Places
If You Want Peace, Go to a Graveyard
“I grew up with the specter of death all around me.”
My Mother’s Hope: On Being a First-Generation Latina in College
“We can make a positive impact and pursue our dreams in this country—even when we feel unwelcome in it.”
Flexibility and Frustration: Navigating Life Through Istanbul
“As Turkey becomes an increasingly difficult place to live, many friends and peers have become perplexed by my determination to stay here.”
Eulogy for a Home: Tehran Revisited
Do my loved ones buried in Iran, my generational roots in the land, allow the country to continue to feel like home?
Body Wash: Instructions on Surviving Homelessness
“If contact occurs, rinse thoroughly with water so hot it sheds all the layers of who you once were and reveals someone new.”
The End of a Family, The End of the World
“What is the average life span of a species? Of a family?”
Teaching Under Threat
“During that class, I did not feel like a teacher; I only felt like a woman, a body in danger.”
Loving, Hating, Being From Texas
Expat Texans, Texan Democrats—all us Texan “others”—have a complicated relationship with our home state.
A Case for Studying the Humanities in a Time of Neo-Fascism
“Trump and his administration are readable. And we must read them carefully.”
Lost, and Then Found Once More: On Traveling Alone Without Sight
“The feeling of being out on my own is worth all the fear I must fight to get there.”