Category: Best of Proximity

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The Secret to Everything

[First Runner-Up 2018 Proximity Essay Prize] Here in the last slip of rural country near Raleigh, I drive slowly down a gravel road, unsure if I’m going in the right direction. The road gradually becomes dirt: two tire ruts divided by a hump of grass. Sparse rows of pine trees line both sides of the narrow road. I’m a social worker, and I’m making an early morning visit, a new referral to start the day. This one a possible suicide case—I hate suicide cases.
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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. 
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Portraits

"The paintings in this series are meant to challenge the way we view people of color. These paintings are part of an ongoing series that also attempts to address, in a forward-thinking way, the lack of representation of African Americans on gallery walls," explains artist Jeremy Okai Davis.
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Abidjan Zoo: A War Story

Photojournalst Michaël Zumstein stepped inside the Abidjan Zoo while the Ivory Coast was at war. This is his dispatch.
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Already We are Less Than Ever Before

A lyric essay by Alison Powell, selected by Judge Hanif Adurraqib as winner of Proximity’s 2nd Personal Essay Prize.
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Split Down the Middle

In this audio essay, Sarah P. Reynolds explores one teenager’s painful secret, and how sharing that secret became a form of activism. “Split Down the Middle” is an original work produced for Proximity‘s BORDERS issue.