When I was in high school, my friends and I feared the kind of ordinariness that could one be borne out of the boom of the 1990’s. The walls of our houses could only cave in on us in the metaphoric sense. Because my parents had money during that period, I thought I had theContinue reading “The comforts of home”
Category Archives: Personal Essays
People write me about student debt
And some of them are talking about wanting to end their lives. They are not speaking from “weakness” or “stupidity.” They’re just tired. They feel done. “I’ve never had serious issues with suicidal ideation, but damnit, this is causing that for me,” one woman wrote – she ended up having trouble with her loans dueContinue reading “People write me about student debt”
‘Till the fat lady sings
Will I be pretty? Will I be rich? Here’s what she said to me… I had a friend, a slightly older chap, who had a young daughter – and would complain incessantly about how much OLDER he felt now that she was born. Besides the sheer weight of responsibility – very small children are soContinue reading “‘Till the fat lady sings”
Things that I can’t write about right now
I didn’t notice how I started crying. I had been cutting down a story about deaths in a Russian orphanage specifically designed for the children of female inmates – children born in captivity, like tiger cubs in a zoo (though tiger cubs generally get better treatment). Space on the page was limited, 300 words orContinue reading “Things that I can’t write about right now”
When we was fab
Even after living for just a year and a half in a given city, certain places begin to accumulate memories. Good or bad, the memories are like barnacles – which is to say that they endure, remaining prominent in your mind until new ones calcify on top. “Now, the Moskvoretsky Bridge…” I said to my brother-in-lawContinue reading “When we was fab”
Natalia A. 