Nov 21, 2019
For My Immigrant Parents, a Vacation Is a Reprieve from Labor—for Me, It’s a Time to Work
My parents wanted to give me opportunities that they never had, to let me participate in bizarre American rites of passage.
A Nigerian’s Field Guide to Survival in Positano
We pass other boats and, from each one, there is the double-take, a stare. Two boats full of only black people is apparently a rare sight.
Oct 23, 2019
Where Once Were Qilin: Return to Nanjing
What did it mean that now both the villages and the qilin were gone? This portal to the ancestors gone forever.
Oct 16, 2019
An Island of Trash at the Top of the World
On a remote island north of the Arctic Circle, several centuries’ worth of human-made pollutants have come to rest.
Oct 10, 2019
Why Do Borders and Passports Dictate What Country I Get to Call Home?
The contours of a border become a lot less rigid when you carry what are deemed to be the right documents.
Sep 19, 2019
At Sea with Scientists, I Learned What It Means to Be an Explorer
We think of explorers in terms of what they discovered—the Eureka moment, not the search. The search is imperfect and frustrating and owes you nothing.
Sep 11, 2019
The King of Florida and Other Roadside Attractions
Like much of Florida, it appears both ridiculous and dangerous and gambling is involved. I think. I still don’t understand it.
Aug 13, 2019
A Eulogy for All the Black Boys Who Loved the Sky
I’m longing for the day when folk like me and Trayvon and Korryn and Lennon and Aiyana and Botham don’t need to be lucky to stay alive.
Jul 11, 2019
Leaving the Sisterhood of Women Writers
The more I wrote about women, the more distanced I felt from the figure I saw in the mirror.
Jun 26, 2019
Tailoring My Clothes, Fitting into My Life in America
My idea of home had changed, so I took the symbolic step of finding a new tailor—marking Philadelphia as a place that now fit me right, too.
Jun 25, 2019
These Boots Were Made for Walkin’ Away from Oklahoma
There was nowhere to go back to. Oklahoma was out of the question, always out of the question. But then, where was home?
Jun 13, 2019
How I Find Home in the Persian Poetry of Hafez
Home means that you’re anchored in something deeper than second-hand nostalgia, that you miss your country because it is a part of you.
Jun 12, 2019
In Nigeria, Burning is Starting to Feel Like Normal
Fortunately, the recession did not affect the prices of alcohol in the way that the price of shaving cream and school fees had nearly tripled.
Jun 04, 2019
As a Teacher and Writer, It’s Not My Job to Manage the Feelings of Men
It’s not my job to absorb every feeling a man has. In my classroom, I am the one who decides whose feelings get airtime, and how they are shared.
May 20, 2019
War of the Worlds à la Française: On Protest Culture in France
France is famous for its commitment to authority and order, but every so often the top blows off the mountain and you’re left with a volcanic cauldron of revolution.
May 16, 2019
How a Baseball Team Helped Me Make Peace with My Home State
People will tell you the Marlins suck, that no one likes the Marlins. “Marlins fans?” they’ll joke, because everyone knows that Marlins fans don’t exist. Except they do, we do.
May 15, 2019
My Father Wishes He Were a Writer, Like Me
Writing was just something I thought happened to people naturally, that whatever wasn’t written was eventually forgotten. And I wanted to remember everything.
May 09, 2019
After Christchurch, My Grief Came Late
I chose to treat myself with ease—to not resist my natural response, but to sit with it, allow it to manifest, and reflect on why so many of us felt this way and what it could teach me.
May 01, 2019
Taking My First Step Toward a Stranger
If you’re lonely, you can spot another lonely person a mile off. The lonely can recognize kin.
Apr 29, 2019
How My Parents, Who Loved Grapes, Lost Their Love of Winemaking
Others began to intrude in what had once been a mom-and-pop operation. The conversion from hobby to profession had been made.
Apr 25, 2019
