By Jennifer Niesslein
Well, hell.
If you’re anything like me, you’ve been making your phone calls, being kinder to strangers in public, and shutting down people who don’t show you respect. (It’s really not the week to mansplain to me. Ask a couple guys on Facebook.) I’m not running a new essay today because I know you have other things on your minds.
My own mind keeps coming back to courage and fear, and the inequalities in the U.S. that gives too many people extra helpings of fear—and will require the courage of all of us to change it.
I believe in the power of truthful story-telling. Today, I want to revisit some of the essays that had an impact on me.
“A Tape Doesn’t Change a Goddamned Thing” by Karrie Higgins
“Neighborhood Watch” By Beatrice M. Hogg
“Shelter Girl” by Chareen Ibraheem
“Go That Way Very Fast. If Something Gets in Your Way, Turn” by Erica S. Brath
“Transference” by J. J. Mulligan
“Stranger Interlude” by Terry Barr
And a love story, because why not? “How Gender Works” by Alex Myers
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JENNIFER NIESSLEIN is the editor of Full Grown People. Her latest work, on joy (!) and why we write, is at Creative Nonfiction.
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