Published inGay Mag·Apr 3, 2020Member-onlyPower-Dressing in Plague-timeKnights, whores, witches and Zoom — THE SCRIBE As I write this lede, it’s the second week of New York’s social distancing mandate. I’m wearing a t-shirt I slept in, woke up in, slept in again, and woke up in once more; a pair of besmirched jeans; some questionable socks; a battered cotton bra; and no panties. …Power11 min readPower11 min read
Mar 9, 2019How to Write a Novel (and Heal Your Ravaged Heart)One hot night in June 2011, I went to a gay bar in Hell’s Kitchen. It’s not my neighborhood (and only occasionally my milieu) but my friend Katelan Foisy was reading tarot cards, and I hadn’t seen her in four months. I’d been living in Italy. I was heartbroken. I’d…Writing8 min readWriting8 min read
Nov 29, 2018Member-onlyHow to Mourn a “Witch”Parsing the architecture of memorial in Norway’s witch capital — This Halloween, I took myself to Vardø, the “witch capital of Norway.” I’ve desperately wanted to visit Vardø for about three years, ever since I stumbled across pictures of its Steilneset Memorial: a bifurcated monument to the 91 people burned at the stake during Vardø’s seventeenth-century witch panic. …Travel7 min readTravel7 min read
Published inGEN·Oct 5, 2018Member-onlyThe Power of the F-BombAs scientists have proved, and an awkward encounter with Gwyneth Paltrow has reaffirmed: love it or hate it, the F-word is mighty — Sometime in the mid-’90s, I was sitting in a spa chair for my weekly mani pedi when a milky-pale woman settled into the chair beside me. Her existence hardly registered until she held up three bottles of nail polish, all variations of nude pink. “Which for my fingers and which…Language6 min readLanguage6 min read
Published inOneZero·Jul 26, 2018Member-onlyThere Are a Lot of Problems with Sex RobotsFrom body weight and batteries to programming and consent, there’s nothing straightforward about sexbots. But they’re coming anyway. — In a promotional video, robot designer Dr. Sergi Santos runs his finger inside the mouth of his Samantha sexbot. “Uhhh,” she moans. Sergi touches the doll’s hand, and she moans again. “She felt that,” he says, “and she’s actually getting quite horny.” Samantha is not, of course, getting horny. Samantha…Artificial Intelligence10 min readArtificial Intelligence10 min read
Published inGEN·Jun 11, 2018Member-onlyLove In a Time of True CrimeWomen are taught to fear the bogeyman. The real threat is closer to home — Last October, I married a Swede. The wedding, which took place the day after the New York Times broke the first Harvey Weinstein assault story, was a Viking whirlwind in a posh Icelandic Airbnb whose claim to fame is that the Biebs once stayed there. The honeymoon was a sun-dappled…True Crime13 min readTrue Crime13 min read
Published inGay Mag·Apr 10, 2018Member-onlyAging Ghosts in the Skincare MachineOn expensive skincare and a changing face — Let me start with my skin in the game. In the four months between November 2017 and February 2018, I spent about $520 on skincare products. This number does not include makeup. It does not include shampoo or conditioner. It does not include body lotion. And it is, in all…Beauty21 min readBeauty21 min read
Published inMatter·Oct 10, 2014Why I’m the Jonah Lehrer of Fucking (And So Are You)By Chelsea G. Summers Illustration by Mike Perry6 min read6 min read
