boston marathon bombings

  • Seven Almonds

    Seven Almonds

    The first thing my parents bought when they earned money in America was a giant bag of almonds as a talisman for success.

  • This Week in Short Fiction

    In the wake of the Charleston church shooting last week and with Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev back in the news, the world seems full of nothing but hate and intolerance, violence, and terror. But as families of the Charleston…

  • A Portrait of the Bombers as Young Men

    The Rolling Stone article “Jahar’s World,” which peered into the life of the Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, has been lauded as one of the best longreads of the year. Now the Boston Globe has put out its own longread on the subject:…

  • That Rolling Stone Article

    Although it has stirred up controversy with its cover photo, the Rolling Stone article about alleged Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is honest and interesting and frustrating and perplexing. How did a kid who seemed so sweet and laid-back to his friends…

  • The Other Side of Nowhere

    The Other Side of Nowhere

    Our better life started in a small cockroach-infested apartment on the side of a highway in San Antonio, Texas. My mother’s homesickness was unbearable, and we almost went back to Poland. What some may not understand is that this pursuit…

  • Tragedy is Fast, Knowledge is Slow

    Tragedy is Fast, Knowledge is Slow

    For months, I had worked to help students make connections between sports and society, to help them analyze and interrogate media representations of sport and of athletes….In the immediate aftermath of the Boston bombings, I had no answers and very…

  • Letter From Boston

    Letter From Boston

    I was walking out of MIT’s gym at 11 pm when the loudspeaker came on, telling us that there was a gunman on campus and to shelter in place.