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Essay

Sittenfeld Superfan

“This was the one boarding school story I’d never told,” teases Lee Fiora in the opening paragraphs of “Lost but Not Forgotten,” the last of a dozen stories in Curtis Sittenfeld’s new short story collection Show Don’t Tell. It’s a juicy opener, one that prompted me to arrange an interview with Sittenfeld over Zoom, ostensibly […]

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“This was the one boarding school story I’d never told,” teases Lee Fiora in the opening paragraphs of “Lost but Not Forgotten,” the last of a dozen stories in Curtis Sittenfeld’s new short story collection Show Don’t Tell. It’s a juicy opener, one that prompted me to arrange an interview with Sittenfeld over Zoom, ostensibly

THE UNREST

“How was your trip to Egypt?” the Radiology doctor asks as he’s about to examine my breasts.   “It was great,” I say, and my husband echoes my words from where he’s sitting in the examination room, holding the clothes I was told to take off.   “You picked a bad time to go,” the doctor continues.  

THE UNREST Read More »

“How was your trip to Egypt?” the Radiology doctor asks as he’s about to examine my breasts.   “It was great,” I say, and my husband echoes my words from where he’s sitting in the examination room, holding the clothes I was told to take off.   “You picked a bad time to go,” the doctor continues.  

Flying Toward Destiny

Andrei picked up an unused bread plate from a nearby table. “This is Bishkek,” he said, pointing to one edge. He swept his finger across the plate’s diameter to the opposite side. “Here is Eugene.” Pronouncing the name of my hometown, he emphasized the first syllable, shortened the second: Yew-jin. “It’s mistika.”  I stood next

Flying Toward Destiny Read More »

Andrei picked up an unused bread plate from a nearby table. “This is Bishkek,” he said, pointing to one edge. He swept his finger across the plate’s diameter to the opposite side. “Here is Eugene.” Pronouncing the name of my hometown, he emphasized the first syllable, shortened the second: Yew-jin. “It’s mistika.”  I stood next

Blurry photo of woman standing next to a bicycle

Okimono, Elegy: Little Ivory Fisherman on Stand of Cherry Wood

‘Sometimes,’ I ventured, ‘it doesn’t occur to boys that their mother was ever young and pretty.’ My children are younger than many objects in my house, a fact I regularly remind them of. “Don’t break that dish, young lady, I’ve had it longer than you.” Not to put them in their place, but to let

Okimono, Elegy: Little Ivory Fisherman on Stand of Cherry Wood Read More »

‘Sometimes,’ I ventured, ‘it doesn’t occur to boys that their mother was ever young and pretty.’ My children are younger than many objects in my house, a fact I regularly remind them of. “Don’t break that dish, young lady, I’ve had it longer than you.” Not to put them in their place, but to let

Blue Skies, Birdsong

Published in Issue 64.1: Winter 2025 You can purchase our Winter issue here Do you know about the 1997 coup d’état in Sierra Leone? You might have heard about it if you saw that 2006 Leo DiCaprio movie Blood Diamond, which did a surprisingly good job with the subject matter, given the Hollywood factor. But this

Blue Skies, Birdsong Read More »

Published in Issue 64.1: Winter 2025 You can purchase our Winter issue here Do you know about the 1997 coup d’état in Sierra Leone? You might have heard about it if you saw that 2006 Leo DiCaprio movie Blood Diamond, which did a surprisingly good job with the subject matter, given the Hollywood factor. But this

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