Nicole Zhu

There are ways to see individual atoms and galaxies 13.5 billion light-years from Earth, but there is no microscope to see lonely people. Loneliness, distinct from isolation, has the same heightened mortality risks as smoking fifteen cigarettes a day. Former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declared it a public health “epidemic” in 2017 . . .

Julie Choffel

I was amazing
when I changed my own brake fluid
it reminded me of when I was poor
and had pride in all these survival skills
and thought I could do anything
when I knew how to dodge
fancy cheek kisses at parties
because no one really did that in my life . . .

J. M. Tyree, Folio Guest Editor

Celebrating film anniversaries always seems ephemeral, but when a film has been part of your life for three decades, there are good reasons to pause, rewind, review, and reassess both the film and your memories of it. You notice new things. The movie’s changed, you’ve changed, and the world has changed . . .

Cheswayo Mphanza

You know, at our closest point, we were just 0.01 cm apart from each other . . . I tell myself the same thing . . . Funny how distance is formulaic . . . It retreats me to my past . . . The endless list of the ones that got away . . . The American tourist who was waiting for me to give her a reason to abscond from America . . . The Tamil optometrist I danced salsa with . . .