Edible Complex
Trying pot chocolate on the third date leads Jen Doll and a man she’s just getting to know toward an unexpected trust exercise.
Bracing for the Silence of an Empty Nest
In this personal essay, as her son finishes high school and prepares to leave for college, Michelle Cruz Gonzales looks back on his early years as a pianist, and anticipates a future without the sound of his playing.
At the Maacher Bazaar, Fish for Life
A personal essay in which Madhushree Ghosh continues to honor her late parents’ memory…through the simple act of making fish curry.
Family Animals
In an excerpt from her new memoir, The Body Papers, Grace Talusan fondly remembers the badly behaved dog that won her skeptical father’s heart.
The American Worth Ethic
In other countries, “having piles of money” is not the same thing as “labor,” and “being a human who deserves to have their basic needs met” isn’t synonymous with “holding a job.”
MACHO: On Black Holes, and the Fantasies of Men
In this personal essay, Frances Dodds recalls two men who laid bare the fragile lines between desire, pain and manipulation — and questions the framework of her own fantasies.
Other Rachel Lyons
Having a fairly common name gives Rachel Lyon occasional glimpses into the lives of her doppelgangers — and the roads she has not taken.
How Does a Person Lose Track of Their Diary?
An illustrated personal essay. Stumbling upon someone’s lost journal in a used book store leads Sophie Lucido Johnson down a path she couldn’t have expected.
Queens of Infamy: Josephine Bonaparte, from Malmaison to More-Than-Monarch
“When they got home, Josephine refused to move her beloved dog Fortuné off the bed to make room for Napoleon. When his mistress’ new husband tried to push him aside, the pug bit him. Sometimes dogs just know.”
Unleashed in Paris
As a semi-professional dog walker in Paris, expat Kate Gavino has found a comfortable way to learn French.