BOOKS

With a Good Heart: A Walk From LA to Brooklyn (2020): Twenty-five years after an epiphany in a barber shop, Tom Griffen began walking across America. This memoir details his 3259-mile journey afoot from coast to coast – a long walk unexpectedly rich in kindness, human togetherness, and self-acceptance. $22.50

Imagine the Sea: One Hundred Poems From a Long Walk (2020): Tom Griffen carried one book as he walked across America: “One Hundred Poems From the Japanese” by Kenneth Rexroth. Its translations of classic forms shaped his daily solitude and inspired this collection of short writings and photos. $15.00

Vacilando (2017): A chronicle of Tom Griffen’s month of trekking through North Africa. Loaded with laugh-out-loud and cringeworthy stories, but mostly a recollection on the value of human connection even when stumbled upon in the least likely places. $15.00

Every Hundred Miles: A Journey of Stops (2022): After two long pandemic years in Spokane, WA, Tom Griffen quit his job, packed his stuff into a cargo van, and moved back to Carrboro, NC. To break up the monotony of driving countless hours, he stopped every hundred miles to take a photo and write a poem. $10.00 (print) $2.00 (digital)

49 sketches from 49 days in cincinnati (2022): A meditative collection of daily drawings and prose from a long work stay in Cincinnati, OH during the summer of 2022. $20.00 (print) $5.00 (digital)

ESSAYS

“An Essentials Dream Team” Running Insight, May 2024

“Culture Shock” Running Insight, March 2024

“Hear Them Sell” Running Insight, January 2024

“Age In, Not Out” Running Insight, December 2023

“Happy Trails to You” Running Insight, September 2023

“Outfitters > Technology” Running Insight, July/August 2023

“My Dad’s Shoes” Running Insight, May 2023

“The Thrill of Socks” Running Insight, March 2023

“Love Letter to the Ugliest Trail Shoe Ever” Running Insight, September 1, 2022

“Tech is Cool, But…” Running Insight, July/August 2022

“Beyond the Shoe” Running Insight, June 1, 2022

“Keep it Simple” Running Insight, May 2, 2022

“Sustainable Strategies” Running Insight, April 1, 2022

“Front Line Voices: Women Who Run This Business” Running Insight, January 25, 2022

“Put On Your Teaching Hat” Running Insight, August 2, 2021

“Leadership Series Vol. 1” Running Insight+, January 19, 2021

“Weathering the Storm in 2020” Running Insight+, December 8, 2020

“One More Thing…” Running Insight, December 1, 2020

“Friendly Fire” Belletrist Magazine, Vol. 3, 2020

“Just Tie Their Shoes, Please” Running Insight, December 22, 2019

“The Case of the Missing Hat” Running Insight, December 1, 2019

“Index Card Intentionality” Running Insight, October 1, 2019

“Meetings, Ugh” Running Insight, August 1, 2019

“Don’t Neglect the Soft Skills” Running Insight, July 15, 2019

“The Big Chill” Running Insight, March 15, 2019

“Bad Retail, Good Chocolate” Running Insight, March 1, 2019

“Dear Gramps, You Short Angry Bastard” Nailed Magazine Editor’s Choice, February 18, 2019

“Affirmation Confirmation” Running Insight, November 15, 2018

“Now I’m Going to Tell You About Cake” Running Insight, September 4, 2018

“Retail on the Road, Chapter 7: The Journey Ends” Running Insight, August 15, 2018

“Retail on the Road, Chapter 6: Detour” Running Insight, August 1, 2018

“Don’t Be Afraid, Embrace Millennials” Running Insight, July 16, 2018

“Retail on the Road, Chapter 5: ROTR Heats Up” Running Insight, July 16, 2018

“Hiring Rockstars” Running Insight, June 15, 2018

“Retail on the Road, Chapter 4: Messin’ With Texas” Running Insight, June 15, 2018

“Yes, and…Comedy Improv Can Improve Your UPTs” Running Insight, May 1, 2018

“Retail on the Road, Chapter 3” Running Insight, April 16, 2018

“Skip’s Rules: Good Retail, Good Life” Running Insight, April 2, 2018

“Retail on the Road, Chapter 2” Running Insight, March 15, 2018

“Retail on the Road” Running Insight, February 15, 2018

“This is Your Brain on Stories, Any Questions?” Running Insight, November 1, 2017, Vol.9, No.20, page 18

“Invisible Assets: Harness Your Brand” Running Insight, October 15, 2017, Vol.9, No.19, page 18

“Presto Change-O: Strategizing Retail Magic” Running Insight, October 1, 2017, Vol.9, No.18, page 12

“Making a Living, Making a Difference: Flyleaf Books” Chapel Hill: Open to Business, August 29, 2017

“More Feeling Than Food: Bandido’s Mexican Cafe” Chapel Hill: Open to Business, August 29, 2017

“The Storytelling Project” Chapel Hill: Open to Business, August 2, 2017

“Play to Learn: Kidzu Children’s Museum” Chapel Hill: Open to Business, August 2, 2017

“Strategic Adagio: Gray Squirrel’s Dance With World Class Coffee” Chapel Hill: Open to Business, August 2, 2017

“Tell Customers Your Story…AGAIN!” Running Insight, July 1, 2017, Vol.9, No.12, page 10

“Place-Making: Northwood Ravin and the Carraway Village Development” Chapel Hill: Open to Business, June 22, 2017

“Radical Jams: Farmer’s Daughter Brand Pickles and Preserves” Chapel Hill: Open to Business, June 21, 2017

“Cinnamon: What My Hairdresser Taught Me About Customer Service” Running Insight, June 1, 2017, Vol.9, No.10, page 14

“Go Bilingual: Localizing the Foreign World of Specialty Retail” Running Insight, May 15, 2017, Vol.9, No.9, page 8

“Movement Creates Movement” Running Insight, May 1, 2017, Vol.9, No.8, page 10

“A Vicarious Education: The Chelsea Theater Professor” Chapel Hill: Open to Business, April 7, 2017

“The Importance of Giving Back” Chapel Hill Magazine, March 2017, page 113

“Serendipitous Outcome: A Brief Encounter With Caravela Coffee” Chapel Hill: Open to Business, March 1, 2017

“Credibility of Momentum – Quantworks’ Meteoric Growth” Chapel Hill: Open to Business, March 1, 2017

“Let the People Take the Lead: The Community Empowerment Fund” Chapel Hill: Open to Business, January 31, 2017

“Raising the Bar: 1789 Venture Lab” Chapel Hill: Open to Business, January 30, 2017

“The Here and Now: Vimala Rajendran” Chapel Hill: Open to Business, January 30, 2017

“Power of Community: A Jackson Center Story” Chapel Hill: Open to Business, January 19, 2017

“Care, Rigor, and Excellence” Chapel Hill: Open to Business, January 19, 2017

“Exhale: The Cornerstone of 140 West” Chapel Hill: Open to Business, January 19, 2017

“The Love Shack” Chapel Hill: Open to Business, December 1, 2016

“The Importance of Giving Back” Chapel Hill: Open to Business, December 1, 2016

“Innovative Tinkering” Chapel Hill: Open to Business, December 1, 2016

“Inclusive Art” Chapel Hill: Open to Business, December 1, 2016

“Loafability” Chapel Hill: Open to Business, December 1, 2016

“TRE Training Camp” Running Insight, November 1, 2016, Vol.8 No.20

“Making it Stick” Chapel Hill: Open to Business, October 31, 2016

“Data-Palooza” Chapel Hill: Open to Business, October 31, 2016

“It Takes a Village to Launch Chapel Hill” Chapel Hill: Open to Business, October 13, 2016

“Downtown Transparency” Chapel Hill: Open to Business, September 22, 2016

“The New Medicine” Chapel Hill: Open to Business, September 2, 2016

“An Espresso-Loving Traveler’s Guide to the Cafés of Mexico City” Daily Coffee News, August 12, 2016

“Be Nice and Hustle” Chapel Hill: Open to Business, August 11, 2016

“From Passion to Predictable” Chapel Hill: Open to Business, August 10, 2016

“Fend Off the Funk” Running Insight, July 15, 2016, Vol.8 No.13, pages 14-16

“The Write Connection” Running Insight, July 15, 2016, Vol.8 No.13, pages 18-22

“Sell More Stuff, You Can’t Afford Not To” Running Insight, December/January 2016, Vol.7 No.23, pages 110-112

“Attempting the Oregon Coast Trail…Again” Oregon Coast Magazine, May/June 2015 (Part 1), July/August 2015 (Part 2), September/October 2015 (Part 3)

REVIEWS

“Living is Impossible Without Life: A Review of Rosamond S. King’s All the Rage” Tupelo Quarterly, September 6, 2021

“Response to Alexis Pauline Gumbs’ Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons From Marine Mammals” Tupelo Quarterly, May 31, 2021

“Tom Griffen’s Response to Francesco Levato’s Arsenal / Sin Documentos” Heavy Feather Review, December 21, 2020

“A Review of Francesco Levato’s Arsenal / Sin Documentos” Compulsive Reader, November 12, 2020

“Snakebites and Sky Hooks: Natalie Diaz’s Postcolonial Love Poem” Tupelo Quarterly, November 2, 2020

“Review of Maya Sonenberg’s After the Death of Shostakovich Pere” The Laurel Review, Volume 53 Issue 1, 2020

“Response to THE WORMING OF AMERICA, OR, AN ANSWER TO THE ARRAIGNMENT OF WOMEN, a Historical Novel by Autumn Leaf” Heavy Feather Review, May 5, 2020

“The Most Important Word: A Review of Michele Bombardier’s What We Do” Tupelo Quarterly, January 28, 2020

“Review of Deaf Republic by Ilya Kaminsky” Green Mountains Review, November 18, 2019

“A Study in Metamorphoses: A Review of Katie Farris’s ‘boysgirls‘ The Adriot Journal, October 30, 2019

“Lessons In Camouflage by Martin Ott” PANK Magazine, September 20, 2018

“A Story of America Goes Walking by Saara Myrene Raappana and Rebekah Wilkins-Pepiton” Tupelo Quarterly, TQ Reviews Online, February 27, 2018

“A Review of Personal Science by Lillian-Yvonne Bertram” The Literary Review, February 19, 2018

“An Arduous Reality: Testify by Simone John” The Rumpus, January 26, 2018

“Book Review: The Cowherd’s Son by Rajiv Mohabir” The Los Angeles Review Online, December 6, 2017

“Becoming What I’ve Always Been: A Review of Joy Ladin’s Fireworks in the Graveyard” Tupelo Quarterly, TQ Reviews Online, July 2, 2017

“It’s All in the Wind: A Review of Olio by Tyehimba Jess” Tupelo Quarterly, TQ Rerviews Online, December 1, 2016

“This is How We Will Mourn: On Ashaki M. Jackson’s Language Lesson” Tupelo Quarterly, TQ Reviews Online, August 1, 2016

“Heresies by Orlando Ricardo Menes” Prairie Schooner, Summer 2016, Vol. 90 No. 2

“Prelude to Bruise by Saeed Jones” Prairie Schooner, Fall 2015, Vol. 89 No. 3

“Still Wet With Light – Tom Griffen’s Review of David St. John’s The Auroras” Harpur Palate Online Journal, May 2014

POETRY

“How to Fall in Love with Him” and “The Money Counter” Rougarou, Spring 2016

“Opting For Scars” and “Fallout” The Quietry, Vol. 02, June 2015

“My Men” O-Dark-Thirty, The Report, March 4, 2015

“Homer Stevedore” Crab Orchard Review, The West Coast and Beyond, Vol. 19 No. 2, page 43

“Inishmore” Naugatuck River Review, Issue 12, Summer 2014, page 10

“Inishmore” Suisun Valley Review, Issue 31, Spring 2014, page 71

PODCAST INTERVIEWS

Shaping Your Story, With Traci Skuce on Facebook Live, September 2020

And Then Everything Changed, Episode 4, “On the Run”, November 2019

Run Brevard, Episode 9, June 2019

Run ATL, Episode 52, Spring 2019

Pace the Nation, Episode 137, January 2018

PHOTO CREDITS

“We Didn’t Even Stop to Put on Shoes…” by Victor Duggan, The Irish Times Online, September 21, 2017