identity

A Poem That Would Not Let Me Go

When I Found Multiple Truths in the Work of 18th-Century Poet Phillis Wheatley, She Became Some Kind of Kin

A Poem That Would Not Let Me Go | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian
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I do not remember how old I was when my grandmother showed me Phillis Wheatley’s poetry. Ten, maybe 11? Young enough that my hands were open to everything she put in them: a crochet needle and thick hot pink yarn, a sewing needle, a gingham apron. Young enough that I obeyed, old enough to roll my eyes in secret when I didn’t want to listen. My grandmother used Scrabble to sharpen my spelling, fed me Du Bois and folktales about people who could fly. Things I needed to know; things …

by Drea Brown |

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Where I Go: Peñasquitos Gardens | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Where I Go: Penasquitos Gardens

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I haven’t brought my wife or son to see where I mostly grew up. I keep meaning to. But even though it’s less than a mile from my father’s condo …

Where I Go: Meeps Vintage | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

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Finding Liberation in a D.C. Clothing Shop

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In ‘Little Bones,’ a Girl Considers a Utah Sunset, Intoxicated on ‘Untold Plans for Eternity’

Interview by Jackie Mansky |

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Thirty Years After My Family Left for Prosperity in California, I Moved Back to the Islands I Thought I Knew

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There Is a Real Bedford Falls—It’s My Upstate New York Town

An Uncanny Physical Resemblance and a Frank Capra Visit Connect Seneca Falls to His Holiday Classic

by Frances T. Barbieri |

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I live there.

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