Introspection
ice cream store
I had been weeding out such slights of comparison my whole life. But that Machiavellian ice cream store was where competition poisonously thrived.
On Solid Ground
I had witnessed the magic some people found in this sport. I learned something entirely new that day; I hadn’t learned something so new in a long time.
Twins in an Ice Cream Shop
With my twin, I feel like it’s us against the world. The world, on the other hand, seems that it would prefer us against each other. Over our 19 years, we’ve received comments such as, “Wow, your sister’s gorgeous! You look nothing alike,” “Oh, so you’re the disappointment, then?” and “How does it feel to have a sister so much smarter than you?” And my personal favorite: “You’re just so… different” (Ambiguity only baits the imagination.)
Direct Flash
I can’t shake the fact that my love for Los Angeles Apparel opposes my self-professed feminist politics. When I add another tennis skirt to my shopping cart, I line the pockets of a man who built his career on the degradation of women.
Yasmeen Endpaper Collage
Still, I can’t shake the fact that my love for Los Angeles Apparel opposes my self-professed feminist politics. When I add another tennis skirt to my shopping cart, I line the pockets of a man who built his career on the degradation of women.
Curb
What I do expect is that an effort is made: For my friends to offer help stepping up giant sidewalk curbs (even with a reminder).
Putting Society’s Ableism into Perspective
I remember how much I struggled to find the right words to write — staring at the computer screen for hours, refusing to write the word “disabled.”
Lost on a Run and Finding Home
I realized, in what felt like the middle of nowhere, on this expedition to prove to myself that I could find security in my new environment, that I was alone in being responsible for myself.
The Threads That Bind
I often marvel at how it must feel to move throughout the world with such lived experience — how a person can bear witness to so much history and still take to the streets every day in a plush faux-mink coat with the fervent zeal of a person eager to inhale the equally familiar and foreign sights, smells, and sounds of New York City.
Kyle's Grandma Ruth
Kyle's grandma, Ruth, worked as a sewing instructor at the Henry Street Settlement — a social service organization in Manhattan’s Lower East Side — for over 50 years.
Kyle's Muse
It sounds strange to say that I look up to someone who’s a foot and a half shorter than me, but Grandma Ruth has always been my muse.
Learning to Forget
It’s hard to resist the constant urge to document. But memory is just as much about forgetting as it is about remembering.
Poptropicapitalist Realism, or Love at the End of the World
Poptropica was profoundly uninterested in explaining why your character could jump, barter, and wheedle their way into saving the world. For me, as a kid, this was the coolest thing ever.
