Legacies
Afro-German Women are Still Upholding the Legacy of May Ayim
There have always been people suffering from anti-Blackness. And May Ayim highlights the continuity of the Black experience—not only her own, but those before her as well.
The Legacy of Malaga Island and the Limits of Maine’s Progressivism
Once a mixed-race fishing community, the island is now empty, showing the gap between the state’s history and what it professes to be.
Whiteness Can’t Save Us
Whiteness cannot give us what we need, and this is not a disappointment. This is a testimony.
My Family’s Relationship with the Unseen
Maybe my dreams were trying to tell me something. Maybe I had what I liked to call, jokingly, “the ElGenaidi Gift.”
Finding Faith in the House of Capricorn
To this day, I can’t tell you the names of my extended family in Taiwan—but I can tell you their astrological signs.
In an America on Fire, Baldwin’s Legacy Led Me to Paris
Just as America’s horrors led Baldwin to flee decades before, I waded through my own fear as a gay, black man coming of age in an America burning once again.
What My Grandmother’s Eyes Have Seen
Around the time I was in seventh grade, I started performing makeshift eye surgery on my grandmother.
Raising My Daughter to Be an Octopus Lover
“Hoba! Hoba!” my daughter screeches, using the short word for ‘hobotnica’—octopus in Croatian. My friend says, “She’s Croatian alright.”
I Found the Queer Role Model I Always Needed in My Long-Lost Cousin
I wish I’d known Molly years ago. I wish I had known her when I was twelve years old, wondering who in my life would still love me if they knew my secret.
A Eulogy for All the Black Boys Who Loved the Sky
I’m longing for the day when folk like me and Trayvon and Korryn and Lennon and Aiyana and Botham don’t need to be lucky to stay alive.