Category: America

Nylon

My mom moved us from New York to Arizona the summer I turned eleven. When the plane landed, and 105 degrees of hell hit my face, I vowed to leave the state as soon as I was an adult and could make my own life. I left for college at eighteen and lived in Arizona…

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Shout

“Fuck this place and fuck all of you,” a woman bellowed from somewhere outside the window this morning while I was making my tea. The walls of our little house are fairly thin, and we are close to lots of things, but she must have been wailing because it sounded like she was right behind…

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Tear

There is so much to say and yet I am at a loss. I have attempted this post a few times, which is not my normal routine. I usually sit down, type something out, and call it done. But a year that started out so personal, that I was sure would be all about my…

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Pressed

Years ago, I found myself in a Walgreens parking lot. My kids were still little, so I’m sure I was picking up liquid Tylenol, or maybe I was shopping for cards and Oreos because everyone was finally asleep. It was a mundane night. I don’t remember why I was there. And yet, I will never…

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Drum

116,516 | 405,399 | 36,516 | 58,209 | 2,216 | 4,497  I know very little about numbers and even less about war. I know the average person takes 23,000 breaths a day and the moon orbits the earth every 27 days or so. It takes the moon twenty-seven days to travel around the earth one time. Every night,…

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Starch

  If I don’t focus, life can be a real pain in the ovaries. Recently, I have started reading about Stoicism. I’m finding meditation is a little too cozy-blanket unless I’m going to be a monk, which is still an option on my table, but in the meantime, I need to strike a balance between…

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Air Out

It might be time to step outside. I’m thinking near the ocean or under another gorgeous full moon, something to help gain perspective. Over the past few months, things have become incredibly myopic, and while I understand disappointment, I am confused by the over-the-top drama. My choice for elected-follower didn’t win on Tuesday either, but a…

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Puffy Jacket

Oh, how I once longed to smoke. Truly. When I was in college I tried sober in a coffee shop; I tried drunk in Mexico, I put some serious effort into picking up the habit. There was something alluring about the intense inhale followed by that seductive plume curling from someone’s mouth. Smokers had an…

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Toughskins

  I am white. It is the skin I was born in. It’s actually kind of peach and sometimes blotchy in the sun, but in society, I am classified as—white. I’m married to a man with similar skin, and all three of our children are shades of us. We are a white family living on…

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