TORCH: The Reunion
He was and still is a stranger, uninhabitable and distant like a whisper in a language I don’t quite understand.
...moreHe was and still is a stranger, uninhabitable and distant like a whisper in a language I don’t quite understand.
...moreOn certain nights, if I’m lucky, wisps of the shore begin to glow blue, an unearthly electric color, like someone in the sea has a flashlight and is shining it upward.
...moreBroken people are drawn to other broken people. Comparing scars. Laying belly to belly. Two similar pieces of different puzzles.
...moreWe want to protect our children from everything, even sometimes ourselves.
...moreGorilla and the Bird is an important resource for anyone impacted by the scope of bipolar disorder, as well as those who want to learn more about it.
...moreI don’t want to say “calculated conversations.” I don’t want to say “I push my needs away.” I don’t want to admit I can’t control how our interactions go.
...moreNathan Englander talks about his new novel, Dinner at the Center of the Earth, the experience of being interviewed, and why he believes books can save lives.
...moreI think about the birth of Mosley, and all of the dreams I already have for him at the ripe age of one. I know how I want him to see me—strong, smart, capable of anything and everything. This is how I want him to see all women, but me especially.
...more“What do you think about this,” he said, measured and cool. “What if we offer a service where people can pay to be in our family, but only for a few hours.”
...moreJason Diamond discusses his memoir Searching for John Hughes, confronting his childhood abuse, avoiding his parents, and writing about all of it.
...moreTrying to protect him from himself is like trying to protect atmosphere from weather.
...more[T]he thing about receiving music from other people is this: there is always some grace associated with the transaction.
...moreUnwittingly, my mother teaches me in this conversation her generation’s word for gay: 同性恋. I look it up in an online dictionary, three characters in my mother’s tongue. Same, sex, and love.
...moreHere we are again, another one-run game, another last chance.
...moreLeland Cheuk discusses his novel The Misadventures of Sulliver Pong, dark humor, cancer, morally corrupt characters, and his mother.
...moreI wanted more time with him, but I didn’t want to hope. Too much hope will mess you up.
...moreJamie Brickhouse discusses Dangerous When Wet: A Memoir of Booze, Sex, and My Mother, a memoir that chronicles his intimate, near-fatal journey through alcoholism, and living HIV positive.
...moreGarrard Conley, author of the new memoir Boy Erased, discusses growing up in the deep South, mothers, writing for change, and political delusions.
...moreThey pin him down and I stick him. I am relentless. This disease is relentless. And I am so pissed off.
...moreMark Leyner discusses his new novel, Gone with the Mind, about a failed novelist, Mark Leyner, who gives a reading to his mom in an almost-deserted food court.
...moreI got to thinking about home. What the fuck is home anyway?
...more“Don’t become a professor,” he said. “I’d rather you become a garbage man. They get paid more and have better benefits.”
...moreI knew if I could make it out of town, make it to college, I would survive. But I wasn’t sure I would.
...moreIt never occurred to me to try to write poems without the guidance of other poets and poems.
...moreSaeed Jones talks about his forthcoming memoir How Men Fight For Their Lives, his new fellowship program at BuzzFeed, and making peace with the phantom.
...moreThis is not a biography, photograph, or method of cloning, not footage, not a transcription—in short: this is not faithful.
...moreEditor and author George Hodgman talks about his new memoir, Bettyville, what makes for a good memoir, and returning to his hometown of Paris, Missouri from New York to take care of his aging mother.
...moreOttessa Moshfegh talks about her book McGlue, inventing a character from an 1850s newspaper article, and revisiting her work years after she finished writing it.
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