Ancient Grains Archive

Not-So-Guilty Pleasures: Romantic Comedies

Roxane Gay's last not-so-guilty pleasure was The Fast and the Furious. I love romantic comedies. They get a bad rap that’s not entirely deserved. They are terrible because we want them to be terrible. We want them to lie to us about romance and being swept off our feet and happy ...Read More

Texts From Jake Barnes

Brett Brett did you get that picture I sent you I did, yeah the picture of my penis I mean yes Brett guess how much of my penis I still have left you know after my accident after my penis accident I really don’t want to play this game, Jake no come on guess I don't have unlimited texting these messages are ...Read More

Surprised By Our Own Characters

"My characters surprise me constantly. My characters are like my friends - I can give them advice, but they don't have to take it. If your characters are real, then they surprise you, just like real people." It's like my characters have a life of their own, except they don't. They come from ...Read More

Nothing Is Wrong: Women, Mental Illness, and Medication

At fourteen, my pediatrician prescribed me Lexapro to help with unwanted anxieties and trouble focusing, which began when my father was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer that year. She told me that the meds wouldn't change my personality, and they didn't, at least not in any way I could identify then or ...Read More

Everyone in Flash Mob Hoping Today Will Be Different

It began in fits and starts, as the people who were obviously flash-mob veterans moved assuredly through the crowd, while the rest looked furtively around them to figure out what they were supposed to do. Forty percent of the attendees, had they been asked, would have admitted they had only recently moved to ...Read More

Bad Skin

The skin that encases my body is not only imperfect: it is utterly fucked. Its imperfections have played a leading role in sculpting my thoughts and feelings about myself and body image throughout most of my life. It has been the leading source of discomfort in an ultimate battle for control. Overall, it ...Read More

A Day In the Life of a Troubled Male Antihero

Other entries in this series can be found here He woke up ambiguously. "Hmm," he seemed to say as he looked warily around him. Time for another day of swords or drugs or making business, whatever his job was. He lit seventeen cigarettes, because who the fuck cared. "I'm a man," he announced to ...Read More

They Might Be Giants, “Birdhouse in Your Soul” (Live)

A marvelous thing I did not know existed until yesterday. You are now formally invited to link to all your favourite live performances of everything. ...Read More