https://www.thesunmagazine.org/rss en-us Crumb is always right, always the one telling the story, always the one who turns the drab, lonesome plains they call home into a world that’s dramatic and necessary.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28992 Sun, 31 May 2026 15:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/606-the-empty-room-inside-each-of-us 606-38-pedersen-preview.jpg 606 - Pedersen - Wilkins There’s a presumption that to raise a child with disabilities makes you brave. I wasn’t brave. I wasn’t always a stellar mother, either. But I studied my daughter as if she were an ancient text to see what was beneath the chatter and the rage

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28989 Sun, 31 May 2026 15:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/606-formed-otherwise 606-44-epli-preview.jpg 606 - Epli - Bernstein Some leeches have two jaws. Others have three. Some have teeth on their tongues. There are protective leeches who hover over their eggs, and leeches who carry their newborns in pouches like tiny kangaroos.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28988 Sun, 31 May 2026 15:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/606-the-feeding 606-26-rios-preview.jpg 606 - Rios - Glatt A Thousand Words features photography so rich with narrative that it tells a story all on its own.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28983 Sun, 31 May 2026 15:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/606-a-thousand-words 606-21-brandao-preview.jpg 606 - Brandao - A Thousand Words Pumped for an infant, spilled at the dinner table, used as a tear gas antidote

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28993 Sun, 31 May 2026 11:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/606-milk 606-30-wild-preview.jpg 606 - Wild - Milk Taking piano lessons, learning to speak Russian, seeking enlightenment

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28975 Thu, 30 Apr 2026 11:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/605-practicing 605-30-anzorena-preview.jpg 605 - Anzorena - Practicing There is a dead snake on the cracked road. My son says it’s not a dead snake. He says the snake has just shed its skin and left it there.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28974 Thu, 30 Apr 2026 11:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/605-separation I wasn’t about to tell Simon what happened. Buddy Sikes was one of the popular kids. Simon wouldn’t understand. Not because of his differences, but because he was still at the age where a clear line separated right from wrong.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28972 Thu, 30 Apr 2026 11:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/605-rise 605-18-obrien-preview 605 - Obrien - Falkowski tfd3@psu.edu I often wonder if there was something I missed, if the thunder and lightning said something I couldn’t understand.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28970 Thu, 30 Apr 2026 11:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/605-struck 605-44-perry-preview.jpg 605 - Perry - Davis On a playground, at a gymnastics meet, over an apartment window

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28959 Tue, 31 Mar 2026 10:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/604-bars 604-32-law-preview.jpg 604 - Thomas Law - Bars You could make things up that actually felt more like truth, somehow. You could build a world so precise that other people started to believe it, too. And if you didn’t believe the things my dad said, he’d find a way to make you.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28951 Tue, 31 Mar 2026 10:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28951-a-conversation-with-my-father 604-20-pedersen-preview.jpg 604 - Pedersen - Morton Shoplifting cigarettes, running the pool table, creating a “pocket prairie”

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28943 Sat, 28 Feb 2026 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/603-pockets 603-32-kral-preview.jpg 603 - Kral - Pockets It all reminds me of that moment when you take off your sunglasses / after a long drive and realize it’s earlier / and lighter out than you had accounted for.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28942 Sat, 28 Feb 2026 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/603-selected-poems Get to know Boxcar Betty, Stick Dick, Lali, and the Cajun Asian

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28923 Sat, 31 Jan 2026 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/602-nicknames 602-30-bookbinder-preview.jpg 602 - Bookbinder - Nicknames “How are you?” Janice asks her brother, because what do you say to someone you didn’t choose to call except the same thing you say to everyone?

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28922 Sat, 31 Jan 2026 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/602-butt-dials 602-44-litchkofski-preview.jpg 602 - Litchkofski - Barrett “I’m your brother,” the man says, then swallows. He is tall and burly with deep-set blue eyes and thinning hair. He wipes his nose on his flannel sleeve and forks some coleslaw from a plastic container.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28921 Sat, 31 Jan 2026 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/602-i-got-you 602-24-hubard-preview.jpg 602 - Hubard - Skirvin I’m rebellious, defiant, so I’m sent to the barn, driven there by my newly single mom, or my newly single dad, or my grandparents, or someone else. Another parent told my mom I should try horseback riding. Ice-skating and tae kwon do and ceramics didn’t stick, but I can already tell I’m a horse girl.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28920 Sat, 31 Jan 2026 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/602-unruly 602-38-wolfe-preview.jpg 602 - Wolfe- Wood What was happening in and to Gaza was not really about democracy at all—or any kind of universal, God-given values. It was simply about power.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28917 Sat, 31 Jan 2026 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/602-sleeping-children 602-14-peraino-preview.jpg 602 - Peraino - Peraino My father took a puff from his Camel / and dispatched his message / in smoky cursive, Lasciare stare, / then said it again softly

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28915 Sat, 31 Jan 2026 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/602-lasciare-stare Are you writing his eulogy in advance? Are you afraid / to sleep at night? Afraid your bones are planning / their escape? And what do you mean by love? 

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28913 Sat, 31 Jan 2026 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/602-the-eulogy-i-didnt-give-v Leading a strike, starting trouble between sisters, feeding strangers

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28904 Wed, 31 Dec 2025 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/601-stirring-the-pot 601-32-stone-preview.jpg 601 - Stone - Stirring the Pot Sometimes you had to conjure your own joy. Scratch that. Most of the time you had to conjure your own joy. So you had better suck it up and start chopping onions.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28902 Wed, 31 Dec 2025 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/601-love-in-all-directions 601-44-fields-preview.jpg 601 - Fields - Mandelbaum Other parents see our little girl running up and down the hall, or performing a dance in the playroom, or climbing onto a stool to get the Funny Bunny game from the closet, and they ask why we are here. I have told the story so many times to so many different doctors that I’m beginning to wonder if I’m keeping the details straight. Was it four in the morning or six? What woke us—the trembling and shaking, or the lack of breathing, or the choking sounds?

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28884 Sun, 30 Nov 2025 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/600-the-childrens-wing 600-43-saman-preview.jpg 600-Saman-Bashaw A fiftieth anniversary in Paris, a COVID Christmas in April, a first birthday in America

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28889 Sun, 30 Nov 2025 11:00:00 -0500 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/600-celebrating 600-32-weimer-preview.jpg 600-Weimer-Celebrating Swimming with whale sharks, hearing a mountain lion, refusing to eat a snake

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28871 Fri, 31 Oct 2025 12:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/599-wild-animals 599-33-werdinger-preview.jpg 599-Werdinger-Wild Animals When the kids came to school, we tortured them because they smelled and wore the same clothes every day, until they just shut down, not even looking at us after a while, never raising their hands, never saying a word.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28861 Fri, 31 Oct 2025 12:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/599-the-lonesomest-sound-in-the-world 599-22-padian-preview.jpg 599-Padian-Hodgen When my children began to tattoo their skin, / even modest images scared me. / I winced at each new embellishment, / wishing them innocence, not scars.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28833 Sun, 31 Aug 2025 12:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/mad-to-live-dane-cervine-poem-597 Our baby could not yet hold his head up. I lay on my parents’ living room floor next to my son, wondering how I was going to afford and overcome everything by myself, thinking I was too clumsy to take care of something as delicate as a child. And, in having these thoughts, I came undone.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28828 Sun, 31 Aug 2025 12:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/moon-boots-na-mee-parenting-fear-grief-healing-597 597-44-scotland-preview.jpg 597 - Scotland - Mee You have to start with overripe bananas. Really overripe—not yellow with a couple of streaks but two thin-skinned ones that can hardly contain their own soft flesh. You should be able to smell banana from across your kitchen.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28817 Thu, 31 Jul 2025 12:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/start-with-overripe-bananas-spurgeon-essay-596 596-44-gelsthorpe-preview.jpg 596 - Gelsthorpe - Spurgeon The first time I walked into our new old house, it was the light / that surprised me—how much of it fell through the four windows / facing south and landed wide across the floorboards . . .

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28816 Thu, 31 Jul 2025 12:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/there-here-jazz-christine-poreba-596