Pandemics and Pasta: Sustenance in the Viral Age
Tonight, I am roasting ripe Heirloom tomatoes with onions, garlic, and olive oil in a 400-degree-oven while a blend of mushrooms, garlic, and white...
Reading Sontag When Life is Sci-Fi
I’ve never been able to read much non-fiction, always lamented my impatience for it. And yet now I find I’m unable to put down...
Diastema: The Spaces Between
I’ve had a sizable gap between my two front teeth for my entire life, and for most of it, I’ve wanted to get rid...
The Novel I Will Never Write: A Screed by Gabe Cohen
The protagonist of the novel I will never write is kind of like me. Except more articulate. And cleverer. And a bit more handsome....
Stories About the End of the World
My first visit to a science museum, when I was kid, had a remarkable impact on me. I might have been eleven or twelve;...
Complaint and Prayer
In recognition of May being Mental Health Awareness Month, we are proud to publish Marie G Coleman's personal essay "Complaint and Prayer." Coleman's piece...
Marcuse on the MTA
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“Marcuse on the MTA” is an excerpt from Herbert Marcuse, Philosopher of Utopia: A...
You Had Me at Beheading! The Author of “Against Football” Responds...
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Copyright @ 2015 by Steve Almond. First published in The Rumpus, December 1, 2015. Reprinted...
The War on Pagans
It’s the time of year for the “War on Christmas”. The war, supposedly a slight against Christianity, was most recently inspired by a book...
Learning Hungarian
Roza, my four-year-old daughter, is patient with me as I struggle to understand her. She doesn’t know it, but I’m in awe of the...
Answering Alternative Facts with Fiction
There is a sense, this week, with Trump’s shifting stories on his payout to Stormy Daniels, of a crescendo in the administration's run of...
Shoveling Dirt On ritual and grief at a Jewish funeral
Paul is in a coma, said the person calling. The doctors think this is the end. His wife Jenni wants you to come. She...