Open Secrets Magazine | Substack

Truth Hurts: I’m a Cheapskate

What a Lady Gaga concert taught me about my spending habits

3 hrs ago • Open Secrets Magazine

What I Talk About When I Talk About My Neurodivergent Husband

How his ADHD permanently impacted our marriage

Mar 31 • Lori Tucker-Sullivan

The Year I Spoke with Chris Evans

How the beginning stages of schizoaffective disorder impacted my life

Mar 30 • Melanie Cole

Object-ives #28: My Necklace That Always Found Its Way Back

How a glitch in the matrix changed my life

Mar 27 • Sophie Berghouse, MD

Please Hurry Up and Slow Down

An impatient person comes to terms with inefficiency

Mar 26 • Amy L Bernstein

Relationships

What I Talk About When I Talk About My Neurodivergent Husband

How his ADHD permanently impacted our marriage

Mar 31 • Lori Tucker-Sullivan

March 2026 Open Secrets Book Club Pick: ‘sorry i keep crying during sex’ by Jesse James Rose

Join us March 24 at 7 p.m. ET for a live interview with author, actor, and content creator Jesse James Rose

Mar 16 • Open Secrets Magazine

The Sourdough Starter I Named After My Ex

How baking bread became a queer ritual to transform, wait, and give myself the food I deserve

Feb 22 • Charlene Trino

I Traveled the World Looking for Love. I’m Still Looking.

Since writing about being single at 33, the search hasn’t changed—even as the scenery has.

Feb 14 • Sonya Matejko

Object-ives #22: My Heavy Metal Companion

An intimate prized possession that will never be an heirloom

Feb 13 • Open Secrets Magazine

My Two Decades Dating as a Late-in-Life Virgin

On learning to receive love

Feb 10 • Amanda McCracken

Substack

Editor Rachel Kramer Bussel's Substack

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Rob Hart

Beyond with Jane Ratcliffe

Jane Ratcliffe

Narratively

Brevis Scriptor

Oliver Radclyffe

Adventures In "Journalism" by Sari Botton

Sari Botton

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Parenting and Family

Object-ives #27: The Sneakers That Traipse on Without My Grandma

How an old pair of shoes became impossible to part with

Mar 20 • Courtney Kocak

Unraveling the Puzzle of the Two Paintings My Mother Gifted Me Upon Her Death

The legacy of her message may not be the one she intended

Mar 17 • Eleanor Anstruther

Object-ives #24: The Brown Wall-to-Wall Carpet of My Childhood Home

Many secrets were hidden in its mottled earth

Feb 27 • Sumitra Mattai

After Infertility, I Found a Version of Motherhood I Could Claim As My Own

My identity took shape around the struggle for a child. Who was I now that I actually had one?

Feb 12 • Amy Gallo Ryan

I Zoomed My Sister’s Funeral

How I handled my grief from a distance

Jan 26 • Tawnya Gibson

It’s More Like a Five

A doctor dismissed my pain because I’d driven myself to the clinic. Now I bring my teenage daughter to appointments—not for support, but as a witness.

Jan 20 • Brittany Miles

On forgetting myself in fatherhood

Jan 8 • Bud Hager

January 2026 Open Secrets Book Club Pick: 'The True Happiness Company' by Veena Dinavahi

Join us as we read about how Veena Dinavahi went from troubled teen to married Mormon mom of 3 under the guidance of a cult leader

Jan 8 • Open Secrets Magazine

Keep the personal essay alive:

Identity

Basketball Taught Me I Can Be a New Person Any Time I Want

I quit playing when I was 10. Now I watch it weekly

Mar 21 • alexis

How to Reroute Yourself

Athena Dixon on singing Oasis songs at karaoke and steering her own course

Mar 18 • Athena Dixon

Molly Was My Gateway Drug to Meditation

How taking the illicit 1990s psychedelic pill paved the way for me to get Zen

Mar 3 • Blair Glaser

After Infertility, I Found a Version of Motherhood I Could Claim As My Own

My identity took shape around the struggle for a child. Who was I now that I actually had one?

Feb 12 • Amy Gallo Ryan

Why I Share My Sex Life on the Internet

Jesse James Rose on sex education and shame reduction via social media

Feb 2 • Jesse James Rose

The Church Lady I Became to Survive Being Queer

How I learned to hide in plain sight by becoming the most devoted volunteer at my Filipino Catholic parish

Dec 29, 2025 • Charlene Trino

I Watched ‘General Hospital’ with My Mom Every Day as a Kid. It’s How I Learned About Rape—And I’m Still a Fan

The soap opera was my earliest lesson about sexual consent

Dec 23, 2025 • Caren Lissner

Why I Went to the Boob Deck

But who would I be when the guys arrived?

Dec 16, 2025 • Paulette Perhach

Keep the personal essay alive:

Mental Health

What I Talk About When I Talk About My Neurodivergent Husband

How his ADHD permanently impacted our marriage

Mar 31 • Lori Tucker-Sullivan

The Year I Spoke with Chris Evans

How the beginning stages of schizoaffective disorder impacted my life

Mar 30 • Melanie Cole

Molly Was My Gateway Drug to Meditation

How taking the illicit 1990s psychedelic pill paved the way for me to get Zen

Mar 3 • Blair Glaser

A Love Letter to Myself After Eating Disorder Treatment

What I learned about recovery from getting treatment for anorexia and bulimia in my fifties

Feb 24 • Amie Newman

As an anorexic adult I learned to eat again like a baby

Feb 23 • Karen Lindell

1:10:47

Exclusive Interview on Life in a Cult, How to Escape a Cult, and Memoir Writing with 'The True Happiness Company' Author Veena Dinavahi

Watch our interview with Veena Dinavahi about mental health, the self-help cult she didn't realize she joined, leaving the cult, Mormonism, and her…

Jan 30 • Open Secrets Magazine, Veena, and Rachel Kramer Bussel

New Year, Same Me

Athena Dixon on setting intentions instead of making resolutions

Jan 21 • Athena Dixon

News from Lake Brain-Be-Gone

My brain broke up with me. I mean broke up in me. Everything fell out of place.

Dec 18, 2025 • Judith Hannah Weiss

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Work

Please Hurry Up and Slow Down

An impatient person comes to terms with inefficiency

Mar 26 • Amy L Bernstein

Why I’ll Never Leave a Bag Unattended Again

Some things will always remain unknown

Mar 9 • Jocelyn Jane Cox

The Economics of Being a Working Actor (Barely)

Just because I’ve starred on TV and on stage doesn’t mean I have it made financially

Mar 2 • Rachel Crowl

How I Made Peace with the Secret Failure Behind My Successful Career

Helping my daughter with her pre-calculus homework took me back to failing calculus in college

Jan 27 • L.S. Stratton

I Throw Pottery. Would I Throw My Career, Too?

After the chaos of the last government shutdown—and a hard year of loss and change—federal workers like me face a tough decision.

Jan 24 • Madison Chapman

Just Like Christmas

How my impossible manager’s comeuppance was the best workplace gift I could have received

Dec 22, 2025 • Karen G Berry

Why Playing Pickleball Is My New Professional Litmus Test

Networking with a paddle, not a pastry

Dec 6, 2025 • ANGELA MARIE HUTCHINSON

Life Is in the Fine Details

Athena Dixon on how focusing on the big picture can make you miss what really matters

Nov 19, 2025 • Athena Dixon

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