Essays

Rewriting the American Cult Story

I want my students to fall madly in love with Rosalind. She’s my favorite of all Shakespeare’s heroines, I tell them, pressing my hand to my heart, pretending to swoon.

What the Monongahela Taught Me

Finding Refuge in Your Favorite Monsters

Toward a New Black Solidarity

Liner Notes for a Life’s Playlist

Learning to Swim Later in Life

Even surgeons can be superstitious.

On the New Science of Narcissism

I live in rural Scotland, in a village of sixty-five houses, with no cell service or shops. There is a kirk, a pub; there are more sheep than people. For the first time in my life, I have a garden. A garden with more square footage than my...