Other
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Exciting New Rumpus Initiatives
Debbie Millman and I are thrilled to share some exciting new initiatives we are launching with The Rumpus. Beginning on April 1, 2026, we are increasing our pay rates for work accepted on or after that date. (Sadly, we cannot…
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The Rumpus at AWP 2026
Debbie and I are really excited to meet Rumpus readers, writers and staff at AWP 2026 in Baltimore, from March 4-8th. At the bookfair, you will find us at BOOTH 1240 where you can learn more about The Rumpus, what…
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Harpooning the Self: “Moby-Dick,” Fatphobia, and the Monomaniacal Pursuit of Control
But in our culture, it must be subdued, extracted, and of course sold. Their podcast has saved me in numerous ways these past years. Each morning, driving to my job at a small high school in the deep South, I…
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The National Shutdown
Tomorrow, Friday January 30th, there will be a national shutdown to protest the ongoing, egregious violence being perpetrated by ICE and other federal law enforcement agents in Minneapolis and all across the country. In solidarity, we won’t be posting any…
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The Shackles of Crime: John J. Lennon’s “The Tragedy of True Crime”
There are more sides to a person than a prison sentence can reveal.
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Something New
Forcing myself, muscling through the mental pain. This is what I remember most of my own recovery. After the brief psychiatric hospitalization at eighteen, I returned for my second freshman semester hell-bent on erasing my failures, erasing the girl I’d…
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The Spurious Glamor of Certain Voids
Don’t we all love looking, Diane Seuss wondered, at dead things?
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What To Read When It’s Dangerous To Be A Girl
Fairy tales and myths are one of the oldest ways to say what’s true. When the news (the world) (the woods) is overwhelming, I reach for stories that seek to tap into that history
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An Excerpt from “First Time, Long Time”
He was more handsome in person, somewhere in the shallow end of his sixties, wearing a soft-looking black sweater and smelling of expensive soap. I could picture the place where the soap was purchased: one of those quiet, ritzy stores…
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The First Book: Tennessee Hill
The process of querying agents was filled with no’s that, though sad, each felt like a gentle push in the right direction towards my eventual agent Elizabeth Pratt. Once Elizabeth and I teamed up, everything happened rapidly. She did so…
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What to Read When You Want to Destabilize the Binaries Between Good and Bad
Among the 14 “Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture” as outlined by Kenneth Jones and Tema Okun, are “Either/or Thinking,” “Fear of Open Conflict,” “Belief in One Right Way,” and “Perfectionism.” As a white person who came of age in predominantly…
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What to Read When Your Ex Takes the Dog
Books helped me claw myself from bedrot. I dove into the page, and now have ten stories to thank for resurrecting me from my despondency. For helping me to feel again.