Category: Essays
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Around These Parts
I was sitting in a bar in Louisville with my sister a couple weeks ago, sipping on bourbon-spiked iced tea, when we overheard the girls next to us chatting with the bartender. As we listened, it became apparent that they were tourists, asking him for tips on where to go out that night. And as…
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You’ve Been Scammed
We spend a lot of our time on Zelda & Scout trying to figure out what exactly makes someone a New Yorker. We’re transplants, both of us, uprooted from our bluegrass homes. Most days, it feels like we’ve put down roots in Brooklyn, blooming in the borough where we have planted ourselves for the foreseeable…
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On Romance, Shipping, and Being Happy Alone
As Valentine’s Day approaches, I find myself thinking a lot about romance. Romance is not something I’ve had a lot of in my life. And I’m super cool with that. I’m an only, introvert child of divorced parents who likes her personal space: Finding someone to “share my life with” isn’t necessarily high on my…
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Thoughts from New Orleans
“We dance even if there’s no radio. We drink at funerals. We talk too much and laugh too loud and live too large and, frankly, we’re suspicious of others who don’t.” – Chris Rose There are some cities whose reputation looms so large it can overshadow reality. For many people, New York is one such place.…
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Civic Duty
Twenty-five strangers walk into a room, where two men stand at a table. One is well-dressed, dapper even, with a fastidiously trimmed beard and a bold choice of colored necktie. He gesticulates freely and frequently, projecting his slight lisp all the way to the back of the fluorescent-lit room. The other wears his rumpled suit…
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An Act of Faith
So this week I had initially planned to talk about the prom for adult nerds that I helped throw. It was going to be me waxing poetic about belonging and having a safe space, letting people reclaim milestones, etc. It would have been great. However, this week also marked the beginning of the Jewish High…
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Fairy Parties and Polar Bear: Why I’ll Always be a Camp Person
It’s the middle of the night, probably around 1 a.m. I’m 12 years old, asleep on a mattress that my now-27-year old body would not be able to comprehend sleeping on — like, ever. Suddenly, I am awoken by the shouts of college-age counselors decked out in fairy wings and tutus, throwing glitter and announcing…
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Pride
June has been crazy busy around here, Much of it has been consumed with my move from one end of Brooklyn to another, plus there’s been a number of concerts, live podcasts, end of school/fiscal year celebrations, etc. And because of the stress and excitement of all those things, I kind of let it slide…
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Brooklyn, NY to Louisville, KY Summer 2017
We drove a lot when I was a kid. Road trips were fairly standard as the highway was often the most efficient mode of transportation for getting to the small town that my grandparents made their home in, or to the tiny island off the coast of South Carolina where we often vacationed. I know…
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On S-Town and Stories and Why They Matter
“John B McLemore lives in Shittown Alabama.” That was the subject line of an email that Brian Reed, a producer for the radio show This American Life, received in 2012. John B introduced himself. He talked about his shit town (known more widely as Woodstock, Alabama). He asked Reed to help him solve a murder.…
Zelda & Scout 