My head fits into the groove between my mother’s shoulder and neck as though I was born out of her collarbone, and I often wonder how where I come from decides where I go. I am shaped so strongly by the spaces to which I belong—places are sculptors, and I am their stone to chisel— and yet, I struggle ...
Sun streams in through the dirty windshield of my green Subaru. I prop up my knee as I drive, and if my mother saw me, she’d be upset. But you are the one in the passenger seat next to me, twiddling with my phone to pick a song on our nine-minute drive to Michael’s.
“if someday you can’t find me you might
The “fun fourth class” is a coveted space in the Brown undergrad’s schedule. As high schoolers, we were forced to churn out a couple hundred words on the importance of the Open Curriculum. Whether or not you’re living out college as your high school self said you would, you’ve likely taken ...
My friend and I were, of course, both delighted to see Pedro Pascal's face grace the screen when we settled in our seats to watch Ethan Coen’s recent film Drive-Away Dolls. We subsequently experienced the same reaction as we watched his character get brutally, almost cartoonishly, killed off in a ...
Work culture consumes us. Our Google Calendars are piled with one event after another. Our days pass in a flash. Amidst this relentless pursuit of productivity, resting is often conflated with laziness. A few weeks ago, on a long drive back to Providence, my friends and I listened to a podcast by The ...
I walked with a friend into a wooded area behind Young Orchard, my heart beating too fast from hearing seven people talk about internships for an hour. I don’t smoke, but watching my friend smoke a cigarette had a vicariously calming effect on me. I kicked around a stick and took deep breaths as they ...
It is May of 1981. Tempo Magazine, one of Indonesia’s largest weekly newspapers, has just published an article about a wedding. “Their affections for one another are a little excessive, even in front of all their guests,” the author writes, seemingly amused. “Bonnie is pinching their ‘husband’s’ ...
The trope of memory loss in media, though overused, has always fascinated and frightened me. The idea of losing your memories—the very things that make you the person you are—and becoming completely unaware of your identity in an instant sounds terrifying.
I used to think rain wasn't real. Growing up in Los Angeles, famous for its year-long summer, a rainy day was a special occasion. Rain sparked a butterfly effect with far-ranging consequences—from causing distressed drivers to lose all coordination to inspiring elated jubilation from all the young ...
I make a precise fold in half. I repeat with the same scrutiny, the same exactness, the same force, again and again. With a pair of safety scissors whose unused blades glimmer in my intent eyes, I calculate a snippet of the corner: Four thin, white triangles swirl down into my lap. Another cut at the ...
Autumn
Did you transfer here midyear and feel so utterly alone? Do you hang out with people that you enjoy, but at the same time feel that nobody truly knows you? There’s a difference between meeting and knowing people. Every day, you introduce yourself and go through the list: name, year, pronouns, and ...
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If one had to summarize all of menswear—its ups and downs, bell bottoms, shin huggers, and oxford bags—into an essential fabric, it would have to be tweed. Hailing from the frosty and unforgiving weather of Northern Europe, tweed has become and remains the most versatile, nostalgic fabric one can ...
As my mom reads off every name, my sister and I try our hardest to commit them to memory. We are six and eight years old, excitedly staring at the family tree in front of us. It is astonishing and extensive, with some very familiar names and others that I have only heard of as characters from my parents’ ...
Solutions by The State News
