Archive - Project Exodus

On Becoming a Serious Writer

When I think about art, I do not always - or entirely - think about the object. I think instead about the artist in practice [which is not to say that…

Apr 14 •

March 2024

On Being a Failed Thinker...

And here I am, after just a few weeks, writing you again. It is Easter morning, and I am home alone, and I have serenaded myself with a playlist of…

Mar 31 •

[Un]making the Artist

Or what it means to behold your favorite writers

Mar 17 •

November 2023

In Which All Our Heroes Are Just Men...

A few weeks ago, I had a moment with Jhumpa Lahiri. She’d come to my city to read from her new book, Roman Stories, and of course I was going to be…

Nov 6, 2023 •

October 2023

This Recurring Nightmare

Or what it means to encounter ourselves in the face of loss

Oct 6, 2023 •

September 2023

On What It Means To (En)Joy a Life...

What if you are a poet who has long forgotten how to enjoy a poem?

Sep 8, 2023 •

February 2023

The Domain of the Marvelous? Or, How to Encounter Old Monsters

My mother called me a few months ago and asked me to pray. She had just had a vision, or a dream – I cannot remember which, but she said that there was…

Feb 1, 2023 •

January 2023

In The Absence of Letters, Costume Becomes Language

It did not occur to me, while standing on the dust eaten roads of my childhood village, that the frightening spectacle of dancing masquerades at the…

Jan 1, 2023 •

November 2022

A Ramble About Human Life. Or, The Question Within the Question Within the Question

This past month, I sat for a meal with a few doctoral researchers – from astronomy to religious studies and French, each a curious mix of interests and…

Nov 1, 2022 •

October 2022

Exhuming a Grave. Or, How to Think About James Baldwin's Face

I return to my body as a site of resistance, as a site from which I might understand the echoes of this season. But first, a very short story. I woke up…

Oct 1, 2022 •

September 2022

Embodying Time. Or, Embracing Your Insect-Inspired Super Power.

I’m dancing Salsa with a Polish musician on an open field by the countryside, both of us cheered by a crowd of strange faces, many of whom have come…

Sep 1, 2022 •

August 2022

Seeing Fatima. Or, What the Spectacular Says About Our Lives

I had always been a fearful child - jumping scared at a clap of thunder; at the blurry vision of a kitchen rat scrambling the floors of our fallen-apart…

Aug 1, 2022 •

#nojs-banner { position: fixed; bottom: 0; left: 0; padding: 16px 16px 16px 32px; width: 100%; box-sizing: border-box; background: red; color: white; font-family: -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; } #nojs-banner a { color: inherit; text-decoration: underline; } This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please turn on JavaScript or unblock scripts