Artist Academy. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a04ad1380bd5e0c030a3398/1510265849829-S3YS28VNZTPBLT8P9TMG/IMG_9905.JPG About - I am a writer and teacher living in Portland, Oregon. My writing has appeared in The Rumpus, Brevity, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and elsewhere. I hold an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Chatham University with concentrations in Travel Writing and the Pedagogy of Creative Writing. In 2011, I graduated from Elon University with a BA in English (creative writing) and Art History along with a minor in African/African-American Studies. I have taught creative writing in the Allegheny County Jail, the Orleans Parish Prison work release program, and Our Clubhouse, a cancer support center in Pittsburgh. I’m a founding teacher of the Midwest Artist Academy and have led trips for National Geographic Student Expeditions and Putney Student Travel. https://www.maggiepahos.com/contact daily 0.75 2026-06-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a04ad1380bd5e0c030a3398/1543797452774-NUQ11FBH04LCKTKA5SE7/Sehnandoah+sunset.jpg Contact https://www.maggiepahos.com/welcome daily 1.0 2026-06-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a04ad1380bd5e0c030a3398/1521816973905-VI9RSSZRY7MMQUA0GYBE/IMG_1957.JPG Hello! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a04ad1380bd5e0c030a3398/1521816973905-VI9RSSZRY7MMQUA0GYBE/IMG_1957.JPG Hello! - Exploring grief, love, books, and the stories that shape us. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a04ad1380bd5e0c030a3398/9da7b3b7-62ab-4745-a94b-88bfcfa1db6b/01_Headshot.jpeg Hello! - Welcome My name’s Maggie, and when I was a senior in college in 2011, two things were happening to me at once: I was falling in love with my best friend, Will, and my mom was dying from breast cancer. Since then, I've spent much of my life exploring how grief and joy can exist side by side. Over fifteen years later, my mom is still gone and I’m still here–as a writer, reader, and teacher. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a04ad1380bd5e0c030a3398/525cfd65-791a-44e9-836e-9df46e5cff28/9c731f4d-5626-4567-a252-3f19d1a5de6a_1917x1481.webp Hello! - GOOD / GRIEF GOOD / GRIEF is my newsletter where we come together as a community to explore grief, love, joy, creativity, and the experiences that shape us. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a04ad1380bd5e0c030a3398/163f1184-9d2b-4d9e-9b17-12d7d119dd99/Mudbug+and+Maggie_Rain+Gear.jpeg Hello! - Literary Life Are you obsessed with books, cheese, or cute dogs? (You are?! Amazing!) Then you should definitely follow me on Instagram for book recommendations through Mudbug’s Book Club, writing adventures, peeks into the literary life, reminders about GOOD / GRIEF, and appearances from my cutie lady girl, Mudbug! https://www.maggiepahos.com/fshortstories daily 0.75 2026-06-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a04ad1380bd5e0c030a3398/1623424209263-Q3DM5Y3JCZKRQE43D60G/CR.jpeg Short Stories - “Rhinoceros Ridge,” short story Spring 2022 https://www.maggiepahos.com/newsletter daily 0.75 2026-06-18 https://www.maggiepahos.com/cid-tolkien-montauk daily 0.75 2026-06-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56d73dbac2ea51af9150258f/1456950815936-S4V3GZ4BXDTTYKUU8TLJ/1.jpg Cid Tolkien https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56d73dbac2ea51af9150258f/1456950824357-OLK5CEA7PL07K3RKJAD6/2.jpg Cid Tolkien https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56d73dbac2ea51af9150258f/1456950832626-MM68XA2G571CW0ESQ2N7/3.jpg Cid Tolkien