Skip to main content

What I Eat: It’s in My DNA

Carla Hall Medium
The Yoruba believe that “The soul that does not eat pepper is a powerless soul.”
Via a DNA test kit, I discovered that my lineage traces back to the Yoruba people of Nigeria and the Bubi; I also discovered that, regardless of whether I knew it, my palate carries the flavors of the generations who came before me.

Skin Hymn

Tanuja Wakefield Undersong
Tanuja Wakefield, daughter of Indian immigrants, depicts the anguish and anger of being taunted for the color of her skin.

It’s Not About Sex

Molly Crabapple The New York Review of Books
The courtesan in literature is an object of desire, but prostitutes of any gender are despised in law and in the popular culture. The book and film under review excoriate the reactionary hypocrisy and chart sex workers fighting back.

Bring You Apples

Cate Lycurgus Orion Magazine
Rome, Gala, Golden Delicious, Fuji, Jonagold, Granny Smith, Opal, Envy, Arkansas Black, Honeycrisp, Winesap, Braeburn, or Jazz--it can take a solo orchardist a lifetime to cultivate a grove of sturdy hybrids.

“Our Country is Full”

Philip C Kolin New Verse News
Mississippi poet Philip C. Kolin takes the president at his word(s) and turns the table(s).

Why No Labor Party Here?

Meredith Schafer Against the Current
Canada and the United States are similar enough culturally, but in class relations for some 70 years the two stand markedly apart. The book under review helps to explain the multifaceted reasons why.