Jan 25, 2022
All the Things I’ve Loved to Death
Am I ever going to know where I hope to escape to? I understand that I’m trying escape from reality, but I’m still not clear on what the destination is.
My Father Taught Me to Pursue Excellence. Coffee Taught Me About Satisfaction.
An obsession with excellence creates an unfortunate binary: all or nothing.
Jan 18, 2022
Scarlight
I wanted one too, from the very beginning. I don’t have any scars, I insisted. I don’t have anything to show for it.
Jan 10, 2022
I Wrote an Essay on Sleep Paralysis to Finally Talk About Men’s Ugliest Urges
Once it happens, sleep paralysis tends to recur. It’s as if a spirit has marked your bed, like the first coming has irreversibly altered you.
Jan 06, 2022
I Rediscovered Who My Grandfather Was by Reading His Book
To know him beyond the frail, serious man who struggled to speak to his family was such a rare and incredible gift.
Jan 05, 2022
After Childbirth and Prolapse, I Turned to Weight Lifting
As a mother, feeling strong requires different abilities than the ones I had before becoming a parent.
Jan 05, 2022
Cutting My Hair to Free Myself from Capitalism
Each season of haircutting marked a major life shift, and I recoiled because I was tired of transitioning. I just wanted to be.
Dec 15, 2021
From Sicily, With Love
My father never took me to Sicily himself, and I yearned to go. I yearned to know the people he knew—and one person he’d never met.
Dec 14, 2021
Longing for the Magic of My Childhood Home
Frarieville was the safe space on which I could plant my flag.
Dec 02, 2021
Searching for Home in the South with Carson McCullers
Quietly, I clung to what I knew: how to be an outsider in the South.
Nov 24, 2021
Giving My Plants—And Myself—Just Enough Care
The Lexapro were small and white; the generic was free under my insurance. More expensive were the plants.
Nov 15, 2021
Seeing Cuba from a Parking Lot in Miami
I used to think Miami was a kind of carbon copy of Havana. But I was wrong. We are not a copy, but a conversation.
Nov 03, 2021
How Do We Survive Suicide?
How much does my fear of owning this darker voice hinge on a cultural insistence that it’s unhealthy, even unnatural? What if I’m all of it?
Oct 26, 2021
Searching for a Safe Place to Swim
The idea that a place exists where trans people are free to be in and around the water fills me with joy.
Oct 14, 2021
Pivoting to Screenwriting in My Forties Because I’ve Never Been More Confident
Even on my worst day as a writer, I’m closer to the creative life I dreamed of at eighteen than ever before.
Oct 07, 2021
You Mean More to Me Than Any Scientific Truth
A poet wrestles with grief and the multiverse.
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
Your Friend Group Should Look Like the Cast of a Twenty-Something Drama (and Other Myths About Millennial Friendship)
New responsibilities clogged up phone lines and changed what used to be lifelines—how were we supposed to maintain our relationships?
Sep 30, 2021
Going from Other to Local in Mumbai
I was certain my appearance would mask my secret: that I didn’t belong.
Sep 29, 2021
Embracing My Queerness in the Wake of Grief
I wondered how I would confront what I thought was my worst: my sexuality.
Sep 23, 2021
