In this intense and gorgeous braided essay, Alyssa Harad contemplates the end of the world, alternatives to catastrophe narratives, and the many small endings that occur each day, everywhere, to everyone and everything. It’s that tsunami siren and its relationship to the rest of the novel that haunts me now. Situated in the deep background, […]
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The Last of the Bougainvillea Years
In a contemplative essay, Lebanese poet Zeina Hashem Beck considers her time in Dubai before a move to Paris, and explores the idea of home and finding one’s place in the world. I dread Paris, though I’m aware it must be more forgiving than Dubai. Isn’t that why we’re moving? We repeated the reasons every […]
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There are Trees in the Future, Or, A Case for Staying
“Why struggle to stay?” In an essay at Protean, Lupita Limón Corrales weaves her reflections about pandemic life, new ways of living, and leaving California, especially through the lens of the remote work revolution. Writing about the first year of the pandemic — and the collective show of solidarity during 2020’s summer of racial reckoning, […]
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Signs of Life
This gorgeous essay by Raksha Vasudevan reflects on her time in Antakya, southern Turkey, as an aid worker leading a Syrian team of risk educators. The piece explores the experience of war from a distance, and the surreality of tragedy and trauma. In those moments, looking at a life and landscape so alien from the […]
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Safety Town
Traffic gardens are miniature street systems through which children — and adults — can learn about road safety. Ilana Bean explores these small-scale utopias through the lens of her mother’s work in traffic safety and road design, and also writes about our relationships to transportation and our urban environment. For the most part, we don’t […]
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The Dismantling of Hong Kong
“When I say I miss Hong Kong, what I mean is the city as I remember it between the years of 2014 and 2019.” Karen Cheung reflects on the transformation of her home city. It wasn’t only that we could not see our future a few years down the line — say, whether we could […]
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Joan Didion’s Magic Trick
Caitlin Flanagan goes on a road trip through California — including Sacramento, Berkeley, and Malibu — visiting the homes of the late Joan Didion and exploring why her writing has had such a powerful effect on people. Slouching Towards Bethlehem and The White Album created a new vocabulary of essay writing, one whose influence is […]
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Dislodged
In this beautiful personal essay, Josh McColough recounts a road trip with his daughter along the coast of California and makes poignant observations about humanity and our vulnerable environment. Still, we too often move through life not considering our size and stature relative to forces and objects that humble us. Geologic time. Plate tectonics. A […]
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I’ve Always Struggled With My Weight. Losing It Didn’t Mean Winning.
“What is the human relationship to the body? Is it like a roommate? A pet? A twin? A teammate? A rival? A parasite? A host?” In a frank and funny essay, Sam Anderson reflects on losing the weight he gained during the pandemic with the help of Noom and examines the relationship with his own […]
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What Rainbow Trout Know About Relationships
Lauren Silverman weaves together issues surrounding relationships, immigration … and rainbow trout. It is a beautifully written, and highly personal, essay. Here’s a fish that is born with multiple destinies. It can choose to stay in its native river forever, or swim hundreds of miles into the deep blue — and it makes this life-altering choice […]