Author: true mag admin

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Already We Are Less Than Ever Before

[Winner of the 2018 Proximity Essay Prize] Fereidoun M. Esfandiary hypothesized the sun was the heart of utopia. He changed his name to FM-2030 to mark the year he’d turn 100. Interviewed by Larry King, FM-2030 wears a heavy white robe and says his new name is “neat.
This is a blue and green image depicting an obscure image underwater.S
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Swim Lessons

[Runner-Up for the 2024 Proximity Prize] They checked our military IDs as they stood in camouflage outside our high school and slung M-16 machine guns around their shoulders. And their eyes lingered a little too long on shy, sophomore girls standing in line. 
This is an image of pink and orange tulips in full bloom in a field. The tulips are starting to wither at the end of the bloom cycle.M
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Motherlove and Memory

[Winner of the 2024 Proximity Prize] Not much can prepare you for the day when you greet your mother and she pulls back in alarm. When you place your hand gently on her shoulder, look into her eyes, and she returns your gaze with suspicion and fear. When saying "It's me," fails to suggest a hint of familiarity. 
AN image of a ship with a historic map of mobile bay and the coast of Alabama overlayed with a green tingeH
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How To Make Narrative Nonfiction Span Centuries 

Laura Tillman speaks with Nick Tabor about his debut narrative nonfiction book "Africatown," which spans centuries yet feels effortless in its telling.
a photo of the front range mountains in snow with a photograph of Barrel cactus in bloom from Hovenweep National Monument, 05/1972 overlayed. Cactus flower is U.S. National Archives’ Local Identifier: 412-DA-2398C
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Circling Back: Return and Recursivity in Nature-Based Memoir

"All memory is a circling back to moments of earlier experience," writes Kayann Short as she evaluates the importance of return in ecobiography.
a field with trees in the distance overlaid on an image of waves crashing on the shore, so the water looks green and the field looks like wavesT
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Transparency in Journalism Through the “I”

Laura Jane Willoughby talks with author Ted Conover about what it means to be an immersion reporter.
A bright yellow sunset over a black horizon with colorful dots overlaid.T
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The Endurance of A Classic

"While this fear is nothing compared to experiencing war, I worry that the circumstances will change me completely, as they changed him." - a 17-year old Kazakh student reflects on All Quiet on the Western Front
the london skyline at night with a drawing overlaid: a triangle, a circle, a triangle with a square and star inside with the language that says "how it is" and a circle with a square and a star inside with the words "how it should be," and a key to the side that indicates the square means people and the star means objects.O
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Objects of Affection

"I can’t stop thinking about how objects hold me. How they alter the way I carry myself in a new room. Or hug me when surrounded by strangers."
a view of a lake in a valley with the tree in the foreground and overlaid is the alphabet in black and white lettersO
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Obscured Truth: A Review of Sheila Heti’s Alphabetical Diaries

An exercise in experimentation, Sheila Heti’s Alphabetical Diaries started as lines from the author’s diary, which she then entered into an Excel spreadsheet, alphabetized, and..
The photo is two red cherries hanging from a small branch, with the green leaves out of focus. Overlayed are a series of repeating Xes made of handwritten text.H
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How Many Rejections Does It Take To Get Published?

They said, “Ten percent of submissions get published.” I heard, “Nine out of every ten submissions gets rejected.” So, I decided I’d get one hundred..