Things
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.”
Millo, My American Armadillo
“Millo is a sax player and ‘Millo’ is short for Armadillo, his full Christian name and species.”
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.”
How to Read Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s ‘Americanah’
“I am three days aged in Lagos and cry as my fingers turn the first page.”
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.
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.
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.”