Common Life

Hometown Acceptance

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 22:07:30 -0400

"Do you think she'll recognize me?" the voice behind me said. I turned, and there was Mrs. R, a woman whose kids I had babysat all through high school. The speaker was Mrs. S. – I had babysat for her a few times, too. It was the first time I had been to my hometown since my mom had moved from it, a year ago. Now my mom was back in town and so was I. I should have expected to see people I knew – after all, I had lived in our sleepy suburban village for 18 years – but somehow I had

Being Christian

Wed, 23 May 2007 10:37:50 -0400

We were having Margaritas, and my friend Luke paused in the middle of a tirade against evangelicals. "Oh, wait," he said. "Um, are you religious?" I hate this question. Because "Are you religious?" implies a yes-or-no answer: yes, you're religious; no, you're not. I'm not comfortable in either category, so I'm never sure what to say. Do I give them the long answer? Or do I mutter "No," which is shorthand for "I'm not evangelical or born again," which means: "I'm not the kin

Sex, Violence, and the Teenage Girl

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 20:30:29 -0500

So, you know the story, right? Or you think you do. Three high school senior girls go to the woods to stay at a remote mountain cabin for the weekend. One smokes. She's the bad girl. One's never masturbated or had any type of sexual experience. She's the good girl. One wears owlish glasses. She's the smart girl. There's spooky music. The girls realize they don't get cell phone reception and there's no landline. Two of them tell stories about how this is the first time they were allowed up

Faggot Wars

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 20:28:51 -0500

It seems, my friends, that we are in the midst of the faggot wars. On one side are the gays and lesbians who believe that terms like "faggot" and "dyke" may never be used by straight people. On the other side are the gays and lesbians who think that both words should be used early and often until they lose their menacing power—like queer or bitch. And in the middle are the rest of us, who don't think these words should be banned, but are not sure that t

(Not) Preaching to the Choir

Wed, 7 Feb 2007 20:26:16 -0500

I love commuting on the subway. I really do. I love sitting haunch to haunch with people who are so different from me, who have whole interior worlds I will never learn about. I love the boys that turn flips down the center aisle in the long stretch between 59 th and 125th streets on the A train, and the djembe-sax-cello trio that makes its home below Fulton, and the blind guy who says nothing as he walks the length of each car, tapping his cane, jingling his cup of change.