Hazlitt

3 weeks ago | hazlitt.net | Erica X Eisen |Leon Craig |Carleigh Baker |Chantal Braganza

My in-laws did not approach me directly about becoming a spirit bride. I received their request through my father, who sat me down rather formally one evening to consider my options. I would never make you do this, he said several times, although it was clear he wanted me very much to say yes.

4 weeks ago | hazlitt.net | Chantal Braganza |Richard Warnica |Nour Abi-Nakhoul |Rollie Pemberton

The original title for Scaachi Koul’s Sucker Punch (Knopf Canada), the follow-up to her bestselling 2017 essay collection, One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter, was a translation of a Kashmiri phrase her mother would often hurl in exasperation at Koul and her brother whenever they acted up as children. “Paye thraat.” I Hope Lightning Falls on You.

1 month ago | hazlitt.net | Allison LaSorda |Emma Cohen |Alison Motluk |Nour Abi-Nakhoul

I am grateful for this life! And yet I miss the alternatives. All sketches wish to be real. —Tomas Tranströmer, The Blue HouseThe fertility clinic’s waiting room featured photos of chubby, healthy, smiling babies. No photos of women, though. Despite fluorescent lights, the space felt furtive. Other waiting people, also alone, seemed flat-stomached beneath their winter coats and avoided each other’s eyes. It felt embarrassing and painful. Shouldn’t this process be simpler?

1 month ago | hazlitt.net | Nour Abi-Nakhoul |Richard Warnica |Rachel Gerry |Rollie Pemberton

Depending on where you live in the world and what your principles are, the past year and a half has either been business as usual or one of the most devastating periods of your life. Israel’s relentless massacre in Gaza, which began in October 2023, was initially explained as a necessity in order to defend the settler state from the militant political group Hamas—but has continued long past the point when that excuse could hold water.

Dec 19, 2024 | hazlitt.net | Abhrajyoti Chakraborty |Meg Bernhard |Michaela Cavanagh |Rollie Pemberton

Fifteen minutes into Michelangelo Antonioni’s L’avventura (1960), you sense that this is a movie about lying adults. Anna (played by Lea Massari) is on a yacht cruise with a group of friends near an abandoned island off Sicily. She is lolling about the waves in her swimsuit when she cries that she has spotted a shark. Sandro (Gabriele Ferzetti), her architect boyfriend, rushes to her aid and escorts her safely back to their boat.