by Meg Crane My cats are wild snuggle monsters. David, an orange tabby cat, likes to be tucked under the covers and spooned all night. My calico Stella wanders the apartment, crying, when she doesn’t know where me and my lap are. And the tuxedo, Suki, wakes from her naps to run to the door when anyone buzzes, knowing she’s got someone else to nuzzle. Sometimes, being a freelance writer is hard just because of how madly they battle with…
by Kristin Wagner I am packing for Alaska now, and each item I put into a suitcase reminds me that I have to plan for the inevitability that at some point on this trip, my body or my mind will fail me. This trip was supposed to happen last year. We wanted to go to Alaska last summer, but we didn’t. The reason sounds spoiled and selfish when I explain “Well, we didn’t have quite enough frequent flier points to fly…
by: Fahrin Kermally In early 2005, I was in the middle of graduate school, planning my career, and thinking about the fabulous life I had ahead of me. What I wasn’t thinking about was my health. I ate well, was physically fit, and it didn’t occur to me that anything could possibly be wrong. Even the continuous spotting I had been living with for two years didn’t make me pause. Not until I casually mentioned it to a friend. “You’ve…
An Interview with Dr. Christine James by Lauren Jonik Last fall during election season, I noticed that the more I watched the news or scrolled through my Facebook feed, the more stressed out I felt. Though I think cultural dialogue is crucial in a democracy, it seemed that I was witnessing a kind of unraveling. Instead of people talking about issues, friendships were fraying at the seams. What was once a fun way of connecting had turned into a political minefield,…
by: Nadia Gerassimenko I had the worst stomachache when I was six. It crept up unexpectedly and completely incapacitated me, leaving me lying and moaning, tears streaming from my eyes. I felt impregnated with heavy gases and sometimes it felt as if sharp knives were cutting through me. If it weren’t for my mother holding my hand, I didn’t know how I would survive the night all alone, how I would even calm down and drift off to sleep. The…