My Body Remembers the Story You Want To Erase, and a Black Man Just Made History
Curated reads.
Favorite Essays I Read in the Past Two Weeks:
Numbers, Éanlaí P. Cronin
This is poignant. And its framing is original. I’m still thinking about how the writer has told this story, using numbers to tell a traumatic experience.
Friendship, Devon Brody
I read so many essays on friendships, still… this one stuck me in its subtlety, in its powerful message without explicitly stating it. This one is quietly beautiful.
My Body Remembers the Story You Want to Erase, Electric Literature
Oh, my goodness, this story is haunting. And the ending, so liberating.
I’m Afraid I’m Going To Lose My Boys To This Country, Electric Literature
My family’s daily struggle to find food in Gaza, The New Yorker
My Husband And I Separated. When We Met Up 14 Years Later, I Was Surprised By What Happened. Lisa Mecham
The butterfly redemption, Brian Payton
This has the best memorable ending scene in a reported essay.
Favorite Short Stories I Read in the Past Two Weeks:
Every Hair Casts a Shadow, Moira McCavana
Presence, Gina Chung
The Letter, Caleb Crain
Sylvia, Billie Kelpin
The Dowsing of Linus Spalding, Craig M. Foster
An Account of the Land of Witches, Sofia Samatar
This story is told from multiple perspectives, which I found to be intriguing and daring, especially since it’s a short story.
What we came for, Alison, The Sun
Favorite Flash Fiction I Read in the Past Two Weeks:
Wednesday: Triangle, Larry Brown
Favorite Sentences I Read in the Past Two Weeks:
“Sometimes a book taken from someone’s house still carries the scent of their house, of what it was like to be in a room with them, and when you first open the book, you’re with them again for a moment.” The Letter, Caleb Crain
“Make no mistake: a life is taken with each act of rape.” Numbers, Éanlaí P. Cronin
“Finding rest or refuge in our writing is a necessary skill for resilience, our shield against burnout, our sustenance for going the long haul.” Write while lying down, Holly Haworth
“My approach is: “I get to write a novel” versus “I have to write a novel.”” This Year, Ask Yourself What Kind of Writer You Want to Be - Electric Literature
“People say your name around me, not knowing what you did, and my face learns not to grimace at the sound of it.” My Body Remembers the Story You Want to Erase, Electric Literature
Favorite Paragraphs I Read in the Past Two Weeks:
“They say you’ll never go broke underestimating people’s intelligence. The same goes for their willingness to avoid feeling discomfort. When memories are the medium through which we experience most of our emotions and relive our highest and lowest moments, it makes sense that, after a while, it would become addictive to edit, delete, and manipulate them over and over again, in search of a clean slate. A place beyond pain.” Presence, Gina Chung
“But leaping is the job of the writer, and there’s no point it doing it halfway. Good fiction pulls off a magic trick of absurd power: It makes us care. Responding to the travails of invented characters — Ahab or Amaranta, Sethe or Stevens, Zooey or Zorba — we might tear up or laugh, or our hearts might pound. As readers, we become invested in these people, which is very different from agreeing with or even liking them. In the best literature, characters are so vivid, complicated, contradictory and even maddening that we’ll follow them far from our preconceptions; sometimes we don’t return.” The most important writing exercise I’ve ever assigned, Rachel Kadish
“We often wonder how to know if we’re making the right choice creatively when there are so many possibilities. I understand fear. I understand caution. But at some point, we must shake off the indecision and just move forward with our work. Choose your project. Choose your sentences. Choose your ideas. Choose your ending. It’s your trip and no one else’s.” This Year, Ask Yourself What Kind of Writer You Want to Be - Electric Literature
“There, on my hands and knees, as I study their delicate wings, gawping eyes, and active antennae, I can almost feel the clock ticking on their ephemeral lives. I reflect on the recent bottlenecks their predecessors somehow wriggled through, and their miraculous reappearance in this region after having been given up for dead. I recognize the bright point of focus they provide for the human need to act against loss and extinction. I believe they have more to reveal about adapting to an altered world. And after lingering in an extended close-up viewing of one gorgeous survivor, I get up and head for home—feeling both anxious and more alive.” The butterfly redemption, Brian Payton
“There, my phone doesn’t ring or ding because I’ve turned it off. There, email doesn’t reach me. There, I am pulled into a current of thought and feeling so rejuvenating, all the worries of bills and expenses fly from my mind. They take wing, a flock of sparrows diving and wheeling in the golden light that burnishes the field and sets my vision blazing. I am richer here than the world will ever know.” Write while lying down, Holly Haworth
Favorite Writing Advice I Read in the Past Two Weeks:
The most important writing exercise I’ve ever assigned, Rachel Kadish
This Year, Ask Yourself What Kind of Writer You Want to Be - Electric Literature
Etcetera
A Black man just made history as the first Black leader in Europe
A love letter to all the mothers in the children’s hospital ER at 11:11 pm on a Tuesday night, Rebecca Woolf
Black writers share their favorite books to honor Black History month, The Audacity
Electric Literature is addictive