Open Secrets Magazine | Substack

The Exhausting Mathematics of Hunger While Receiving SNAP

How ill health and being poor impact my eating

16 hrs ago •

The Powerful Way Celebrity Gravesites Help Me Cope with My Grief

How my grave interest helped me process my grief over my father’s death

Nov 8 •

Object-ives #10: The Shirt That Slayed Demons

I collect the outgrown versions of my daughter

Nov 7 •

I Cut Off My Mother. Now I’m Becoming Her

I stopped contacting my mother to avoid repeating her problematic behavior with my daughter

Nov 6 •

Shanetta McDonald

Truth Hurts: The Surprise Milestone I Reached When I Turned 50

Our columnist, John DeVore, on taking care of yourself after you get older

Nov 5 •

Relationships

Why My Friend’s Surprise Marriage Raised So Many Red Flags

And how I tried to help her escape

Oct 30 •

How to Shatter a Marriage

A single moment revealed our relationship was already broken

Oct 27 •

Jazmine Becerra Green

Giving Up the Ghost

Athena Dixon on letting go of what haunts you

Oct 15 •

In the Patriarchy, No One Can Hear You Scream

My ex claimed he was freeing me from oppression, but it took years for me to begin my financial escape

Sep 10 •

An Extremely Close Encounter with a Gay Catholic Celibate

Was he trying to rescue me from sex while I was trying to rescue him from the church?

Aug 18 •

Brenden O'Donnell

Will My Sex Life Be Lost When I No Longer Have a Uterus?

I’m a lesbian erotic writer having a hysterectomy and I’m uncertain how this necessary medical procedure will affect my sexual desire and intimacy

Jun 16 •

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Editor Rachel Kramer Bussel's Substack

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The Shit No One Tells You About Writing

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Books + Bits

Pandora Sykes

The Quiet Life with Susan Cain

The Quiet Life with Susan Cain

Susan Cain

Keep the personal essay alive:

Parenting and Family

The Powerful Way Celebrity Gravesites Help Me Cope with My Grief

How my grave interest helped me process my grief over my father’s death

Nov 8 •

Object-ives #10: The Shirt That Slayed Demons

I collect the outgrown versions of my daughter

Nov 7 •

After Her Brain Surgery, I Was Terrified My Mom Would Never Be My Mom Again

Attending the US Open with her showed me she’s still the same woman I love

Oct 14 •

Wanted: An All-American Family

I thought I had found the picture-perfect family that I so desperately craved but never had

Sep 22 •

My Father Was Never a Dad

My father doesn’t deserve to hear the kindness in the word dad because he never acted like one

Jun 9 •

Motherhood Is a Surprise Performance. This Was My Audition.

No script. No rehearsal. Plenty of reviews.

May 9 •

Danusia Malina-Derben

Is Water Quality So Bad That I Shouldn’t Let My Kids Play in Our Local Creeks?

After testing local creek water, I’m rethinking whether it’s safe to allow my children the freedom I had to explore nature

May 8 •

I Botched Mother’s Day Again

A yearly tradition of mental torture, guilt, and grief for the parentified daughter

May 5 •

Elizabeth Ann Devine

Keep the personal essay alive:

Identity

What’s Queer?

Two queer Korean adoptees walk into a Korean adoptee event and one says to the other…

Nov 3 •

There’s a Vegan at Your Dinner Table (P.S. It’s Me)

Why I dropped the conversion act—and started inviting people in

Oct 29 •

I’m Childfree, But Not by Choice

How my infertility journey led me down a surprising new path

Aug 28 •

Nicole Giordano

As An Air Force Cadet, I Did Something Taboo

The sign at the Air Force Academy said not to feed us, but I couldn’t resist breaking the rules to save my sanity

Jul 4 •

Melonie San Pietro

My Online Gaming Addiction Started with Playing Scrabble on Facebook

I couldn’t stop playing word games with strangers, craving the dopamine hit winning provided

Apr 11 •

Maybe I Am Lovable

The night I learned that my greatest fear wasn’t true

Feb 10 •

Leah Carey, Relationship Coach

From Abortion to Acupuncture

How I learned how much pain I can endure

Jan 21 •

Brenda Usher-Carpino, PhD

How I Learned to Be Vulnerable After Growing Up in a Religious Cult

After being bullied as a child for being different, as a woman in my forties I’ve finally embraced what makes me unique

Jan 6 •

Ariel Anderssen

Keep the personal essay alive:

Mental Health

Billy Blanks, I Love You: Help Me Get the Body of My Dreams

My love affair with Tae Bo workout videos

Sep 29 •

Is ADHD Why I Have Trouble Taking Real Vacations?

I loved being away from my laptop, but not the guilt that accompanied it

Sep 1 •

Rachel Kramer Bussel

I Navigated the Grief of My Second Trimester Miscarriage by Widely Sharing My Story

An excerpt from Normalize It: Upending the Silence, Stigma, and Shame That Shape Women's Lives

Jul 8 •

Jessica Zucker, PhD

What If I Let My Intrusive Thoughts Win?

Life with severe obsessive-compulsive disorder

Jun 30 •

Confronting a Second Grade Bully at Age Forty

How naming my relentless inner critic put me on a path toward healing

May 30 •

How I Joined a Cult Without Knowing It

An excerpt from memoir 'The True Happiness Company' by Veena Dinavahi

May 20 •

911: What Led to My Bipolar Diagnosis

An excerpt from Michelle Yang's memoir 'Phoenix Girl: How a Fat Asian with Bipolar Found Love'

May 5 •

The ADHD Diaries: It's Amazing I've Ever Accomplished Anything Because I'm Always Distracted

Even on ADHD medication, sitting down to focus and write feels impossible

Feb 15 •

Rachel Kramer Bussel

Keep the personal essay alive:

Work

The Reality of Being a Flight Attendant

It’s not always so glam working in the skies

Sep 6 •

From Dropout to Journalist…In Prison

How I found my voice as a storyteller while incarcerated and now help others become prison journalists

Sep 4 •

Open Secrets Magazine

How Firefighting Saved My Life

One of the most dangerous jobs became a refuge from my grief

Sep 3 •

River Selby (they/them)

I Was a Bigoted Speech Therapist

As my views on gender evolved, so did how I taught kids about pronouns

Sep 2 •

Judith Lam Tang

I'm a Thriller Author Who Figured Out the Secret to Actually Selling Books

And it’s not ideal—because it’s all about the things you can’t control

Jun 24 •

I’m A Professional Tarot Reader Who Thinks “Twin Flames” Need to Be Snuffed Out

Why fiery catch-phrases don’t fix relationships

May 23 •

Cyn Grace, The Grey Strega

The Ties that Bind: Rape as a Job Hazard

In the aftermath of a horrible attack, I couldn’t change my whole life, but I could change a small part of it

Apr 21 •

Writing Queer Romance as an Exploration of My Own Queerness

How I fell in love with my queer self through my queer fictional characters

Jan 13 •

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