It's shrinkage. You know the second these cookies hit the oven they'll look more "normal."

Sometimes we don't know what we need from movies until one of them gives it to us.

Look at her face.

Is this the name of a prizewinning showcat, or a striking but forgotten example of eighteenth-century masculine nomenclature?

Last night in a temporary fit of boredom I demanded that everyone on Twitter send me the tale of their worst exes. They delivered and then some.

In my new apartment, I will have exactly as many books as fit onto my shelves, and they will remain color-coded for eternity. I will also reread them all and maintain a perfect memory of exactly what happens.

Begin by arranging your body in a stressful position. Consider, as you set your intention, the Angriest Dog In The World – The dog who is so angry he cannot move. He cannot eat. He cannot sleep. He can just barely growl. Bound so tightly with tension and anger, he approaches the state of rigor mortis . Let this be your guide.

The women break into song. They start off slow, with a dubiously tonal “Let There Be Peace on Earth,” but hit their stride with “Ain’t Gonna Study War No More.” After a few verses, it turns into a call-and-response with the crowd. “Sing with us!” calls Paula, a commanding brunette with a “No Drones” shirt. The colorfully striped banner the women hold reads “RAGING GRANNIES” in large black lettering.

Your hair is immaculately slicked back, except for a single curl that falls over an eyebrow. Your left eyebrow.

You have an unusually attractive cigarette lighter you cannot stop fingering. It is mother-of-pearl.

You offer a crying woman your handkerchief, but there is no sympathy in your voice.

Why, you'd do anything for your friends.

Velcro puppy and dignified cat.

The process of reconstructing the past is fascinating, and that’s why I want to spend time working through its complexities and writing history myself. But if I honestly recall what drew me to reading about the past in the first place, it is fiction. Specifically, children’s historical fiction presented as the diaries of girls my age, living through various periods in Canadian and world history.

1 . Whenever I get sick, I also feel like the world around me should wither and decay out of respect for my discomfort.

you know what god loves above all things
what
clean clothes
how's that
you know how like if a beggar came into your hall while you were eating dinner
and if his leggings have holes in them or whatever
grime
you have him beaten and thrown out into the street
I would?

Every Sunday afternoon for two or three years, my parents took a long drive across town to attend Chinese church.

We were guests in the building, renters. The hymnals and Bibles of the church’s own congregation stayed in the pews. Every week, an usher hauled in the church’s box of books, with the name of our church written in marker.

Sometimes I suspected we were guests in Christianity, too.