Tamara MC

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Dr. Tamara MC is a memoirist, poet, and cultural critic whose work appears in The New York Times, Newsweek, SLATE,Salon, HuffPost, and 90+ publications. She is the 2025 Lowell Thomas Travel Journalist of the Year. She has two forthcoming books: Poetry for English Language Learning (University of New Mexico Press, 2...

BY TAMARA MC
Most people complain when stores put out Christmas decorations “too early.”
I live for it.
While I grew up not celebrating Christmas, in adulthood, I’ve created my own relationship with the holiday season:
I find magic in the stimming. Touching, smelling, seeing, and hearing the lights, music, and textures — from fall through New Year’s, I find my own joy through intentional pilgrimages.
Some big-box stores start displaying Christmas items in late summer, and I’m there the moment...

Julie Brill’s memoir Hidden in Plain Sight: A Family Memoir and the Untold Story of the Holocaust in Serbia explores a little-known chapter of Holocaust history while examining the challenges of motherhood across generations. The book documents the destruction of Belgrade’s Jewish community, where 90% of 10,000 Jews perished within 12 months of Nazi occupation.
Brill’s father, born in 1938, survived the Holocaust as a young child. His memories—of his father doing forced labor while living at ...

I remembered The Lip Bar from their infamous 2015 “Shark Tank” rejection—the moment Kevin O’Leary called founder Melissa Butler and her creative director “colorful cockroaches” and told them they’d never succeed. As someone who loves bright colors and wears lipstick—probably the only makeup item I’ve ever worn throughout my life—I’d been following the brand’s journey. When I found myself in Detroit a decade later, I knew I had to visit their flagship store, especially since my favorite color ...

BY TAMARA MC
One of the most memorable moments of Season 9 of Love Is Blind was the cabinet scene. It captured the attention of the internet, inspiring memes and provoking armchair diagnoses of autism.
But for me, the scene was something different — an expression of joy that made me feel seen.
Love Is Blind is a reality dating show where singles date in pods without seeing each other. If they fall in love, they propose sight unseen, then meet face-to-face and decide whether to get married. Se...

In 2010, after a 17-year marriage, my husband asked for a divorce, saying he couldn’t be married anymore.
We had two sons, 14 and 16, not quite two years apart, whom I had nursed over four years straight. My once-perky breasts weren’t the same after. Whose are? They weren’t terrible, just more deflated, like a helium balloon the day after a birthday party.
I used to joke with my husband that I was planning to have breast surgery when I finished nursing. We had laughed hysterically about my de...

I had come to Big Bend National Park, Texas, for the solitude, the sweeping desert views and the hope of spotting a black bear. It was a six-hour drive from El Paso airport, a journey through vast swathes of West Texas, where the open road stretched endlessly ahead.
By the time we got to the park, the sun was already starting to dip behind the rugged peaks of the Chisos Mountains. Eager to get in a hike before dark, we set off on the Lost Mine Trail, one of Big Bend’s most popular hikes.
The ...

Congratulations to CQR contributor Delia Pitts! Delia’s story “Swanetta’s Way” from CQR #40 is included in the Distinguished Mystery and Suspense of 2024 in Best American Mystery and Suspense 2025!
Congratulations to CQR contributors Terri Lewis and Kim Samek! Terri’s story “Alien” from CQR #39 and Kim’s story “Ex Manic Pixie vs. the Zombies” from CQR #39 are both included in the Distinguished Stories of 2024 in Best American Short Stories 2025!
Congratulations to CQR contributors Charles Ken...

It has huge fangs, is the size of a dinner plate, and liquidises its prey – meet the biggest spider on Earth
10 biggest spiders in the world: Discover gigantic, terrifying arachnids as big as dinner plates
How a giant, furry tarantula helped me overcome depression and anxiety — and why you should start loving these amazing arachnids too
tarantula
This metallic blue tarantula is the most beautiful spider in the world – and it's also one of the world's rarest
World's most venomous spiders: Are ...

The author after surgery in 2011.
Courtesy Of Tamara MC
In 2010, after a 17-year marriage, my husband asked for a divorce, saying he couldn’t be married anymore.
We had two sons, 14 and 16, not quite two years apart, whom I had nursed over four years straight. My once-perky breasts weren’t the same after. Whose are? They weren’t terrible, just more deflated, like a helium balloon the day after a birthday party.
I used to joke with my husband that I was planning to have breast surgery when I f...

Tia Levings’s powerful memoir, A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy, delivers a searing critique of patriarchal religious systems through the lens of her own harrowing journey. As a Gen X survivor of religious fundamentalism, Levings provides a revealing window into the oppressive structures of Christian patriarchy, offering both personal testimony and broader cultural commentary.
Levings, raised in a 20,000-member Baptist mega-church in Jacksonville, Florida, was recruite...

This summer, I am running a series of essays about Sinéad O’Connor to celebrate the publication of our book: Nothing Compares to You: What Sinéad O'Connor Means to Us. Our Westport Public Library event on Aug. 6 was incredible, including a panel with contributors Nalini Jones and Sharbari Ahmed as well as Beth Boquet singing “Last Day of Our Acquaintance” with David Schmidt on guitar. The question and answer period was beautiful, and included a question from a man that I keep thinking about: ...

Our toilet grew shadows that morning, breathing ammonia. The steward fed it bleach until it learned to swallow properly.
At 2:30 a.m. the sea counts minutes. He splits from our bed like cell division, returns with salt in his pores. We share a queen size ocean, legs evolving into separate species until I graft mine into his currents.
Formal night: the Russian photographer’s accent had fins. “You’re tall,” she said, her words swimming through air thick as water.
She spawned a stool from the ca...

Palms, Parties, and Pink Cotton Candy
Palm Springs sparkles with mid-century glamour, healing hot springs, and endless sunshine. Named for the natural hot springs of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, this desert oasis sits at the base of Mount San Jacinto, creating a unique microclimate that attracted Hollywood stars beginning in the 1920s. What started as a health resort for tuberculosis patients transformed into a playground for the rich and famous—a two-hour drive from Los Angele...

by Tamara MC
Twenty hours stretch between Tucson and Mazatlán, Mexico on a highway that never ends.
Hour one, 6 AM: inside the 1969 baby blue VW van, metal heats and expands as the dawn breaks pink over the Catalina Mountains. Saguaros cast long shadows across Interstate 19. My mother spends hours preparing the back for our journey—layering serapes, arranging pillows. She tucks the blankets around the edges with careful hands, smoothing their bright stripes. The rough wool scratches against m...