Five notable personal essays published this year, on friendship, loss, war, endings, and metaphors.
Essays & Criticism
Posted inFeature
The Sunset
There are plenty of reasons to see nursing homes as sad, neglectful places. There are also reasons to see them as something else entirely.
Posted inFeature
How Wednesday Addams Birthed a Generation of Cynics
Nearly 30 years ago, Christina Ricci’s version of the character reinforced millennials’ suspicion that “the bright side” is an illusion.
Posted inCulture
The Death Artist
Her medium: the cremains of departed loved ones. Her mission: to change your perspective on the end of life.
Posted inFeature
‘Some Things Never Leave You’: Christian Livermore on Poverty’s Indelible Marks
“For me, passing means trying to be anything other than what I was, and what I fear so desperately I always will be: poor white trash.”
Posted inUncategorized
Final Girl, Terrible Place
I was expecting a handy theory. What I found was a way of seeing that would help me decode a script I’d been stuck in for much of my life.
Posted inEssays & Criticism
Low Country, High Water: A Reading List for a South Under Climate Change
How do you love a place that is sinking?
Posted inStory
The 19th-Century Hipster Who Pioneered Modern Sportswriting
More than a century before GoPro, Thomas Stevens’ around-the-world bike ride vaulted first-person “sports porn” into the mainstream.
Posted inStory
The Emptying
“I’m amazed at our human capacity to adapt to the unbearable. Almost anything can seem normal if it’s inflicted on us long enough.”
Posted inStory
The Cabin on the Mountain
“Sometimes, the mechanism of the answer is something ludicrously complex, a thing that must be pieced out bit by bit. Other times, the solution requires retooling your perspective.”