

Sex and the Commons III -- Stunted Intimacy
Love cannot be disembodied even in its most sanctified forms, nor is it without sanctity even in its most fleshly. – Thomas Mann, Magic...


Crying and Laughing
“Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” Psalm 30:5 Yes, things can often look much better in the morning, and...


Working It Out
“So… what do you do?” When we ask this question, we are often asking what someone “does for a living,” but it means so much more than...


How We Know Ourselves: d. Intimately
There is a real paradox in intimate relationships. No one wants to be alone, but for someone to be really with you, especially to be a...


Naked, and You Clothed Me
One of the most iconic images of the Vietnam war era was of the “Napalm Girl,” Phan Thi Kim Phuc, her clothes burned away by American...


Family Drama
“This Be the Verse,” by Philip Larkin, 1971 They fuck you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but they do. They fill you with the...


Intimacy and Habituation: We Need to Talk
One of the problems with exploring the neuroscience behind any kind of human experience is the fear that doing so is reductive, and turns...