Rudolf Steiner, nineteenth-century “spiritual scientist,” theorized that human development unfolds in cycles of seven. He mapped humanity this way, in neat piles of seven, as well as the physical, mental, and emotional milestones he believed the average person meets as they move through these cycles. From birth to age seven, we develop the will to …
“I Ran (So Far Away),” A Flock of Seagulls I used to run to this song. I was fifteen with lush blond hair and newly sprung boobs and found it hilarious to hit the pavement at the same tempo as its iconic chorus. I’d run through the neighborhood where I’d grown up, hoping someone I …
I run from the house, pushing the dusty screen from its window frame and sliding my body down the stucco side. I am seven when I run, my fingertips soiled by the escape, my palms and little-girl thighs scratched by the rough wall, the resistance, the dirt upon impact. This is the first time I …
I was six years old when my mother’s ex-boyfriend moved in next to us. My family was living in a tiny stucco house with a view of our next-door neighbor’s garden shed, and this was where Kenneth P. took up residence. He renovated the shed himself, nailing on a tin roof, installing a functional toilet, …
Associate Editor Andy Sia: Tracing the seams between the outer and the inner world, Jodi Cressman’s quietly observant essay reveals the stratifications of gender and family in a Mennonite and farming household. Among other things, I’m drawn to the animals in this piece, which populate the speaker’s world and take on bigger significance. Listen to Cressman read her …
Assistant Editor Blessing Christopher: Preeti Talwai’s essay lands on the taste buds and ripens into an impactful narrative about time, family, displacement, and chronic illness. It further examines the thin line demarcating what is considered delicious/desirable from the things that are almost sickeningly sweet. Listen to Talwai read “Mango Season”: Mango Season The little patience …
In a fascinating miCRo essay, Fee takes us on a tour of the microwave’s unexpected origin story.
When the clinician inserted the tent of seaweed into my cervix, a practice as outdated as Japan’s abortion laws, the tiny stab caused an involuntary jerk and gasp. She firmly pressed one of my knees with her free hand, saying, “Deep breath.” As I exited the room, I nodded, a slight bow to answer hers, …
A binary star system consists of two stars that rotate around a shared center of mass, appearing to orbit each other. To the naked eye, they are indistinguishable, existing as a single point of light in the night sky. Only through a high-powered telescope can the stars be differentiated as they sear the space around …
Guest Literary Nonfiction Editor David Lazar: Allison Field Bell’s “Body Essay” is, indeed, greater than the sum of its parts. This self-forensic, tonally muted work, is a Cartesian revision: We are corporeal, and therefore think about how every inch of us, each discrete part, conjoins body memory along with the memory of our bodies’ pleasures and …