“When a criminal defense attorney warns you not to view something — in this case, a suspicious VHS tape — it’s probably wise to listen.”
fathers and sons
Parting the Waters
“Generations of family memories wash away in Silver Falls.”
Extraordinary Circumstances
Kenneth Watkins’s son, Kenny, was 6 days old when he was taken away by ACS, New York City’s child-welfare agency. Kenny was then placed with an affluent foster family. To regain custody, Watkins had to prove that being poor didn’t make him a bad father. Despite Watkins’ constant efforts, it took years to get Kenny […]
Last Resort, Part 1: Let’s Go to Angola
“His father, a broke music promoter, had convinced him they could turn their lives around by arranging a complicated but lucrative hip-hop concert on New Year’s Eve in Angola. It was more complicated than they’d imagined.” The first installment of a three-part story, in partnership with Epic Magazine.
What My Korean Father Taught Me About Defending Myself in America
“And he said something I would never forget. ‘The best fighter in tae kwon do never fights,’ he said. ‘He always finds another way.”
Finding My Father Among the Astronauts
“It took more than a decade for me to realize that I never really wanted to become a pilot so much as I wanted to become like my dad, to achieve what others deemed impossible.”
What A Time To Be In Decline
“Why, a decade ago, did my father give me the heavy gift of a controversial 100-year-old Oswald Spengler tome? It took a pandemic for me to find out.”
‘These Were His Mountains, After All’: Remembering One’s Father While Cycling in the Swiss Alps
James Jung thought he rode the winding narrow roads of the Alps to memorialize his dad. He was wrong.
Chasing My Father’s Ghost Through the Swiss Alps
James Jung thought he rode the winding narrow roads of the Alps to memorialize his dad. He was wrong.
Notes for a Post-apocalyptic Novel
When things get hard, we look to our most fundamental relationships. This is the story of a son, a father, a camper van, a pandemic, and the ties that bind.