He had that look to him. That swish…This was a space he targeted bc they dared welcome in his otherness Continue reading
Category Archives: Nonfiction
An essay by Vanessa Mártir
She Called it “White Woman Shit” On the morning of August 8th, I clicked on an Electric Literature essay that showed up on my FB timeline. The essay was written by a white woman who was attempting to own how she was complicit when confronted with racism. Imagine my surprise when I saw an … Continue reading
An Essay by Zinzi Clemmons
One of our jobs as writers concerned with social justice will be protecting the rights of individuals to criticize and question institutions and their practices. A failure to do so will mean real suffering for the most vulnerable members of society. Continue reading
Notes by Kamden Hilliard
here are some ways i’ve been trying 2 read & make & read & make: Continue reading
Nonfiction by Ryka Aoki
Nothing I write can make a white, womyn-born-womyn accept a trans lesbian of color, nor force a bigoted family to offer a decent Christmas to their queer child. Nothing I write will stop the rage of a bully who thinks trans women like me should die. Nothing I write will block the bullets flying in an Orlando nightclub. My best writing can’t even stop a Texas school from keeping a child out of the bathroom.
At this point, I am so tempted to protest, “until it does.” Continue reading
An Intermedia Essay by Karrie Higgins
Parallel Stress by Karrie Higgins & Alan Murdock, director of photography & audio engineering assistant CW: ableism, sexual abuse My Parallel Stress series began as a response to Dennis Oppenheim’s iconic 1970 performance by the same title. He stretched his body in plank position between two unfinished concrete walls, held it for ten minutes, and documented the position of … Continue reading
Nonfiction by Dawnie Walton
This is not cool but I’ll confess it: Sometimes, staring down these blank pages in my black skin, I’ve struggled to get loose, to get free. Because not only is my inner critic hovering from the first word, but so is an entire audience. Continue reading
Nonfiction by Sara Novic
But representation is the crux of the problem. When a hearing person plays or writes a deaf story, chances are a deaf person isn’t represented at all—the hearing person’s conception of deafness is. Continue reading
Nonfiction by Kelsey Landhuis
This is how it is every day. One small white pill. Two slightly larger yellow pills. Four syringes filled with clear liquid, drawn and depressed and redrawn to eliminate any air bubbles. Four pricks of the finger producing four drops of blood, plump, round and bright red. Cross your fingers and wait- Continue reading
Nonfiction by Katherine Forbes Riley
A Quasi-Scientific Study of Women with No Mothers Every study starts with a feeling. To some scientists it reads as gut instinct, but in my case it was more like fierce joy. No, not joy. Solidarity. Self-recognition. Also steroids. Because the first time I met another woman with no mother, I felt myself grow a … Continue reading
The James Franco Review 