Independent, Reader-Supported Publishing
  • Sign OutMy Account
  • Sign In

  • Current Issue
    June 2026June 2026
    Standards of Care
    The Sun InterviewBy Naomi PittsStandards of CareRolonda Donelson on Bias and Anti-Science Attitudes in Medicine

    The reason Black women were used to develop the field of gynecology was because they were no more than property. They weren’t seen as people; they were just seen as things. The controlling of Black women’s bodies started with chattel slavery, but it continues today.

    Milk
    Readers WriteBy Our ReadersMilk

    Pumped for an infant, spilled at the dinner table, used as a tear gas antidote

    In This Issue
  • Archives
    • Featured Selections
    • Shop Print Issues
    • Browse by year
    • Browse topics
    • Browse Sections
    May 2026
    May 2026
    April 2026
    April 2026
    March 2026
    March 2026
    February 2026
    February 2026
    January 2026
    January 2026
    December 2025
    December 2025
    Browse 50 years of Archives
    • News and Notes
      • About The Sun
      • Newsletter Sign-Up
      • Announcements
      • Featured Selections
      • Calls for Submissions
      • Profiles
      • Our History
      • Events
    • Submit
      • Letter to the Editor
      • Readers Write
      • Essays, Fiction & Poetry
      • Photography
    • Donate
      • Donate Now
    • Shop
      • Subscribe
      • Give a Gift Subscription
      • Back Issues
      • Books
      • Merch
        • T-Shirts
        • Tote Bag
        • Mug
  • Search
  • RenewSubscribe
    Personal. Political.
    Provocative. Ad-free.

    Subscribe and Save up to 45%

    Renew your subscription

    GIVE A GIFT SUBSCRIPTION

    SUBSCRIBE

    GIVE A GIFT SUBSCRIPTION

Independent, Reader-
Supported Publishing
Subscribe and Save up to 45%
Renew your subscriptionSUBSCRIBE

GIVE A GIFT SUBSCRIPTION

    • My Account
    • Sign Out
    • Sign In
  • Cart
  • Current issue
  • archivesarrow
    • Featured Selections
    • Shop Print Issues
    • Browse by year
    • Browse topics
    • Browse Sections
    • News and Notes
      • About The Sun
      • Newsletter Sign-Up
      • Announcements
      • Featured Selections
      • Calls for Submissions
      • Profiles
      • Our History
      • Events
    • Submit
      • Letter to the Editor
      • Readers Write
      • Essays, Fiction & Poetry
      • Photography
    • Donate
      • Donate Now
    • Shop
      • Subscribe
      • Give a Gift Subscription
      • Back Issues
      • Books
      • Merch
        • T-Shirts
        • Tote Bag
        • Mug

Kelly McMasters

Kelly McMasters is the author of The Leaving Season: A Memoir in Essays and Welcome to Shirley: A Memoir from an Atomic Town. She teaches creative writing at Hofstra University.

  • Visit Website
Essays, Memoirs & True Stories

Roots and Rhizomes

I know now that you aren’t born a parent. But you are born with inherited traits and proclivities that you end up either nurturing or starving out. Life, in my experience, requires a lot of deadheading. I’m glad my father taught me how to do it at such a young age.

July 2025

Roots and Rhizomes

Read an Essay from an Upcoming Issue

This essay will appear in What My Father and I Don’t Talk About, edited by Michele Filgate. Copyright © 2025 by Michele Filgate. Reprinted by permission of Simon & Schuster, NY.


What Do You Think?

Has something we published moved you? Fired you up? Did we miss the mark? We’d love to hear about it.

SEND US A LETTER

Humanity, delivered monthly.

In each issue of The Sun you’ll find some of the most radically intimate and socially conscious writing being published today. In an age of media conglomerates, we’re something of an oddity: an ad-free, independent, reader-supported magazine.

    • About The Sun
    • Contact Us
    • Staff
    • FAQ
  • facebookLike us
  • InstagramTake a look
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use

Copyright © 1974–2026 The Sun. All rights reserved.