The Color Blue
Vamika Sinha weaves personal memoir with music criticism, jazz writing and New York history in this hybrid essay.
Freshman Fumblings, First Love: A Review of The Idiot by Elif Batuman
Vamika Sinha reviews the bestseller bildungsroman by Elif Batuman.
Out of the corner of my eyes
Sculptures, statues, surrealism — Chiran Raj Pandey’s new short story swivels from cafes to museums to Mughal emperors.
study abroad
When the privileges of studying abroad lead to reflections on the history of colonialism, imperialism, and globalization. New in milk & vodka.
Metro People I
Observing the people of the Paris metro.
You're Nothing More Than the Spokes on a Wheel I Call Moving Forward
I’m a dried salted fish / Barely hanging by a clothespin on a string you titled “I cannot feel for you” — Tzy Jiun Tan buries a bittered relationship in verse.
Free Market
Zoe Patterson's new poem is an abrasive take on capitalism and the American dream.
Rendang Outrage, or Why I Write Poetry
If you haven’t already heard about what happened, look up the words “Masterchef UK”, “Rendang”, and “Zaleha” on Youtube. In her fierce new essay, Tzy Jiun Tan discusses otherness, racism, and the failure of postcolonial theory in the face of real life situations.
yellow
Picking apart the loneliness of what it means to be a young woman, a sunflower, in a cold world.
Maid
Observing a woman at an Al Ain bus stop.
The Dancer
A dancer reaches inside herself for this villanelle.
Beats on the Beach: A True Story
An eyebrow-raising, sardonic take on when men approach women, unasked.
Ragdoll girl
A girl fresh from heartbreak, dreams of emotional independence, of freedom for the yearning to love and be loved.
Only in Poetry, I have power
A middle finger to white guilt. New in milk & vodka.
luncheon
Evoking Manet’s famous painting, this poem contemplates the looming male gaze, its interruption upon female dreams and pleasure.
It is more than just Rendang
Food is cultural history and ancestral pride. Tzy Jiun Tan writes about Malaysian Rendang.
eldorado cinema
Vamika Sinha writes from outside one of Abu Dhabi’s now-shut landmarks: Eldorado Cinema.
Baguettes
How do you say chopsticks in French? Poetry from Paris’ Chinatown by Tzy Jiun Tan
The Origin of Human Empathy
Zoe Jane Patterson traces the human need for and dependence on genuine empathy. What is it, and can it be learned?
Why Menstruation is Still Seen as Taboo
An essay delving into period stigma across cultures.