Jack, Jacqueline — Dad By Yvonne Conza Feature Yvonne Conza wrestles with the complexities of estrangement from her dying — complicated — dad.
They Wanted Her Body By Rafia Zakaria Feature Thinking of Qandeel Baloch’s murder as an honor killing doesn’t capture the whole truth. She was silenced for revealing men’s hypocrisy.
My Brother, My Self By Katie Prout Feature Katie Prout tries to untangle the story of her brother’s complicated, life-long battle with alcoholism against the backdrop of her family’s history of addiction.
Looking Inside My Heart By Jen Hyde Feature Jen Hyde discovered that her heart valve was made by women working in a factory near her childhood home. Getting to know them brought her closer to her own mother.
Who Cares? : On Nags, Martyrs, the Women Who Give Up, and the Men Who Don’t Get It By Longreads Feature Some women successfully free themselves from emotional labor, but I don’t want to give up the work of caring. I just want others to care as well.
The Secrets We Keep By Deena ElGenaidi Feature Deena ElGenaidi takes stock of the truths she and her Muslim family members hide from one another.
Theater of Forgiveness By Hafizah Geter Feature Hafizah Geter contemplates the personal and cultural legacy of violence against Black bodies.
The Slow Regard of a Difficult Past By Krista Stevens Highlight “In my family, love was the slow accumulation of moments in which I was not subjected to great harm.”
Seeing Private Everyman By Steve Edwards Feature Steve Edwards searches for the hidden truths in the public and private sacrifices his granddad made serving in World War II.
Eight Things You Need to Know About Me and the Beach By May-lee Chai Feature A white woman came up to my mother, leaned in close and said, “We whites have to stick together against the Asian invasion.” My mother was ecstatic. “She liked me! They like me here!”
We Have Always Lived in the House By Victoria Comella Feature In the face of tragic loss, Victoria Comella searches for the home she left behind, only to find it seventeen years later in the last place she expected.
Losing the Middle Ground By Katie Kosma Highlight More families are having only two children, leaving an entire culture to fade away: middleborns.
Making Peace with the Site of a Suicide By Liz Arnold Feature One woman reconciles with her father’s death on her family’s property.
La Otra By Longreads Feature When a woman and her daughter moved in next door, Jaquira Díaz found her world was suddenly turned upside down.
City on a Hill By Leslie Kendall Dye Feature A dementia patient’s daughter begins to question her own grasp on reality.
But What Will Your Parents Think? By Morgan Jerkins Feature Morgan Jerkins tackles the time-worn question of how far is too far to go in revealing yourself in first-person writing.
Of Breakdowns and Breakthroughs By Jenny Aurthur Feature After suicides and heartbreak ravage her family, Jenny Aurthur finds she has no choice but be transformed.
How to (Almost) Get Away With Murder By Krista Stevens Highlight No one twigged that whenever a member of the Harrison family died, it was always just before an important hearing in a bitter child custody battle.
Here is My Heart By Megan Stielstra Feature Long after the shooting at her old high school, Megan Stielstra worries about her father’s heart. Part one of a three-part series on gun violence.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: Washing the Pillow Cases Every Day By Krista Stevens Highlight Chappell Ellison would have done anything to ease her brother’s suffering from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
‘Forgive Yourself. And Forgive Me.’ By Alice Driver Feature Alice Driver considers what lessons to take from a late uncle’s life.
How to Write a Memoir While Grieving By Nicole Chung Feature Nicole Chung contemplates loss, adoption, and working on a book her late father won’t get to see.
The Money His Father Left Behind, and the Life it Would Start By Michelle Legro Commentary When Alexander Chee’s father died at 43, he left behind a trust that would set the course of his son’s life.
A Mother’s Less-Than-True Story of Being a Child Bride By Michelle Legro Highlight Getting married in her swimsuit at the age of 12 was something Danny Wallace’s mother would tell anyone she met. It also wasn’t true.
Fake It Till You Make It By Sari Botton Commentary On the pressure to pretend there’s no fallout after your parents’ divorce.
My Secondhand Lonely By Aaron Gilbreath Feature Raised by a single, independent mother, one young woman struggles with her familial inheritance and the relationship between self-sufficiency and social isolation.
Giving Thanks, Silently By Sari Botton Highlight Nina Coomes recalls her family’s Thanksgiving vows of silence at a Catholic retreat center in Illinois.
The Itch and the Touch By Aaron Gilbreath Feature Families are complicated. Caring for Grandpa John was even more so.
The Doctor Will See You Now By Sarah Miller Feature Sarah Miller eulogizes a close (but not close) relative.
My Half-Sister’s Half a Life By Longreads Feature Jeannie’s father never spoke of his daughter who had died at 16, the mysterious half-sister who shared her name.
