All that Was Innocent and Violent: Girlhood in Post-Revolution Iran By Naz Riahi Feature Naz Riahi recalls her vibrant childhood in a suburb of Tehran, and considers how the harsh realities imposed by the still new Islamic Republic seeped into her family’s life.
When Time Costs Too Much By Carolyn Wells Highlight If you are the family breadwinner, how do you calculate the value of time with your children?
How a Mom Penetrated the Pen to Hack the Warden’s Computer By Krista Stevens Highlight Rita Strand, age 58, posed as a health inspector and got unrestricted access to South Dakota prison.
At Mrs. Balbir’s By Jillian Dunham Feature Jillian Dunham traveled thousands of miles from home to get away from her grief. It found her anyway, in a stranger’s Bangkok apartment.
The Christmas Tape By Wendy McClure Feature Wendy McClure recounts how an old audio tape of holiday music becomes a record of family history, unspoken rituals, and grief.
We Are All We Have By Megan Stielstra Feature While caring for her mother post-surgery and her grandmother during her final days, Megan Stielstra wonders who’s really taking care of who.
The Name Change Dilemma By Hannah Howard Feature Hannah Howard considers tradition, identity, and love as she navigates the decision whether to keep her name after her wedding.
As Impossible and Imperfect as Translation By Krista Stevens Highlight “But poetry…has helped me to find new meaning within and across linguistic boundaries.”
Surviving the Shattering of My Mind and My Marriage By Longreads Feature Andrea J. Buchanan contemplates the way illness and pain can freeze a sufferer in time, as if encased in glass.
Dispatch from Puerto Nowhere By Robert Lopez Feature Robert Lopez examines what it means to be an assimilated American from Puerto Rico, and what was gained and lost in the process.
To Love and Protect Each Other — From Bigotry By Jay Deitcher Feature After Jay Deitcher sits silent as his wife is verbally assaulted by his father’s racist friend, he grapples with the ways his family has been muted by trauma.
‘People Can Become Houses’ By Danielle Jackson Feature In her debut memoir, Sarah Broom builds her “obsession” with her family home — destroyed in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina — into a story of how families decide who they are, how they got here, and how they reconstruct themselves over and over again.
Tramp Like Us By Longreads Feature Can an American family learn to become outdoorsy in New Zealand, where the natural world is part of the national DNA? Sort of.
It Comes in Waves By Lilly Dancyger Feature Years after her cousin was killed, Lilly Dancyger is haunted by images of murdered women in the news.
The Bonds Beyond Language By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight Twins have bonds that exist beyond words, and they fill the gaps left by what cannot be said.
Better Late By Summer Block Feature From straightening her teeth to finding her true love, Summer Block has reached the milestones in her life later than most.
Heartbreaker By Beatrix M. Rooney Feature Beatrix M. Rooney discovers a tragic secret that may explain her brother’s descent into cruelty and violence.
Towards Chinatown By fluffysharp Feature Faced with the possibility of losing of her mother, Melissa Hung contemplates another loss — of her mother tongue.
Companion Fair? By Krista Stevens Highlight “That’s what Dad’s AAirpass and ultra-elite flying status yielded for him: lifelong bonds.”
When to Throw a Goodbye Party By Joy Notoma Feature Joy Notoma grapples with saying goodbye to friends before a move, the complicated grief of shunning, and the way one parting can be a painful reminder of so many others.
‘If Any of My Old Friends Are Reading This, It Is Okay Out Here.’ By Jacqueline Alnes Feature Amber Scorah talks about committing the one unforgiveable sin: believing, then not believing.
House Un-American By Leslie Kendall Dye Feature On public lives, secret memoirs, and censoring the dead.
Who Do You Belong To? By Emily Lackey Feature When she dipped her heart into someone else’s relationship, Emily Lackey discovered how to define love on her own terms.
Becoming Family By Jennifer Berney Feature Jennifer Berney explores how queer families challenge traditional notions of heredity and paternity.
‘Little Grandpa’ and The List By Abigail Rasminsky Feature When her grandfather died, Abigail Rasminsky learned about a part of his life she’d known nothing about.
‘The Home Is a Place as Wild as Any in the World.’ By Alex Madison Feature Chia-Chia Lin talks about the wildness of domestic spaces and writing her novel “The Unpassing” through the early months of motherhood.
Does the Woman in the Painting Have a Secret? By Longreads Feature In the wake of her mother’s passing, Dylan Landis wrestles with unanswered questions about love and art, and imagines different possibilities of what could have been.
‘There Are Things You See With Your Body’ By Krista Stevens Highlight “Stepping away, I feel something evaporate, a quantum of my soul, perhaps, burning up on contact.”
Bracing for the Silence of an Empty Nest By Michelle Cruz Gonzales Feature 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 filling the house.
Your Turn By Longreads Feature Damon Young looks back at his family’s journey toward homeownership, and what that can really mean when you’re black in America.
