Exactly - the concept of “purity tests” are what turned the GOP into the dystopian party of Marjorie Taylor-Greene and Lauren Boebert. We don’t need two parties adopting this strategy.

It seems like it would be difficult to win a Senate seat and hold all the positions necessary to remain in the good graces of the extremely online left, given that Senate races are statewide elections.

Grunge had the benefit of being a low-effort look.  Perfect Gen X attire.

I’m a millennial but I’ve never had Milk Bar’s birthday cake so I don’t really have a dog in this particular fight. But I also don’t understand why we should care what Gen Z thinks about my dessert choices, hair part (side parts forever) and whatever else Gen Z thinks is cringe. Who cares what some 23 year old…

My sincere hope is the site is not just back but returns to some of the former quality and insight that made it a an outsized-pop culture staple. Frankly the site had been in decline for years before its shuttering. I don’t mean to shit on you or any other writers who, I gather, have been working under less-than-ideal…

Not sure if I’m submitting too late, but I just stumbled upon this contest, and I have a story to share that has stayed with me since childhood.

Possibly not a dream. In your groggy state, your subconscious may have picked up enough of the timbre of even faint calls (screams) to manufacture a scenario. Or. Perhaps in your sleep-dep state, you were more open and accessible to any urgent energy streaming around you. If that poor girl were semi-conscious but…

This is part actual crime- part something else, so trigger warning for domestic violence; and if you’re thinking about getting out of a bad relationship for any reason, let this be the sign that you need to get out ASAP.

Creaky Visitor

In 2021 when the country started to open up, I got a job offer and a nice moving package and so I ended up living in an AirBnb for four months while my husband stayed back to sell our house. The rental was a townhome built in 1784, so old and sparsely remodeled that you could still see the outline of a bricked up…

[I heard this story multiple times, directly from the source--I don’t even remember everything about it, but the part I do remains one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever heard, and I will still think of it from time to time and get a little freaked out]

If this seems familiar, I submitted too late in the past and got stuck in the greys.

The summer I turned 15, my dad moved the family to Alaska to satisfy his craving for solitude and unspoiled nature. Our rental house was in a pretty spot on top of a hill, but was really isolated. We’re talking a 30+ minute drive from town, steep dirt road most of the way, with no neighbors around for a couple miles.…

I grew up in an old house on a private road with no outlet and only one neighbor visible from the house. The house had originally been a little ranch style cottage that was used as a weekend getaway in the woods near the creek. My parents eventually built a second floor where my bedroom and my parents bedroom were…

Roommates Unwanted
I moved to New Orleans over 15 years ago for grad school and like many before me immediately fell in love with the food, culture, and people. It is a very intoxicating and romantic place. The historical homes with their antique fixtures and furniture make it to easy to imagine people from a different…

They weren’t ready for kids. Are we really painting Justin as a bad guy for being honest about that?

The Voice from the Water

Summer ‘97. I was nine and scared of my own shadow, so this experience only furthered my fear of the world.

It was the Tuesday before Thanksgiving about 10 years ago. My spouse was still at work, and our two young daughters were off with my mom, who had picked them up after school. I walked into the kitchen after our dog greeted me at the door.

When I was in 3^rd grade (about a billion years ago), I went to this little Catholic school in a very blue collar neighborhood. It wasn’t the best area, but it wasn’t the worst, either—narrow streets with dense rows of duplexes, tiny strips of lawn, and a bar on every corner (seriously). Our house was only five blocks…