changed
This September marks 10 years since my father died, and I left not only Florida, but the United States. Leaving the country was difficult, but now I’m working through a new type of grief: losing my connection with the US.My relationships with my friends, family, and hometown have changed —…
When my children enrolled in college, I decided to step away from supervising their education. I would no longer keep too close an eye on their grades or class performance. I confess that it was a selfish decision, but as the mother of five, I’d already spent too many hours…
Growing up in a small Midwestern city, I always dreamed of moving to a place like New York or Chicago after graduating from college.I wanted to be at the center of everything that made these places so appealing, from the endless entertainment options to the seemingly abundant career opportunities.Yet after…
On Christmas Eve, December 24, 2025, at 41 years old, I found myself in bed, lying to men about where I lived.Well, sort of.Earlier that night, while my teenage kids were getting ready for bed, I scrolled through TikTok, pausing on a video from a woman who manually changed her…
This as-told-to essay is based on an interview with Aziz Aslan, 45, the owner of Turquaz, a Turkish restaurant on Mission Street in San Francisco. It has been edited for length and clarity.I opened my Turkish restaurant, Turquaz, in San Francisco in February 2025. Typically, most of our customers are…
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Maurice Edu, analyst with Major League Soccer on Apple TV. It has been edited for length and clarity.When I was growing up in California’s inland empire, I was constantly playing soccer with my four siblings. I’d narrate the games: “Mo shoots,…
I’ve always felt most at home in or around the water. Sometimes that meant swimming laps in a gym pool with waterproof headphones on and music in my ears. Other times, it looked like floating on a raft in my suburban New Jersey backyard pool on a summer afternoon, or…
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jacqueline Matwick, 38, who moved from Arizona to Turin, Italy, with her family in 2024. Matwick was anticipating receiving citizenship by descent through her husband, but the Italian government changed the requirements after they moved, and the Matwicks no longer qualified.…
