We have to wear plain black clothes to mask class so our selves don’t intrude. People with hair that falls in their face must pin it back. When you’re wearing black and have your face covered, it’s easy for anyone watching to see your idiosyncrasies. A hunch of the shoulders, a loping walk.

She wanted to see her father as wholly American, but he wasn’t

...and how to calculate the cost of religion

Man, we went to the Manchester fair last night, and the rodeo was in town. I had a pulled-pork sandwich that the Emanuel Church sold out of a tiny camper, and we had to tell Oscar that he couldn’t ride the carousel because we were broke.

After my father toured what would become our neighborhood in Fairfax, California, he knocked on the nearest door and asked the man who answered if it was nice living there. That man told me this story years later as he walked me across the street to the house my father bought after their meeting.

Though her summer lifeguard job gets her out of church service, she still finds herself praying for a chance

An outline for escape

Nine writers whose work reflects the fragmented nature of life itself

In the aftermath of a school shooting, a teacher plans for next time