Winner of the 2019 Gulf Coast prize in Non-Fiction
“I found a patch of prickly pear and cut off the magenta bulbs with the edge of my credit card. Even though I was sitting, the motion of fake money over fruit ballooned an uncertain joy in me, and I held onto that joy as a child will hold onto her mother while crossing the street — gripping it.” from Moods
“The situation is that I loved a man who loved me even though I was his labor. I used to think it was cool to spend Friday nights on my professor’s pale brown couch with the tear in the arm cushions, singing Fela Kuti while the oxycontin sunk in. The wall above his desk was covered in Post-It Notes. They said things like “Home should feel like a resolution” and “Look around, the world is bright.” He liked to listen to me speak and I felt lit up when he listened to me. There was a hole in the corner of his ceiling and often I thought I saw a rodent poke through to watch us strip.” from Hunting Season