Non-Fiction Writing
In Everything Enchanted There's an Element of Trust
Ninth Letter
"My wife’s on a flight to Chicago, sitting on the LAX runway, third or fourth plane in line. She’s on page 85 or so. The man next to her leans over and recites from memory the first two sentences, “‘Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sign, my soul...’”
It Puzzles the Will
The Critical Flame
"Madeline Levine, the celebrated author of Teach Your Children Well, recently gave a talk to the faculty of three loosely aligned independent schools, including my own..."
High School Reading as an Act of Meaningful Aggression
The Millions
"Towards the end of each year I do one of those anonymous surveys where I ask the students—high-school sophomores and juniors—how much they read, as a percentage, of each book..."
Did You Know Anybody?
Catapult
"The morning after the attack I almost broke down when a colleague asked if I was okay. I’ve been trying to write an essay about the Manchester bombings. 10:32 p.m., May 22, outside the Ariana Grande concert at the Manchester Arena. Twenty-three dead and 119 wounded..."
His Daughter Could Start Puberty Any Day: Cue the Panic
The Washington Post
"We are returning from my 10-year-old daughter’s annual physical, having been assured that everything is going according to plan. Everything is in the right place, and in good working order..."