Posts by tag
adolescence
180 posts
Merit Badges and Adolescent Angst
Over at the Oxford American, Rosecrans Baldwin treats us to a piece on America’s Boy Scouts. Also, adolescent angst: Any cool kids in my town whose parents enrolled them in Cub…
The Prophecy
There was the butterfly knife. The idea of it, not the thing in reality—sleek, wicked-edged, the same kind of knife you once asked to borrow because you were walking home alone and you wanted to be the most dangerous thing out there.
The Last Book I Loved: nineties by Lucy Ives
Our parents showed up to retrieve us. They wanted to know why we would do such a thing. My friend and I looked at each other and just shrugged our shoulders.
I Was a Teenage Arsonist
My school was on fire. It was exhilarating. Fire trucks were whipping their sirens around, and my whole high school was out on the football field, chattering excitedly, whispering in…
The Rumpus Poetry Book Club Chat with Carmen Giménez Smith
The Rumpus Poetry Book Club chats with Carmen Giménez Smith about her poetry collection Goodbye, Flicker.
Never Look Away
“Who will protect us in this town, I think. There are skinheads and KKK people and bullies. There are dogs that run snarling to the edge of their yards when…
My Little Brother Ruined My Life
"Are you a masochist?" It's the first thing Bosco asks me. He's fourteen years old now, almost my height, 5' 8", creamy white skin, and a small, German nose from my stepmother's side of the family.
Down from Cascom Mountain
Ann Joslin Williams’ first novel, Down from Cascom Mountain, follows troubled young people in an idyllic lodge in New Hampshire for one summer.
Teenagers from Mars
Peter Bognanni’s first novel mixes punk rock and the wild creativity of Buckminster Fuller into a tender and believable chronicle of teen sorrow.
Diary of a Young Survivor
A playwright’s first novel takes on adolescence and grief in a post-9/11 world
The Rumpus Original Combo: Colson Whitehead
A review of Sag Harbor, followed by an interview with Colson Whitehead—or, as we like to call this literary twofer: The Rumpus Original Combo.