Personal History
What I Inherited from My Criminal Great-Grandparents
In working through the Winter case files, I often felt pinpricks of déjà vu: an exact turn of phrase, an absurdly specific expenditure.
Finding a Family of Boys
Leaving Brooklyn for a new life as a college student in Manhattan was in itself an act of becoming.
Your Hip Surgery, My Headache
Getting Hugh home after his hip replacement involved a thick cushion and a car with legroom. “Ow!” he said whenever I tried to help. “You’re making everything worse!”
Returning to the Scene of My Brutal Rape
By the canal, I felt an overwhelming and visceral sense that I had stumbled upon the place where a man had raped me at knifepoint forty years earlier.
The Deaths—and Lives—of Two Sons
The truth is that however I choose to express myself will not live up to the weight of these facts: Vincent died, and then James died.
Converting to Judaism in the Wake of October 7th
For decades, I maintained a status quo of living like a Jew without being one. When I finally pursued conversion, I discovered that I was part of a larger movement born of crisis.
The Long Way Home After a Cancelled Flight
Had I proposed earlier that we invite someone stranded to come with us to New York, Hugh would have said no. But now there was really no way for him to back out.
Alexei Navalny’s Prison Diaries
The Russian opposition leader’s account of his last years and his admonition to his country and the world.