The Recovering Academic

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Original Memoir

What I Learned From A Long Walk To School
My father kept a paddle in his closet that featured a bear cub trailing a fawn. The inscription read, “For the cute little deer with the bear behind…
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Joshua Doležal
2
The Recovering Academic In 2024
And a glimpse into 2025
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Joshua Doležal
27
The Sense Mill
A personal essay
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Joshua Doležal
2
A Garden Never Dies
To everything there is a season, but for a brief stretch of October it is both a time for reaping and for sowing.
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Joshua Doležal
13
Can You Be Sober If You Never Were An Alcoholic?
Josh: I think I’ve told you, Dee, that a little over a year ago, the very day that my ex and I decided that we would divorce, I stopped drinking.
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Joshua Doležal
 and 
Dee Rambeau
49
Home Is The Native Soil Of The Heart
Today’s essay is part of a new series including me, Latham Turner, Bowen Dwelle , Sincere American Writing, Dee Rambeau, and Lyle McKeany. In the past…
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Joshua Doležal
31
Why I Run
Friends,
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Joshua Doležal
8
Darkness and Light
A personal essay
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Joshua Doležal
14
Catching Summer In My Pickle Jars
A little over a year ago, my ex and I sat down with our children to tell them that we would divorce.
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Joshua Doležal
16
Hollywood Still Doesn't Get Montana
I have feelings about California actors playing Montana cowboys who look on mournfully as their way of life fades. By which I mean Yellowstone and, more…
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Joshua Doležal
17
Out Of The Therapy Labyrinth
I made a dumb decision once in a baseball game. The score was tied after I’d doubled in a run, and I took a generous lead off second base, pledging to…
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Joshua Doležal
34
Homemade Kombucha As Recovery Ritual
Once when I described maple sugaring to a friend, she said she couldn’t imagine spending all that time making a condiment. Friends have wrinkled their…
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Joshua Doležal
20
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