A stain; an unintended mark that, once made, resists removal. Inadvertent remnant and by-product, it is something made while we were looking elsewhere; evidence that our attention faltered, or that some vessel failed to function.
The Friday after the sexual assault hearing of future Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, when we were all wondering if it mattered anymore what anyone said or did, I drove with a group of guys up into the Colorado mountains.
It was 2006, and I had just arrived in Florida for a marine biology excursion sponsored by a certain theme park that dabbles in ocean rehabilitation. To spare myself from any lawsuits, let’s just call it Ocean Planet.
When I arrive at my assigned campsite I find. cheerios scattered everywhere.
I live a life of humiliation, but the most embarrassing, most shameful thing I ever did was get thin for a couple years.
I watched my roommate kiss the man. It was my freshman year of college and I had the top bunk. I was too high to climb up to it.
In ancient Greece, it was believed that the uterus moved around inside the female body – like something winged
I don’t want to lead you on: this is not a love song. More of a reply to the note you did not write to the Dear Ashley column that also does not exist.
Many a novel today is a screenplay with feelings.
When we were five or six, well before that shot, we walked together in those woods. It was fall and we had just touched, for the first time that I can remember, in his room, under blankets. They were either 101 Dalmatians or Power Rangers-themed
After high school, I moved from Minnesota to Texas. Average annual number of Tornados in Minnesota: 41.9. Average annual number of tornados in Texas: 146.7.
1. We are young and we snake through synagogue back hallways. Play truth or dare. Seven minutes in heaven. Stay away from the sanctuary.
As teenagers, my friends and I spent Friday nights driving backroads, throwing soda cans at street signs. The wind... more
I started reading My Struggle in the spring of 2014. I didn’t know what I was getting into, but... more
June 1, 1944 – Squadron party. Real whiskey, but didn’t get too hi – just happy. Met a W.A.F. (Women Air Force) & we talked English history.
A Godly woman has to make a living, after all.
My friend told me, it’s just about you needing control. I did not respond when she said this. Considering nothing is just about anything.
Please God forgive me. Please God forgive me.
The bum drags himself off the floor. Then comes on nice. Real buddy buddy shit.
While the atmosphere pumps steroids into hurricanes, let me feel the Ecuadorian sun on my face.
Once Katie swiped my card I began to panic. This was exactly how people accidentally joined cults. They just found some charismatic, manipulative person and started giving them all their money.
“Hide the Tzahal patch,” he warned before seeing me off.
My homework, which I assigned to myself, the way kids do sometimes, consisted of hobbling around my room in a witch hat, practicing spells on my shoes.
Route #1 via I-476 South
Time to destination: 25 years, with plenty of stops for gas, food, fear, and shame. 14 if you... more
If I had to take a shit that meant I had to go downstairs. I didn’t have a specific aversion to leaving the attic— I just never felt... more
A 400-page collection of poems in fours sections: Nicki Minaj Songs, Bob Dylan Songs, Elliott Smith Songs, and 90s Riot Grrrls Songs.
ON SALE for only $5 through June 15!!
FOUR NEW ESSAYS BY CHLOE CALDWELL! Plus the original essays that made you fall in love with Chloe!
ON SALE for only $5 through June 15!!
Saul Stories is a linked collection that explores the relationships between a forty-year-old female artist, her teenaged daughter, and her daughter's friends. With ferocious realism, the book interrogates how children of differing classes and races are treated in the U.S., and the salacious and skeptical ways the current culture views cross-generational friendships. But most potently—in narratives taking place in Denny's and movie theatres and living rooms and cars—Saul Stories wonders what it means to be a woman and an artist and a mother, all at once.
