Looping Music Takes Me to a “Place” Where I Can Write
Putting songs on repeat helps me get into a writing flow, return to my projects after time away, and access memories and moods more easily.
How the Immortal Jellyfish Helps Me Rewrite My Queer Childhood
I have no desire to live forever. But what I would give to return to adolescence and do it over, even once! To kiss who I wanted to kiss, not settling for her brother.
A Queer Love Story at the Bottom of the Sea
What the Venus flower basket and a Norwegian bildungsroman can teach us about queer adolescence.
The Strangest Fish in the World and Its Literary Twin
There are certain wonders that disappear in translation.
How the Bobbit Worm Helps Me Name My Sexual Assault
He attempted to have sex with me, and I managed to stop him by saying I had a tampon in, my period blood a greater deterrence than my protest.
How the Hairy-Chested Yeti Crab Taught Me to Survive Trump’s America
“There’s definitely a ton of colored people here!” a white guy told me. “I mean, people of color. That’s what I said, right?”
Ernst Haeckel, the Eugenicist Who Designed My Tattoos
Science is not now, nor has ever been, objective, fair, or inclusive.
How an Octopus Helps Me Think About My Mother’s Eating Disorder
On “the animal kingdom’s bravest and most vigilant mother.”