I’m excited to have a new Story of mine, “How Does a Person Become a Nun? A Practical Guide”, available at Electric Literature. Here’s a brief excerpt, and you can read the whole story online here.

There is a process to these things, phases to the journey that you’ll be expected to pass through.

Period of Inquiry

Start young. When you’re walking with your mother down the streets of Boston, clinging to her hand, stare at a gaggle of nuns going by, the arresting flutter of their habits, the graceful uniformity of them. Point. “What are they?” They look like the swans that live in the Public Garden, moving in one honking crowd along the bank, an ungainly grace in their steps. “They’re sisters,” your mother will say. You’ve always wanted a sister. Cry without understanding why.