Bookworm Larvae

We are riding in the backseat of the car on the way to Flagstaff. As the youngest, it is a requirement that I sit in the middle, squashed between my two older brothers. They have been sleeping almost the whole way, either with their butts pressing against my legs, sandy blonde heads against the windows, [...]

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Sexual Selection

Male Pygmy Auklets (A. pygmaea) grow large head crests for sexual selection. I did not know this when I opened the box my long distance boyfriend Adam sent me. We had only been “dating” a few months, both of us still wrapped up in that new relationship smell. I called him my gypsy, after [...]

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The Subjectivity of a Name

My name is Nevada. I do not particularly care if you pronounce it “Nuh-vah-duh” or “Ne-Vaa-Daa” or “Neh-vah-deh” like my Spanish friend, Rosilio. Speaking of Spanish, my name is the Spanish word for “snowfall”. I was born on a day that was “asshole deep in snow.” Or at least, that’s what my mother tells me. [...]

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