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

November 1988

issue 156 cover
Departments

Readers Write

First Kiss

At church camp, in a air raid shelter in wartime England, on an old flatbed trailer

ByOur Readers
Quotations

Sunbeams

Our lives are like islands in the sea, or like trees in the forest, which co-mingle their roots in the darkness underground.

William James

November 1988

issue 156 cover
Essays, Memoirs & True Stories

Journey Into Zen

Zen is a religion for adults, although even adults have a hard time getting the hang of it. Children don’t need to understand it because they live it. That’s a paradox — a Zen paradox.

ByTom Hansen
Essays, Memoirs & True Stories

Waking Up Together

We are always infinite. What’s special about the moment is that it allows us to forget infinity and discover the joys of limitation.

ByPaul Williams
Essays, Memoirs & True Stories

The Homeless

I was just rousted off the floor of Grand Central Station by two cops, one of each race. It didn’t occur to me to say, “But I’m waiting for the train to Poughkeepsie!”

BySparrow
Essays, Memoirs & True Stories

Notes On Sex And Love

Love is an energy. It is not something you can force. Love energy is something you can become receptive to, because it is always there underneath the surface. Love energy is joyous, and joy is always linked to sexual feelings. What we call sex is a small part of love energy.

ByWilliam Ashoka Ross
Fiction

Walking

Clea took my hand and we swung arms like little kids. At college, I would never hold hands walking down the street. But here, I didn’t care who saw me or what they thought.

ByDeborah Shouse
Fiction

Lakestone, Minnesota

My heart bristled a little around the edges at the mention of Anna, but it was more like the wings of a bird, hit and dead on the highway, whose feathers flutter a moment from the movement of a passing Chevy.

ByNatalie Goldberg
Poetry

Selected Poems

ByLou Lipsitz
Poetry

Popples

ByLouis Jenkins

Recent Issues

May 2026
May 2026In this issue
May 2026
April 2026
April 2026In this issue
April 2026
March 2026
March 2026In this issue
March 2026
February 2026
February 2026In this issue
February 2026
January 2026
January 2026In this issue
January 2026
December 2025
December 2025In this issue
December 2025
Browse 50 Years Of Archives

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.