When We Were Friends
Our eyes are bleary, but we are laughing, the kind of laugh that comes before tears.
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Posts Tagged: college
ENOUGH: Rescue Me
A Rumpus series of work by women and non-binary people that engages with rape culture, sexual assault, and domestic violence
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Inborn Autistic Disturbances of Affective Contact
Maybe you were whistling before you could talk, too.
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Renovating Reality: A Remembrance of J. D. McClatchy
To us he was Professor McClatchy, and he presided over our Wednesday afternoon sessions with the grace of an elegant, erudite gentleman.
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Rumpus Exclusive: “Passing as Privileged”
I don’t feel ashamed of my history, I feel ashamed of letting it be erased.
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Fitting In
Without men around to impress, I discovered my own taste—what desire meant beyond the desire to be desirable.
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ENOUGH: The Art of the Cover Up
A Rumpus series of work by women and non-binary people that engages with rape culture, sexual assault, and domestic violence.
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Becoming Bodies
[W]e wanted something different from each other’s bodies than what was actually there, which might be why our bodies sometimes came together.
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All My Visits from Santa
Confession: I’m a Hindu who loves Christmas.
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How to Workshop N-Words
I am not willing to let go of one of the only things that truly belong to my people and me. It’s a very exclusive, very tumultuous kind of privilege.
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CA$H 4 GOLD
I will not end up like these woman, I promise myself, left behind and living in some suburb. I will not be anyone’s baby. I will be a real artist instead, a writer.
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Ready for Change: Discussing Sexual Assault with SafeBAE
The co-founders of SafeBAE discuss the challenges and victories of teaching students about rape culture, consent, and anti-bullying.
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What to Read When You Want to Go to College
College is a rite of passage for many young people, and it’s also a part of the American Dream for many families. Here is a list of books that tackle those fraught four years.
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Language Is All Convention: Talking with Elif Batuman
Elif Batuman discusses her new novel The Idiot, what it means to be a writer, and the artifice of language.
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The Rumpus Mini-Interview Project #90: Erika Carter
Erika Carter’s debut novel Lucky You tells the story of three young women in their early twenties who leave their waitressing jobs in an Arkansas college town to embark on a year off grid in the Ozark Mountains. In a remote house, without a washing machine or cell phone reception, Ellie, Chloe, and Rachel grapple […]
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Voices on Addiction: Shame Is a Treble Hook
Shame is a treble hook that tells me that 1) I not only fail but am a failure, that 2) I not only damage people but I am damaged, and that 3) I not only lie but I am a lie.
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A Love Letter to Fuckhead
If you’re judging your characters, you’re not doing it right. I’ll always be grateful to [Denis] Johnson for teaching me that.
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The Sunday Rumpus Essay: Hello
All those prank calls were partly a way of taking control of the unknown, the ambiguity of that space between “hello” and whatever comes next.
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Back to the Places I’ve Left
“No one knows how to handle it,” I tell her, but I can see she’s angry and I’m speaking into the wind.
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Written in Chalk: What It Means to Be Crazy
As truth becomes more elusive, as fact blends with fiction, we ought to take notice of how we categorize people, as categorization seems to be married to suppression, to disenfranchisement.
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A Certain Frequency: Radio’s Appeal Across 75 Years
Today, radio is bigger than ever—but in vastly different forms. More people listen to the radio than watch TV, according to Nielsen, only now it’s on a computer, a tablet, or a smartphone.
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The Rumpus Mini-Interview Project #75: Deborah Kampmeier
I met Deborah Kampmeier at a workshop in November. We were two weeks post-election; the room was raw with emotion, and electric with conversations about resistance. This tall, badass woman dressed in all black sauntered into the room, and chose a seat at the table. When she read, my solar plexus exploded, and I couldn’t stop […]
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Wanted/Needed/Loved: Allison Crutchfield’s Sewing Machine
When I’m away touring, my clothes are my connection to home, my way of feeling myself.
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Vocabulary Lessons in Bucharest
I felt unhinged in my moments of isolation, and frustrated in my muteness.
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A Dyslexic’s Guide to Infinity
In my memory, the Learning Support room is always shadowy. Outside, other girls are forever laughing as they amble past.
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FUNNY WOMEN #148: The Hindenburg Review Writers’ Workshop
Welcome to the Hindenburg Review Writers’ Workshop!
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My Voice for Their Drugs
Anxiety disorients me from inside. My heart moves so erratically I’m afraid it will give out, my breath so staggered I have to remind myself to take in air.
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The Alienation of an Irish Abortion
Was it a dream? A nightmare? I felt like I’d been sold a lie. There was no husband or caring partner, no safe home or solid income. Just me, pregnant and alone, in an abortion clinic with my rapist.
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The Trouble with Confidence
“But what are the statistics? Aren’t you taking a similar risk just driving?” Wide-eyed, attentive, he leans forward slightly.
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