We are a public forum committed to collective reasoning and the imagination of a more just world. Join today to help us keep the discussion of ideas free and open to everyone, and enjoy member benefits like our quarterly books.
We are a public forum committed to collective reasoning and the imagination of a more just world. Join today to help us keep the discussion of ideas free and open to everyone, and enjoy member benefits like our quarterly books.
The sea otter strokes its beard and flies in through
the window to peruse the toiletries. "I like deodorant," offers
Laurie, but the otter pays no attention. Laurie doesn't mind,
her doors are open to all creatures, hers is a house built of love,
love and that pale, pink stucco that draws the flamingos back
each year. The penguins downstairs in the freezer feel naked
without their iceberg. Laurie ties a loud Hawaiian cummerbund
on a penguin she knows can pull it off, and it stands in front
of the mirror as if held in a trance. Laurie is always mindful
of the mirror and tiptoes past it so as not to disturb its reflection.
She did, however, throw a shoe through the television set once.
The seven years that followed were the happiest of her life.
Contributions from readers enable us to provide a public space, free and open, for the discussion of ideas. Join this effort – become a supporting reader today.
Vital reading on politics, literature, and more in your inbox. Sign up for our Weekly Newsletter, Monthly Roundup, and event notifications.
Our well-being depends on a better understanding of how the logic of labor has twisted our relationship with pleasure.
“I was my father’s son. My father was Nai Nai’s least favorite.” A Taiwanese American man, driven from home by a secret, reevaluates his childhood memories of his grandmother.
MacArthur Genius Kelly Lytle Hernández makes the case for why U.S. history only makes sense when told as a binational story.
A political and literary forum, independent and nonprofit since 1975. Registered 501(c)(3) organization. Learn more about our mission