Baltimore’s bus benches are simple, utilitarian things: just two molded concrete end-pieces and seven wooden planks that you wouldn’t think much of were it not for the slogan embossed on the slats of the backrest: “Baltimore: The Greatest City in America.” It’s an odd sentiment, not because there isn’t a lot to love about Baltimore, but because it seems less a statement of greatness than it does a statement of defiance. As with so many other American cities, Baltimore has famously and … [Read more...] about Things American: Baltimore Authors Respond to the Death of Freddie Gray
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The Solidarity of Fat Girls
It is your luck to be the brother of three fat girls. They have insisted on the moniker. “We are fat girls,” Elsie has told you. “If you don’t accept it, who will?” “Don’t say that,” you have replied, hopelessly. “You’re beautiful,” and she has kissed your forehead wetly, like an aunt—she is thirteen years your senior; she relishes that word girls—and said, “Exactly.” Elsie is the fattest of the three fat sisters. She once tried to be a plus-sized model, but size 18 was too large, so … [Read more...] about The Solidarity of Fat Girls