PERSONAL ESSAYS
NONFICTION: Unearthed

A hazy summer day in first grade. Dani and I were sitting on the steps of her grandfather’s house. Our mouths and hands dripped mango […]

NONFICTION: Tor Olsson’s Reputation Precedes Him

The Legend of Barefoot Kid crosses state lines two weeks into the school year, when my friend Lila calls to tell me about the insane […]

NONFICTION: Yamaha, Jr.

For my ninth Christmas, Dad bought me a right-handed Yamaha FG-Junior acoustic guitar. I was left-handed and so furious with my father for handicapping me […]

NONFICTION: Watery Vignettes of Where We’ve Been, of Where We’re Headed

Nước: the Vietnamese word for country and water.   Nước mắt chảy xuống. Tears flow down, my mother tells me. By which she means: a […]

PERSONAL ESSAY: Rusted Dawn

Laopopo: great-grandmother Laogongong: great-grandfather In Shandong, mountains rise like fists from the earth, and pagoda trees blossom, releasing wild fuchsia plumes between the ancient fingers. […]

PERSONAL ESSAY: Recontextualizing Didion

Hello to All That  My copy of “Slouching Towards Bethlehem” is the size of my palm. On the front cover is an illustration of Joan […]

PERSONAL ESSAY: Hospitable Soil

At dinner on my first night on the farm, Brandon pulled a tick off his hand and chopped it in half with a pocket knife. […]

PERSONAL ESSAY: Selective Reflections

The Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts has never been bombed, which means it has fulfilled its founding purpose. In the 1950s, as the threat […]

PERSONAL ESSAY: Confessions from the Third Place

Another day at the store. You’re in the basement, tying apron strings behind your back before heading upstairs to clock in. The pre-work anticipation this […]

PERSONAL ESSAY: Hues and Shades

There’s a little boy wearing a Spiderman mask painting a very messy and very big blue shark on his corner of the wooden mural resting […]

PAINTING & ESSAY: On Finishing Touches

Outside, people are protesting for Yale to pay its fair share. Or at least that’s what the sign says, from the brief glimpse that Katia […]