Shelby Vittek reflects on the bittersweet experience of watching herself be born — and her now-divorced mom and dad become parents — again and again.
parents
Posted inNonfiction, Reading List
Sometimes a Tortoise Is More Than a Tortoise
Meet Fred. He’s cold-blooded, beady-eyed, a picky eater, and likely to outlive us all.
Posted inEditor's Pick
A Pet Tortoise Who Will Outlive Us All
“It’s humbling to care for an animal that reminds you, each day, of your own imminent death.”
Posted inProfiles & Interviews
Putting Together the Pieces of Her Grandmother’s Mysterious Death
For her essay in the New Yorker, Kate Daloz relied on a precious set of letters to tell the story of her grandmother’s abortion.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Story
Fairyland: Memories of a Singular San Francisco Girlhood
Alysia Abbott recalls being raised by her poet father—a single, openly gay man—in the San Francisco of the nineteen-seventies and eighties.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Erin Lee Carr’s Moving Tribute to Her Father, David Carr
The other day I got some good news and, wanting to share it, reflexively typed “dad” into my phone. There are moments in grief when the finality sets in, and here it was: I would never be able to hear his voice again. But I’ve realized, strangely, that instead of resenting the Internet, I’m grateful […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
The Debate Over Alternative Medicine
The Laidlers’ story is a microcosm of the changing debate over so-called alternative medicine and its cousin, integrative medicine. In 2007, Americans spent $2.9 billion on homeopathic medicine, a treatment based on the belief that minuscule amounts of what causes symptoms in a healthy person will alleviate symptoms in someone who is ill. From nutritional supplements […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
A Doctor with Terminal Cancer Writes to His Baby Daughter
Time for me is double-edged: Every day brings me further from the low of my last cancer relapse, but every day also brings me closer to the next cancer recurrence — and eventually, death. Perhaps later than I think, but certainly sooner than I desire. There are, I imagine, two responses to that realization. The […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Falling in Love, 30 Years Later
At Vogue, Mira Jacob writes about watching her parents love 30 years after being paired up in an arranged marriage: The night before I went back to New York, I came home to a sight so disquieting that I stood outside in the dark for a full five minutes, just watching. It was late. The […]