Creative Non-Fiction

The Pool

The Pool

I reached the shallow end and searched across the Olympic-sized pool for my father, allowing myself to hope that he had witnessed my lap. With joyful splashes, my sister and brother performed an endless series of handstands near me. Shouts and whistles bounced off the...

My Name is a Typo

My Name is a Typo

You know you’re ethnic as hell when your own smart devices immediately autocorrect your Korean name. Apparently, according to Apple, Jiyoon is incorrect. Instead, their devices offer a plethora of alternatives; the most notable being Jason, June, Jouoom (this one...

Roping It In

Roping It In

“The calm lunatic—now that is something to aspire to.”—Mary Ruefle, “On Fear” I learned to skip this year. I use a heavy, knotted rope that thwacks the ground and burns my shoulders and whips my bare toes raw when I stumble. In the early days I’d walk around with...

An Atmospheric Pressure

An Atmospheric Pressure

for Gordy 24. Picture the girl. See her pull the black cardigan closed in a tight fist as she shoves the heavy door open with her shoulder. The warm evening air hits her like a slap in the face. As she steps out onto the sidewalk and sees the sunset bleeding orange...

#MeToo: On Backlash and Burnout

#MeToo: On Backlash and Burnout

#MeToo backlash is here, and it is exhausting. Backlash against the #MeToo movement had to come—it is part of a recognizable cycle in social change: (1) A long period of people individually speaking out. (2) Organization of groups of people who press for systemic...

A Year for Ectoplasm

A Year for Ectoplasm

Our 2017 Creative Non-Fiction Contest Honourable Mention. Karl Marx first articulated the concept of historical materialism, the methodological approach to the study of human progress. Historical materialism purports to locate the forces that drive progress within the...

Testimony, Part X

Do you wonder if the people who assaulted you ever think about it? Do you wonder if the people who assaulted you ever think about it? I do. I picture Generic Music Dude, who assaulted me when I was sleeping, after we'd broken up, and I wonder if fear ever clutches his...

Reframing the Montréal Massacre

Reframing the Montréal Massacre

Created in 1995 in the pre-digital video days of A/B roll editing, this educational video about media literacy examines the media's shaping of the Montréal Massacre to deconstruct media representations of violence, trauma and gender. Created with the financial support...

Knowing Better

Nothing that bad happened to me. Certainly nothing out of the ordinary. I was lucky. I wasn’t raped. I wasn’t sexually assaulted. At most, I was sexually harassed. Cross out at most. I was. And even that is so complex and equivocal and tenuous. Nothing that bad...

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ROOM 47.4 FULL CIRCLE
Step back with Room into the past, to parents, to childhood homes, and to people once known and loved; dig into themes of grief and healing; and ultimately explore what it means to come full circle in literature.

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