Culture

Learning to Throw Axes

by | October 7, 2022

Horrified by the overturning of Roe v Wade, a Latina consoles herself with a re-imagining of Medusa and axes.

illustration of medusa's head

Tenderness

by | September 29, 2022

Tenderness teaches us that if we consider softness with enough rigor, if we consider ourselves with enough softness, a wound is a portal, not an end. 

illustration of a man touching his heart

The Doctor’s Tongue

by | June 30, 2022

Myriam Gurba maps her sexual miseducation in California schools, homes, and medical offices.

woman at gynecology office

Jonathan Come Lately—An Introduction

by | June 14, 2022

Jonathan Russell Clark debuts a monthly column for Tasteful Rude detailing the choicest selections from his book-obsessed life. His current apartment resembles a used bookstore almost more than it does an ordinary living space, and he plans to write about whatever he finds on those shelves that tickles his fancy.

books in a used book store

Opacity

by | June 10, 2022

Alejandro Herredia debuts his new Tasteful Rude column with a meditation on the word opacity.

african american woman on social media

Lecturers’ Strike in Nigeria Grounds Students, Lecturers, and Parents

by | May 26, 2022

The university store where Bimpe Alabi sells snacks and drinks at the park is usually crawling with customers. Since University of Ilorin's lecturers have gone on strike, this has changed. Alabi stands outside, inviting passersby. Her profits have shrunk, pushing her family into hardship.

empty seats at a Nigerian university

Cafecito

by | May 24, 2022

I think of my abuelita's stories. These tales often began with a declaration that she’d been born four months after the Titanic set sail. With a laugh, she’d swirl her ever present cup of coffee and add that the ship sank five days later. Meanwhile, she persevered. She said that it was coffee that kept her going.

Black woman drinking coffee

Pie Person

by | May 3, 2022

To our delight, Grandma Clara's pie blended fresh eggs, fresh lemons from her tree, C&H sugar, real butter, and a lard crust. Endowed with otherworldly powers, she whipped up fluffy meringue with mere egg beaters. The toasted meringue resembled the melting snowpack of the Sierra Nevadas, defiant seams of brown in foamy white.

apple pie

Extra-metatextuality: A Review of Chuck Klosterman’s The Nineties: A Book

by | April 5, 2022

In his book "The Nineties", Chuck Klosterman is not interested in what’s conventionally understood or easily graspable but in the layers that either exist deep underneath or hover loftily. It’s what makes his essays and books so fun—it allows us to reconsider accepted wisdom.

the nineties book cover

Everyday Slaughter

by | March 22, 2022

My mother knew I loved rearing livestock, chickens especially. When I was young, she bought a goat for me. Three days after we brought it home, the animal died. "Your nature might not align with the goat," she said. "Does that mean I can't rear any livestock?" Sadness encroached. "Don't worry. Let's try a hen."

Hens and a rooster on a wooden window balk

A Suburban Caretaker’s Diary Entry

by | January 13, 2022

With wit, and a dash of horror, a Black caregiver in the Bay Area suburbs reflects on the surreality of elder care during a pandemic.

suburban tract home in Palo Alto

The Legacy of the 420 Nurse

by | January 4, 2022

Weed culture is fascinated with feminine eroticism. Sex sells and often goes hand in hand with drugs. This has harmed many women who work in the marijuana industry, where being sexually exploited is part of the job.

sexy girl with cannabis

Honoring Our Literary Ancestors: On Arcelia and Giovanni’s Room

by | November 11, 2021

Organizers of Giovanni's Room unite to honor literary ancestors

acelia portrait

An Open Letter Not to Seattle

by | November 3, 2021

A Latina calls out the city of Seattle for its social chilliness.

Seattle

The Word You May Be Looking For is “Stalking”

by | October 8, 2021

From “Bad Art Friend” to the Miya Marcano murder to reports of femicide, writers shy away from a crucial word: stalking.

Woman being stalked by man