Filter by Issue
Filter by Type
Filter by Topic
Search by Keywords
Self-Interview
This is a setup, right? It’s all a setup, right? I mean, I am not sitting somewhere shooting my mouth off to somebody sitting the same somewhere with me.Issue 05
Royal Crown
The summer I turned 15, I started working for Royal Crown Cola, spent my entire summer vacation loading empties onto the bottling line in the plant in Phoenix, where my dad had been transferred.Issue 05
Out of Nothing
Back in high school, in New York City, I had a teacher (a mentor, a friend) who took to my writing voice unconditionally, embracing it with the passion that was his trademark—a singular passion.Issue 05
Off Islander: Excerpts from a Nantucket Journal
Snow. Fire. Waves. The three hypnotists. Perhaps it is the incessant motion of each that keeps us staring or the deceptive domesticity (campfire; greeting card) beyond which, biding its time, waits danger.Issue 05
My Two Wars
Two excerpts from Moritz Thomsen’s memoir about his involvement with two outrageous catastrophes—World War II and his father—”the two big wars in my life”—from which he was never able to disengage.Issue 05
Night Rhythms
I leave Dean’s bedside to make 2 a.m. rounds. His are the only lights, besides those in the nursing station, that are on. The in-patient unit at the children’s hospital is dim and empty—silent except for a metallic hum that can be heard, just barely, in the air. 1 am in my nursing assistant uniform, white, except for the splotch of creamed ham I spilled on the leg during a now distant daytime meal.Issue 05
Hypothetical History of an Actual Photograph
Sometime during the period 1950-1973—there is reason, though without assurance, to assume that it happened circa late 1973—a young man, possibly North American by birth but clearly of African descent, entered a photo booth, perhaps located in theTimes Square district of New York City, with the intent of making a series of self-portraits.Issue 05
Daddy’s Loss
Daddy loved to tell stories, but he never told anyone the story of his hand. We were forbidden to talk about his hand being gone, to ask questions about what happened, to ever be able to offer help in words.Issue 05
Son of Spoon River
The photographer from Newsweek has walked me around to the rear of St. Pat’s and to a corner in the gothic masonry where the light is even. He has pulled a light meter out of his kit and holds it before my face.Issue 05
Delivering Lily
Ever since expectant fathers were admitted into delivery rooms a few decades ago, they have come armed with video cameras and awe. Before I became a father, I often heard men describe seeing the birth of their baby as “transcendental,” the greatest experience in their lives.Issue 24/25 / Issue 05 / In Fact