Love in the Time of Puberty

When I was in the ninth grade, two of my classmates got into a shoving-then-wrestling fight. Surprising because we were in a classroom at the time. In a Catholic high school. Right before Religion class. […]

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Cormac McCarthy Catharsis

(Note: This piece contains “adult” language. If you’re squeamish about vulgarity, better skip this one.) Before Cormac McCarthy won a National Book Award or a Pulitzer Prize, before No Country for Old Men won an […]

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Sister Mary Barbarian

My ninth-grade English teacher was named Sister Mary Barbara, but for purposes of anonymity, I’ll call her Sister Mary Barbarian. She was the toughest, strictest, unyieldingest teacher I ever had—a member of the order the […]

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Meeting, the Enemy

Meetings are the cold, muck-filled trenches in which turf wars are fought. They are the Texas Death Matches of the business world. They are corporate roller derbies. People just trying to skate by spin their […]

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Insider Art

(This poem previously appeared in Defenestration.) Insider Art “American Student Rescued after Getting Stuck in Giant Vagina Sculpture in Germany.” New York Daily News, June 23, 2014 Twenty-two firefighters labored to deliver you, yours a […]

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Any Pet in a Storm

When my stepson’s cat, Pishi (Farsi for “Kitty,” pronounced PEE-shee), came to live with us for a year, she didn’t warm to me right away. Early on, when I tried to pet her, she bit […]

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