The Best American Essays 2011

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The Best American Essays 2011 Page 29

by Edwidge Danticat

NICHOLAS DELBANCO

  Conclusion, Salmagundi, Spring/ Summer.

  A. N. DEVERS

  On the Outskirts, Tin House, vol. 12, no. 1.

  MICHELLE DISLER

  Building, Massachusetts Review, vol. 51, no. 1.

  ELIZABETH DODD

  Concentric Canyon, Ascent, April 19.

  MARK DOSTERT

  Behavioral Management, Cimarron Review, Summer.

  MARK DOTY

  The Unwriteable, Granta, no. 110, Spring.

  THERESE DOUCET

  Farzad, Son of Glory, Bayou, no. 53.

  BRIAN DOYLE

  Go-o-o-o, Lemmings!, American Scholar, Winter.

  RIKKI DUCORNET

  Book of Origins (Two Essays: Seed and Nakht), Pen America, no. 12.

  MARTHA GRACE DUNCAN

  Beauty in the Dark of Night: The Pleasures of Form in Criminal Law, Emory Law Journal, vol. 59, no. 5.

  HALINA DURAJ

  The Company She Keeps, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Spring/Summer.

  JANET ABBOTT DUTTON

  Old Enough, Prairie Schooner, Winter.

  KRISTA EASTMAN

  Securing Mutual Response, Briar Cliff Review, no. 22.

  JOHN M. EDWARDS

  Revolutionary Wrath: A (Seriously) Biased Revision of the Burr vs. Hamilton Duel Based Upon an Old High-School Term Paper, Essays and Fictions, Winter.

  SCOTT ELY

  Drinking at the Fountain of Youth, Kenyon Review, Fall.

  NORA EPHRON

  My Life as an Heiress, New Yorker, October 11.

  JOSEPH EPSTEIN

  The Symphony of a Lifetime, Notre Dame Magazine, Spring.

  LEYLA ERTEGUN

  Projections, Believer, March/April.

  ROBERT ERWIN

  Having It All, Massachusetts Review, vol. 51, no. 2.

  ELLEN ESTILAI

  Front Yard Fruit, Alimentum, Winter.

  EDWARD FALCO

  An Elliptical Essay on Violence, Virginia Quarterly Review, Spring.

  SUSAN FALUDI

  American Electra, Harper’s, October.

  NIALL FERGUSON

  Complexity and Collapse, Foreign Affairs, March/April.

  MATT FERRENCE

  Spaces Between, Blue Mesa Review, Spring.

  GARY FINCKE

  The History of Lie Detection, North Dakota Quarterly, vol. 75, nos. 3 & 4.

  ANNE FINGER

  Walking to Abbasanta. Seneca Review, Spring.

  EDWARD H. FISCHER

  Matterhorn Dreams, Minnetonka Review, Winter.

  AARON FOGEL

  Some Elementary Chords:

  Unanchored, Western Humanities Review, Winter.

  CATHERINE FOLEY

  Home to Ring, New Hibernia Review, Autumn.

  IAN FRAZIER

  On the Prison Highway, New Yorker, August 30.

  MIKE FREEMAN

  The Feel, Gettysburg Review, Spring.

  DAVID A. FRYXELL

  Both Sides Now, Desert Exposure, September.

  MARY GAITSKILL The Betrayed Wives Club, Elle, February.

  J. MALCOLM GARCIA

  Cleaning My Father’s House After He Died, Salon, July 24.

  ATUL GAWANDE

  Letting Go, New Yorker, August 2.

  DAVID GESSNER

  All My Walks, Ecotone, Spring.

  AARON GILBREATH

  Dreams of the Atomic Era, Cincinnati Review, Summer.

  WILLIAM GIRALDI

  The Physics of Speed, Antioch Review, Fall.

  JEN GIRDISH

  The Impossible Return, Post Road, no. 19.

  MALCOLM GLADWELL

  Small Change, New Yorker, October 4.

  ANNE GOLDMAN

  Questions of Transport, Georgia Review, Spring.

  ELISA GONZALEZ

  All the Words I Knew, Harvard Review, no. 38.

  J. DAVID GONZALEZ

  How Can I Help You?, Southern Indiana Review, Spring.

  ADAM GOPNIK

  Van Gogh’s Ear, New Yorker, January 4.

  EMILY FOX GORDON

  Here Again, Boulevard, Spring.

  CHRIS GOTTLIEB

  Reflections on Judging Mothering, University of Baltimore Law Review, Spring.

  MARK GREIF

  What Was the Hipster?, New York Magazine, November 1.

  KENNETH GROSS

  Shadows, Yale Review, July.

  CAIA HAGEL

  Desire, Denver Quarterly, vol. 44, no. 4.

  LINDA HALL

  How to End Up Alone, Southwest Review, vol. 95, no. 3.

  DANIEL HARRIS

  Celebrity Clothing, Salmagundi, Fall/ Winter.

  STEVEN HARVEY Blood Mountain, Ascent, March 9.

  GLADYS HAUNTON

  Glazing, Hunger Mountain, no. 15.

  CHRISTOPHER HEDGES

  Celebrity Culture and the Obama Brand, Tikkun, January/February.

  MARK HILLRINGHOUSE

  Passaic River Journal, American Poetry Review, January/February.

  EDWARD HOAGLAND

  Last Call, Harper’s, May.

  INEZ HOLGER

  The Origin of Fear, Bellevue Literary Review, Fall.

  ANN HOOD

  Long Beautiful Hair, Amoskeag, Spring.

  BILLY HOWELL

  How to Leave Your Mother, Florida Review, Winter.

  EDWARD HOWER

  Children of the Maze, Five Points, vol.

  13,no.3.

  PAT C. HOY II

  Images on the Danube, Sewanee Review, Fall.

  PETER HRANDBOIS

  Driving to Puerto Rico, Potomac Review, Spring.

  EWA HRYNIEWICZ-YARBROUGH

  The Bearable Lightness of Being, American Scholar, Summer.

  TOM IRELAND

  Famous, Missouri Review, Spring.

  JEREMY B. JONES

  The Resurrection of Ray Jones, Ruminate, Spring.

  PAT JORDAN

  My Father, the Grifter, Men’s Journal, January.

  TONY JUDT

  Night, New York Review of Books, January 14.

  TOM JUNOD

  Invasion, Esquire, August.

  REBECCA KANNER

  Safety, War, Literature and the Arts, no. 22.

  GARRET KEIZER

  The Courtesy of God, Lapham’s Quarterly, Winter.

  THOMAS E. KENNEDY

  Adventures of an Old Dude, New Letters, vol. 76, no. 2.

  BRIAN KEVIN

  Songs Primarily in the Key of Life, Colorado Review, Summer.

  ESON KIM

  Fixed Everything, Cream City Review, Spring.

  BARBARA KINGSOLVER

  Fresh Water, National Geographic, April.

  SHEILA SOLOMON KLASS

  Aging and the Inaccessible City, Health Affairs, September.

  GEORGINA KLEEGE

  Blind Faith, Yale Review, July.

  LINDSEY B. KOEHLER

  A Baby Story, 5280, June.

  RAFIL KROLL-ZAIDI

  Jukeboxes on the Moon, Triple Canopy, June.

  ROMAN KRZNARIC

  Empathy with the Enemy, Pedestrian, no. 1.

  KIM DANA KUPPERMAN

  An Occurrence at Avignon, Normal School, Fall.

  MATT LABASH

  Living Like a Liberal, Weekly Standard, July 19.

  DON LAGO

  Storm Pattern, Alaska Quarterly Review, Fall/Winter.

  LEWIS H. LAPHAM

  Figures of Speech, Harper’s, November.

  ROGER LATHBURY

  Betraying Salinger, New York Magazine, April 4.

  AMY LEACH

  Complexion, Gettysburg Review, Autumn.

  MICHELE LEAVITT

  No Trespassing, Journal, Spring/ Summer.

  DAVID LEHMAN

  Among My Souvenirs, Boulevard, Spring.

  ALEX LEMON

  Heartdusting, Southern Review, Winter.

  SETH LERER

  First Love, Yale Review, October.

  NATON LESLIE

  A Compendium of Fa
ct, North Dakota Quarterly, vol. 75, nos. 3 & 4.

  E. J. LEVY

  Artichoke Hearts, Kenyon Review, Summer.

  CAYNTHIA LEWIS

  Crazy in Love, Massachusetts Review, vol. 51, no. 1.

  MICHAEL LEWIS-BECK My Cherry Orchard in Iowa, Wapsipinicon Almanac, no. 17.

  MEL LIVATINO

  A Spy in the House of Experience, Under the Sun, Summer.

  PRICILLA LONG

  Balancing Act, Under the Sun, Summer.

  PHILLIP LOPATE

  How Do You End an Essay?, Salmagundi, Fall/Winter.

  BARRY LOPEZ

  An Intimate Geography, Portland, Summer.

  JAMES MACDONALD

  The Virtue of Living a Lie, Boulevard, Fall.

  MARGARET MACINNIS

  Portrait of a Man in a Fur Hat, Tampa Review, no. 40.

  PATRICK MADDEN

  Writer Michael Martone’s Leftover Water, Normal School, Fall.

  JOY MANESIOTIS

  What I Learned in Art School,

  Massachusetts Review, vol. 51, no. 1.

  LEE MARTIN All Those Fathers That Night, Gulf Coast, Summer/Fall.

  HILARY MASTERS

  Looking Back: A Provincetown Memoir, Provincetown Arts, no. 25.

  CHARLES MCLEOD

  Settlers of Unassigned Lands, South Dakota Review, Spring.

  STEVE MCNUTT

  SUV vs. Bike, SUV Wins, Iowa Review, vol. 40, no. 1.

  JOHN MCPHEE

  The Patch, New Yorker, February 8.

  DAPHNE MERKIN

  My Life in Therapy, New York Times Magazine, August 8.

  A. B. MEYER

  Keep This Fortune, Epiphany, Spring/Summer.

  KATHRYN MILES

  Killing Laughter, Flyway, vol. 13, no. 1.

  BEN MILLER

  The Reinvention of Ice, Ecotone, Spring.

  JANE MILLER

  Dying, Raritan, Fall.

  LORNA MILNE

  Bear Dreaming, Frontiers, vol. 31, no. 2.

  ANNA MIRER

  The Wills of Twenty Strangers, Bellevue Literary Review, Spring.

  ANDER MONSON

  Keyboarding, Zone, Spring.

  SARAH FAWN MONTGOMERY

  Ekphrasis: What My Grandfather Saw, Fugue, Summer/Fall.

  ALEXIOS MOORE

  Field Studies Roxbury, 1983, Post Road, no. 18.

  DINTY W. MOORE

  Son of Mr. Green Jeans: An Essay on Fatherhood, Alphabetically Arranged, Crazyhorse, Fall.

  MICHELE MORANO

  Evenings at the Collegeview Diner, Waterstone, no. 13.

  VIRGINIA MORELL

  The Immortal Ones: Plants and Animals That Live Forever, Creative Nonfiction, no. 38, Spring.

  KYOKO MORI The Pleasure of Letting Go, Ploughshares, Fall.

  KERRY MUIR

  The Bridge, Willow Springs, no. 66.

  DUNCAN MURRELL

  The Meat Horses of Serbia, Normal School, Fall.

  SCOTT NADELSON

  Go Ahead and Look, Oregon Humanities, Spring.

  ANTONYA NELSON

  Hello, This Is Bob, Open City, no. 29.

  ARNOLD G. NELSON

  How to Write a Good Sentence: A Manual for Writers Who Know How to Write Correct Sentences, Alaska Quarterly Review, Spring/ Summer.

  BETH NEWBERRY

  The Center of the Compass, Louisville Review, Spring.

  AIMEE NEZHUKUMATATHIL

  Birth Geographic, Waterstone, no. 13.

  MEGAN NIX

  Swim, Memory, Fourth Genre, Spring. T. A. NOONAN The Trouble with Correspondence, Ninth Letter, Spring/Summer.

  JOSIP NOVAKOVICH

  Cat Named Sobaka, Prairie Schooner, Spring.

  JOYCE CAROL OATES

  Going Home Again, Smithsonian, March.

  CYNTHIA-MARIE O’BRIEN A Figment of Your Imagination, Bellevue Literary Review, Fall.

  JOHN S. O’CONNOR

  Once More to the Ocean, Schools, Spring.

  SARAH ODISHOO Time in a Bottle, North Dakota Quarterly, vol. 75, nos. 3 & 4.

  DANIELLE OFRI Unstrung, Missouri Review, Winter.

  W. SCOTT OLSEN

  The World Record, Mid-American Review, vol. 30, nos. 1 & 2.

  PETER ORNER Horace and Josephine, Ninth Letter, Fall/Winter.

  LAWRENCE OSBORNE Hungry Ghosts, Bidoun, Spring.

  JOHN PALATTELLA

  The Death and Life of the Book Review, Nation, June 21.

  ANNE PANNING The Mailbox, Ascent, January 7.

  MICHAEL PARKER

  I’m with Stupid, Oxford American, no. 70.

  ELISE PARTRIDGE

  Legends of Good Women, Southwest Review, vol. 95, no. 4.

  DALE PECK

  Dutcher’s Notch, Threepenny Review, Summer.

  JOEL PECKHAM

  Please Take What You Want, Jelly Bucket, no. 2.

  DAVID TORREY PETERS Northern Aire Chinchilla Ranch, Indiana Review, Summer.

  ROBERT PIPPIN No Good Reason: Film Noir as Philosophy, Point, no. 2, Winter.

  DEBORAH TOMECEK PLEVA Czech Out His Name, Brain, Child, Spring.

  EILEEN POLLACK

  Thin Air, Michigan Quarterly Review, Winter.

  FRANCINE PROSE

  The King and Queen of the Roses, Southern Review, Summer.

  ANNIE PROULX

  A Yard of Cloth, Ecotone, no. 10.

  DAVID QUAMMEN

  Being Jane Goodall, National Geographic, October.

  COLIN RAFFERTY Surfacing, Fourth Genre, Fall.

  JONATHAN RAUCH

  Letting Go of My Father, Atlantic, April.

  PENELOPE SCHWARTZ ROBINSON Burrowing, Hotel Amerika, Fall.

  ROXANA ROBINSON

  Paralyzed, Harper’s, September.

  DAVID ROMTVEDT

  Notebook on a Post, Cimarron Review, Summer.

  ROBERT ROOT

  Time and Tide, Ascent, August 1.

  NATANIA ROSENFELD

  Life and Death, Southwest Review, vol. 95, no. 4.

  HANNA ROSIN

  The End of Men, Atlantic, July/ August.

  SARAH ROTHENBERG

  Reverse Immortality: The Memory of Music, TriQuarterly, no. 137.

  MARY RUEFLE

  Among the Clouds, Make, Spring/ Summer.

  LAURA-ROSE RUSSELL

  Scented, Gettysburg Review, Spring.

  JAY RUTTENBERG

  Billy Madison: A Love Letter, Lowbrow Reader, Fall/Winter.

  MARJORIE SANDOR

  Threshold, Fugue, Winter/Spring.

  REG SANER

  My Fall into Knowledge, Georgia Review, Spring.

  ALEXIS SCHAITKIN

  Living Relics, Ecotone, Spring.

  HENRY I. SCHVEY

  The Road to Tennessee, River Styx, no, 81–82.

  JOHN SEABROOK

  The Last Babylift, New Yorker, May 10.

  TRACY SEELEY

  Cartographies of Change, Prairie Schooner, Summer.

  PETER SELGIN Alone: On Two Types of Solitude, Gull Coast, Summer/Fall.

  PEGGY SHINNER

  Leopold and Shinner, Colorado Review, Fall/Winter.

  JUDITH SHULEVITZ

  Downtime, New Republic, October 14.

  MARGOT SINGER

  A Natural History of Small-Town Ohio, Ninth Letter, Fall/Winter.

  FLOYD SKLOOT

  The Bottom Shelf Novels I Keep Failing to Read, Sewanee Review, Summer.

  AISHA SLOAN

  Fawlanionese, Michigan Quarterly Review, Summer.

  J. D. SMITH

  Mere Aesthetics, Boulevard, Spring.

  REBECCA SOLNIT

  The Story of the Storm, Nation, September 13.

  ANDREW SOLOMON

  To an Aesthete Dying Young, Yale Alumni Magazine, July/August.

  BENJAMIN SOLOMON

  A God Place, Southeast Review, vol. 28, no. 2.

  WILLARD SPIEGELMAN

  On the Road, Kenyon Review Online, Summer.

  BRIAN JAY STANLEY

  Medi
tation During a Rainstorm, Connecticut Review, vol. 32, no. 2.

  KIRK STERLING

  The Return of the Hostess Pajama, Epiphany, Fall/Winter.

  MICHAEL STEINBERG

  Chin Music, Gihon River Review, Fall.

  GARRETT STEWART

  Bookwork as Demediation, Critical Inquiry, Spring.

  PETER STINE

  Detroit Marathon, Sport Literate, vol. 7, no. 1.

  LAURIE STONE

  Toby Dead, Open City, no. 28.

  ROBERT STOTHART

  American Kestrel, Black Warrior Review, Spring/Summer.

  LEE STRICKLAND

  Girl, Ruined, Sun, November.

  IRA SUKRUNGRUANG

  Noisy Neighbor, Crab Orchard Review, Winter/Spring.

  JOHN TALLMADGE

  A Visit to the Creation Museum, Isotope, vol. 7, no. 2.

  ABIGAIL THOMAS

  Where the Woods Begin, Lumina, no. 9.

  ALISON B. THOMAS

  A Telescope at the Sky, Fourth Genre, Spring.

  STEVEN THRASHER

  White America Has Lost Its Mind, villagevoice.com, September 29-October 5.

  SALLIE TISDALE

  On Spectrum, Harper’s, April.

  LAD TOBIN

  There’s No Such Thing as Free Association, Sun, September.

  ANNA TSING

  Arts of Inclusion, or How to Love a Mushroom, Mánoa, Winter.

  ROBIN UNDERDAHL

  The Lovely Maiden Jumps into the Waters, Upstreet, no. 6.

  RYAN VAN METER

  The Goldfish History, Fourth Genre, Spring.

  WILLIAM T. VOLLMANN

  A Good Death, Harper’s, November.

  JULIE MARIE WADE

  Eucharist, Salamander, Winter.

  CHRISTOPHER WALL Look Down, Don’t Look Down, Missouri Review, Fall.

  GARRY WALLACE

  The Sportsmans’ Barber Shop, Owen Wister Review, 2010.

  PHILIP WEITL

  Restless, Jelly Bucket, no. a.

  HOLLY WELKER

  Leap Year, Alaska Quarterly Review, Fall/Winter.

  JOE WENDEROTH

  Drug-Testing for Writers, Western Humanities Review, Winter.

  FREDERIC WILL

  Time and Language: The Trials of a Philosophical Tourist, Massachusetts Review, vol. 51, no. 1.

  LYNNA WILLIAMS

  Humor Is Not a Mood, Fourth Genre, Spring.

  KATHRYN WINOGRAD

  Bathing, Fourth Genre, Spring.

  LAURA ESTHER WOLFSON

  The Bagel in the Snowflake, North Atlantic Review, no. 21.

  JAMES WOOD

  Serious Noticing, Michigan Quarterly Review, Fall.

  CHRISTOPHER WRENN

  Breaking Line, North Carolina Literary Review, no. 19.

  ERICA ZORA WRIGHTSON

  Artichoke, Slake, Summer.

  BEN YAGODA

  Trial and Eros, American Scholar, Autumn.

  LEE ZACHARIAS

 

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