Things

Things | Rekindle
Where the Stars Are Strange: J. R. R. Tolkien and Me

“The best books show us who we were when we first read them, who we are now, and who we may yet become.”

Oct 3, 2017
Things | Borrowed
Millo, My American Armadillo

“Millo is a sax player and ‘Millo’ is short for Armadillo, his full Christian name and species.”

Sep 13, 2017
Things | Rekindle
On Reading Hunter S. Thompson’s “Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72” in 2017

“There are those who fail to realize how deeply Thompson cared about his country. He was a product of it.”

Aug 18, 2017
Things | Rekindle
How to Read Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s ‘Americanah’

“I am three days aged in Lagos and cry as my fingers turn the first page.”

Aug 15, 2017
Things | Artifact
Threads: On Daughters, Mothers, Ex-girlfriends (and Sewing Boxes)

Inside his sewing box was an old girlfriend’s felt heart, stuck with pins. Throw it out, he says. I don’t.

Jul 21, 2017
Things | What We Wear
Mapping My Body with Sewing Patterns

“The clothing I produce may be simple, but it belongs to me and my body in a way nothing else can.”

Jul 19, 2017
Things | Heirloom
How a Gift Connected Me, a Trans Woman, with Three Generations of Women in My Family

“My cousin’s gift was validation, a connection I hadn’t even realized I was looking for.”

Jul 12, 2017
Things | Edible
The Great British Baking Show and Being an Amateur

“To be an amateur is to let one’s leisure activities remain indifferent to the whims of capital.”

Jul 11, 2017
Things | Rekindle
Raymond Briggs and Me; or, The Banality of Evil for Children

Briggs didn’t create the monster lurking under the bed, he just told us it was there.

Jun 16, 2017
Things | Rekindle
Reading Underwater: Reckoning With Myself as a Woman of Color Amid a White Literary World

“My reading trajectory hadn’t equipped me with how I saw myself.”

Jun 13, 2017