Today is Halloween. Or at least, that is what it has come to be known by. Yet, hidden beneath the commodification and consumerism, this celebration has deeply-winding roots in paganism (as is often the case, such as with Christmas (Yule) and Easter (Ostara)). I’d like to invite you, if you haven’t already, to meet […]
My mother’s handbag is 30 years old. It’s black leather, and covered in scratches and bumps. On one side the strap has come loose, but she has cobbled it together with green twine. Some of the seams are coming apart where the leather has worn off. But my mother hasn’t thrown it out, because […]
I was born in New York in 1960, an era when people—Americans, especially—still believed in the modern. My grandparents were wild about gadgets: at Sunday lunch, my father’s father—whose teasing always carried a whiff of terror—liked to chase his grandchildren with his electric carving knife; when we went to stay with my maternal grandmother, […]