March 8, 2016
Clowns and War Stories (Part Two)
Nicholas Kristof imagines, in a recent New York Times op-ed column, “President Donald J. Trump in a tense international crisis, indignant and impatient, with his sweaty finger on the nuclear […]
March 4, 2016
Reagan on the Couch, Part 2
Who knows if it’s still the case, but in the 1970s a parent could make some relatively easy money by offering up her kid for medical experiments. My mother, for […]
March 2, 2016
Different (Broad)sides
A “broadside” is, quite simply, a sheet of paper printed on a single side. Once also called a “broadsheet,” these could be typed up and posted as notices or advertising. Even early […]
March 2, 2016
Ghazals for James Foley
Last week, I received my copy of Ghazals for Foley in the mail. James Foley was an American journalist and my classmate in the MFA program in fiction at UMass Amherst. Jim’s […]
February 27, 2016
In Nothing Too There Are Seasons
The first time you see “Hate,” the new Skrillex-produced single by 4Minute, you are already in bed, having stayed up late to catch its premiere in Korea. You watch it […]
February 25, 2016
When You Became The Ghost in Her
In a dark room at NYU Langone Hospital on First Avenue, the technician rolling you in squeezes your left hand, holding onto it for a moment. He’s from China, and […]
February 23, 2016
Postscript to My Kanye West Posts
I’m a human being. . . I’m an artist, bro . . . —@kanyewest, February 13, 2016 Since I wrote about Kanye’s arrogance, based mainly in interviews and lyrics from […]
February 23, 2016
Audre Lorde
Last Thursday, February 18, was the birthday of Audre Lorde. This semester, I am teaching a course focused on poetry and social justice, so I think about Audre Lorde’s writing […]
February 19, 2016
Un-Valentine’s Day
Just as Humpty Dumpty celebrated un-birthdays, some of us at the University of Michigan on Monday celebrated Un-Valentine’s Day. Our cupcakes were topped with hearts, yes; but they were also […]
February 18, 2016
Reagan on the Couch, Part 1
In the late summer of 1976, from the tan shag carpet of our living room in the Taco Flats neighborhood of Cupertino, California, I watched on TV with my brother, […]
February 17, 2016
“I Am Warhol”: On the Arrogance of Kanye
But if you guys that’re investing in the arts, y’all want to invest in the school in Brazil, y’all wanna go to Africa, I am standing up and I’m telling […]
February 11, 2016
Empathy & Female Anger: On Yael Hedaya’s “Housebroken” (Part 3)
I didn’t want to write about “Matti,” the last story in Yael Hedaya’s collection Housebroken. Perhaps because it’s a story I’m tired of hearing: women forgiving men for the most […]