Issues Archives - Page 5 of 26

Letter to the Editor

Liber Review

January 29, 2024 To the editor of LIBER, One trend I observed while researching my book The World According to Joan Didion was people’s tendency to project themselves onto Didion. The writer had a strong moral center but also an intellectual empathy that made her adaptable to different ways of thinking, and that led her to frequently question her own received values. When S.C. Cornell declares the writer a conservative in her disappointingly inaccurate—could she

Dear Men

adrienne maree brown

Dear Men, This is mostly a note to straight, cis men but it also goes out to trans men, queer men, and all who participate in masculinity. If you see yourself in these words, this is a love note to you. Patriarchy (the system in which those who are perceived to belong to the social role of “man” hold the power and those perceived to belong to the social role of “woman” are excluded from

The Day After

Diane Gelon

Through a bit of serendipity while researching women who’d spent time in maternity homes pre-Roe for a project with playwright Katie Cappiello, I was put in touch via email with Diane Gelon, an American attorney in London. Diane was immediately open to talking, and told me she’d always thought of herself as “one of the last to ‘go away,’ so to speak, although my going away was only to a home near downtown LA a

Janelle Monáe Superstar: A Deconversion Story

Aline Mello

The author and Kurt with Flyana Boss members Folayan Omi Kunerede (left) and Bobbi LaNea Taylor. Photo courtesy of Aline Mello. In my last year at the university, I finally started taking advantage of its discount ticket program. When I saw seats for a musical, I thought, Perfect, and got tickets for my friend Kurt and me. The show was Jesus Christ Superstar, which neither of us had ever seen. I was expecting something quirky

Étonne-moi: Alexey Brodovitch at the Barnes Museum

Mindy Aloff

Alexey Brodovitch. The Sylphs (Les Sylphides), 1935–37. Art Institute of Chicago. Purchased with funds provided by Karen and Jim Frank. Image courtesy of Art Institute of Chicago / Art Resource, NY. In the go-go 1980s, the last decade when print magazines in the US rode high, the last decade before the internet took over time and space, I was given an impromptu lesson in how to be a team player. Or not. The bottom line:

Kamala, Meet Villanelle

Laurie Stone

Kamala is not an item on a menu, where you get to say hold the fries and I’ll have the salad instead. Do you know how many times people have written on my posts, I like your writing but I don’t always agree with you. Like I need to know this. I don’t need to know this. You only say this kind of thing to women so they will understand they are being chopped into

‘Just So,’ About Time,’ ‘Since You Asked,’ and ‘Interior’

Rae Armantrout

Just So Bird shadows crossthe pear tree, slashingup or down,as it slowly leafs out—events!The children like to talkabout what isor isn’t likelyto happen.“Some people dye their hairbut not many,” one saysas she colorsthe dog’s bobgreen.The effortto be definiteis cute, I think:the arch in the middleof her top lipjust so About Time 1“It all happened so fast,”God said.2Everyone knows what “once” meansJust as everyone knowsthat “now”is a new set upeven if nothing much has changed. 3Some

‘The Calm,’ and ‘Cremation Room: Invited to Press the Button’

Molly Peacock

The Calm About a blanket being held openA hand on the hemstitch of that flapAbout this feeling I will never feel againAbout this feeling you never felt sinceYou held the blanket, your arm, the whiffOf your armpit, the flesh of you whoNever wore clothes in bed, your nakednessFelt all the way through my travel clothesMy purse and my suitcase dropped in the hallAnd all the rushing, checkpoints, and rainFlying into the night like pinpoint lightsBlinking

My Abortion Name

Millicent Borges Accardi

Was not mine becauseeven in HS, I knew I wanted no oneto track me down in later yearsor the present for the shamefulact of even getting a pap smearat PP, a pregnancy test ora procedure. So many wordsthat start with the letter P.My abortion name had to be easyto respond to when I came outof twilight, like Emma or Mandy.Like, when someone talked to mein the locker room where Wednesdayabortion patients changedinto white paper robes

“The Other Olympians: Fascism, Queerness, and the Making of Modern Sports” By Michael Waters

Noelle McManus

It’s funny that the first question from many people, when they hear a positive stance on transness, is “But what do you think about transgender people in women’s sports?” As if these interlocutors had any stake in women’s sports to begin with. As if the most pressing issue facing trans people today is athletic events. And as if keeping trans athletes out of competition is sacred, noble, the last bastion of women’s rights. In fact,

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