coming of age

Image Credit: Hassaan Ahmed of apertureimages   In 2007 Gulshan, it was hard to be a seven year old. It was hard to wake up everyday in the thrall of…

WOVEN is an Entropy series and dedicated safe space for essays by persons who engage with #MeToo, sexual assault and harassment, and #DomesticViolence, as well as their intersections with mental…

“The vessel that takes you on this journey will safely bring you home.” My psychonaut smiles and says, “see you on the other side.”  I take a deep breath and…

In the winter of my junior year in high school, my mom and dad took a ten-day trip to China, leaving me at home to fend for myself. It was,…

That first menstruation was a shock. Bleary eyed, I woke up in the middle of the night and saw the blood, spotty and sticky and dark—yet undoubtedly from my own…

When I was a boy, my dad always said not to be like him. People would say, “You look just like your Daddy,” which I heard so often he sometimes…

Image Credit: George Coletrain   There’s nothing like being young, and leaving some place. —Bruce Springsteen   There’s not a lot to love about being from New Jersey. There’s the…

My friends and I waited our turn to ride the Model T. It idled on the edge of Alvina Elementary’s grass field, spitting oil, coughing smoke, rattling, shuddering. Black fenders…

1.   I have only one photograph of Alex left: standing behind the cash register of Sunflower Pool. His brother Tom is there, too. I’m in the chemical section. I…

When I was thirteen years old, I had all of the answers. If you wanted to have a good life, all you needed to do was pray every night and…

Image: Gulf of Mexico during Hurricane Hermine   You should know that I was never bulimic.  Not bulimic-bulimic. You should also know that the first time I made myself throw…

The first time I took a travel brochure, I felt ashamed. The second time, too. It wasn’t exactly stealing, but all the same they signified the unreachable, things I could…