family

Immortal Machine: Vauhini Vara Processes Death Through A.I.

April 1, 2022 at 10:25am

Jenna Mahale interviews writer Vauhini Vara about her work with GPT-3, an A.I. writing program that she collaborated with on a recent essay about her loss of her sister.

An animated young Latine woman in an embroidered shirt and long skirt stands surprised in the middle of a circle of people cheering her on, lit by a warm glow from yellow-orange dots of light that glow around them.

Fantasy vs. Reality: What "Encanto" Gets Right—and Wrong—About Colombia

by Rosa Boshier

February 1, 2022 at 2:28pm

While Disney’s “Encanto” represents parts of Colombia’s diasporic cultural experience, its mirage of multicultural equity downplays the reality of marginalized communities in Latin America. Read more »

Actress Margaret Qualley as Alex in "Maid" holds a small child on her shoulders on a walk through the woods

Messy Reality: “Maid” Puts an Unflinching Lens on Women in Poverty

by Alaina Leary

October 19, 2021 at 1:12pm

A lack of support for single mothers in poverty keeps the main character trapped in a cycle. Read more »

photo of wives Ayanah Moor and Jamila Raegan, two Black queer women, one with a short haircut and one with locs, in their Chicago home

Unequal Lending: Redefining Home in the Land of Inopportunity

by Bani Amor

June 8, 2020 at 9:00am

Another world is possible, and it begins with redefining “home.” Read more »

Two people, one white person with short dark hair and glasses, and one Black person with short curly brown hair, sit together in a bed. The white person holds a phone with a dog in their lap. The Black person has a book open and is smiling.

Galentine’s Day Is a Loving Space for Queer People

by Rachel Charlene Lewis

February 13, 2020 at 12:26pm

Showing how much you love your friends seems even more important for queer people. Read more »

In 2019, Here’s How Queer People Do the Holidays

by Rachel Charlene Lewis

December 16, 2019 at 3:55pm

“We are learning to intentionally carve out joyful spaces for ourselves.” Read more »

a photo of a brown Christmas pudding on a plate

The Patriarchy Is in the Pudding

by Rebecca Houghton

December 4, 2019 at 2:37pm

Making Christmas pudding is turning out to be like childbirth or menopause—one of those things women don’t talk about, and when you get there yourself, you realize that it would’ve been great for someone to have mentioned incontinence, vaginal dryness, or the need for inordinate upper body strength... Read more »

collage image of Porochista Khakpour and Alexander Chee surrounded by abstract colorful shapes

Nowhere Is Home: Two Well-Traveled Writers on Roots, Writing, and Exile

December 4, 2019 at 11:48am

There’s some way that trips are actually about traveling inside, a journey you need to make in your own life that you can’t make if you stay in the place you live. Read more »

abstract illustration of a person kneeling with their head in their hands, figures on the sides of the body, while another figure, lined with dots, is leans over them. decorative elements such as snakes and florals line the edges.

(Un)Spoken Truths: Cousins Grace and Roslyn Talusan on the Healing Power of Storytelling

by Roslyn Talusan

December 2, 2019 at 1:26pm

Everything in our culture would like us to repress trauma, and shame is at the core of this. Read more »

Jami Attenberg, a white woman with shaggy brown hair is leaning against a door frame holding a drink in one hand, while she softly smiles

“All This Could Be Yours” Complicates the Narrative of Shitty Men and Forgiveness

by Rachel Charlene Lewis

November 12, 2019 at 1:47pm

By focusing on the women who Victor has harmed, Jami Attenberg offers a fleeting world where even messy, sometimes-bad women deserve justice on their own terms. Read more »