Oct 18, 2021
Learning to Live with Durians Again
Was my rejection of the durian, Southeast Asia’s King of Fruits, a betrayal of my cultural identity, of my life in Singapore?
Longing for the Netherlands, Stroopwafels, and the Real Thing
We don’t crave the things we’re close to, even if they’ve shaped us into who we are.
Oct 14, 2021
I Can’t Go Home, So I Go to the Indian Grocery
Each time I contend with the reality of another month—season, year—apart from extended family, I drive my ennui to Namaste Plaza.
Oct 12, 2021
‘Persona 5 Royal’ and the Case for Suffering
Their choice is between what is unearned and what’s been hard-won. What would you choose?
Oct 06, 2021
Matthew Shepard Bought an Engagement Ring
I knew about Matt’s legacy, but I didn’t know much about his life.
Oct 05, 2021
What Would It Mean to Live in the Clouds?
If one can dream up a better future for humanity or for whatever species humans evolve into, why replicate the past?
Oct 05, 2021
I Refuse to Feel Guilt for My Guilty Pleasures
The invisible fence that divides highbrow and lowbrow is largely imposed by money, those we admire, and our own social conditioning.
Sep 30, 2021
Lois Before Clark: In Defense of the Superhero Girlfriend
Superman whomst? Lois Lane outsold.
Sep 23, 2021
Seeking Culinary Guidance from God, My Mom, and Kelly Ripa
My first unkosher months weren’t especially guilt-ridden; if anything, it was the closest I had felt to coming of age.
Aug 30, 2021
Tiny Stitches for Big Feelings
It’s difficult to enter an anxiety spiral while cross-stitching. Believe me, I’ve tried.
Aug 24, 2021
Prison Visitation Isn’t Like the Movies
When my dad was incarcerated, I began noticing specific tropes that reinforce a cultural narrative about prison all around me.
Aug 11, 2021
‘Dorohedoro’ Helped Me Through—and Reconsider—Isolation in the Pandemic
In Q Hayashida’s wild, imaginative artwork, I found the freedom to see beyond my surroundings, all on my own.
Jul 27, 2021
Strange Lessons in Sex and Power from ‘Saved By the Bell’
As a preteen, I’d absorbed this dynamic—a teen girl dating adult men—as totally normal because it was embedded in the show’s wholesome package.
Jul 13, 2021
What Tina Turner Taught Me
In a theater, I am freed by the voices that shake the rafters, the dancing, the lights, and the colors. Musicals are my form of catharsis.
Jul 06, 2021
The Real Villain in ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ is Toxic Work Culture
Fifteen years after it premiered, ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ continues to teach ambitious young people that exploitation is the price you must pay for success.
Jul 01, 2021
The Radical Possibilities of Virtual Theater
When stage shows went virtual, traditional directors declared that the form was “dead.” They are extremely wrong.
Jun 23, 2021
Coming Out, as Told by Florida Wildlife
Can you still hear us? We’re drowning the state in our chirps tonight if you’d care to sing along.
Jun 22, 2021
Our Hair: How I Found Community and Coconut Oil in France
Across the thousands of miles, and the hundreds of years of historical and cultural distance, Albertine and I had our hair in common.
Jun 21, 2021
How Writing My Young Adult Novel Helped Me Reclaim the Queer Girlhood I Lost
The years I suppressed my queerness are a loss that I'm exploring and grieving—if only through fiction.
Jun 17, 2021
