Mating Habits of the Asterisk
Living out of a van, without an address to pin you down, can be blissful and carefree, and occasionally miserable. But the same goes for love.
personalessays
A collection of 230 issues
Dear Daughter, Your Mom
Drawing inspiration from those who went before, and those still to come, in the waitress wars.
Girl With the Old English Tattoo
A court order is found buried in a desk. A private detective is hired. But tracking down a doppelgänger is not the same as confronting one.
Game Face
Even someone who writes erotica for a living has to find ways to get through moments of shame.
A Country’s Width
Years go by easier when there are 2,000 miles separating a father and son. Then an American flag turns up in your lap.
The Cello Courier
After a death in the family, a precious musical instrument must be transported a thousand-plus miles. Should it break, a lot more is at stake than just music.
Crime Reported
Lawbreaking occurs, a man calls for help, the police detain an endless lineup of men. Sometimes fraud comes as no surprise.
Chrissy Smoked
Twice a year, a group of friends gathered in a coal-mining pocket of Pennsylvania—friends in their twenties with fragile identities, who didn’t know yet what would happen.
The Illuminated
A family that relies on the satisfactions of the logical—calculus, physics, chemistry—finds itself haunted by ghosts.
A Man Enough
Eventually a man who’s always in motion, always fixing something, will stop. Decline of the patriarch reveals an entire family’s vulnerability.