Archive - Open Secrets Magazine

I Make Too Much for Government Assistance, So Community Feeds My Family

After my divorce, my financial life was turned upside down, but the people who love me refused to let me and my daughter go hungry

Dec 30, 2025 • Moriah Richard

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

When Did My Craft Stash Become a Hoard?

Owning craft supplies and crafting are two different hobbies

Dec 27, 2025 • Hilary C

Object-ives #16: The Inheritance I Bought

A dead woman’s milk glass collection became the family heirloom I never had

Dec 26, 2025 • Tamara MC, Ph.D. 💖🦄🌈🌍🦋🦄 🌵🍭🛼

Why Writing Memoir Is a Gift

Our readers are the recipients

Dec 24, 2025 • Jocelyn Jane Cox

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

Just Like Christmas

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

Dec 22, 2025 • Karen G Berry

How Building a Lego Jesus Changed My Life

Why these tiny plastic pieces from my religious childhood saved the day in adulthood

Dec 20, 2025 • Kelli Dunham

Object-ives #15: My Morbid Companion

I wear a ring with my brother’s ashes in it everywhere I go

Dec 19, 2025 • Amanda Kernahan

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

Learning to Celebrate Myself

Athena Dixon on birthdays

Dec 17, 2025 • Athena Dixon

Why I Went to the Boob Deck

But who would I be when the guys arrived?

Dec 16, 2025 • Paulette Perhach

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