Tamara MC

Honorary Citizen

Two complaints in twenty-eight months
and the building inspector says
the two-foot Jedi has to go inside.

But this is Tennessee's oldest town,
where the power lines run underground
so nothing spoils the 1700s view,
and 1,779 signatures say otherwise—
the same year the town was founded.

The candy shop owner wheels Yoda
into the Board of Mayor and Aldermen
meeting. Unanimous vote. Honorary citizen.

Nine hundred years old and finally
he belongs somewhere.

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Despite my personal PR campaign to be called Wolf in the seventh grade—which included writing the nickname on all assignments and notebooks—my efforts were met with ridicule and realpolitik. “You don’t get to make up your own nickname,” my classmates said. “That’s not how nicknames work.” They assigned me less-flattering ones instead.
The episode became just another in a long list of childhood embarrassments. Every so often, though, I’ll hear “Wolf” called out in a crowded place like an airpo...

And I was Muslim in every way/Muslim in dress
Muslim in walk /Muslim wearing socks
Muslim wearing shirts covering my bottom /Anyhow I was Muslim
Wanted to be /Told my father I wanted to be /I was named
Began praying kneeling prostrating bending bowing /Anyhow
I had a lover /Kissed a lover/He touched my breasts /lover/ /My wrists
Were covered/ /I had a lover tingling wandering
He loved me and I loved him and suddenly and thoroughly I was
Hiding in trees/ We married at twelve I was Muslim /It w...

In Tucson, a vanished Mormon farming community lives on in a 1936 feed store that has outlasted the farms, the ranches, and the river that made them possible.
The cool air catches me the moment I step through the back door of OK Feed & Pet Supply — a sign on the gate reads ENTRANCE IN BACK. Hay is still stacked in the yard outside, the way it was when my parents first brought me here in the early 1980s. My dad used to load Tasha, our Weimaraner, into the back seat, her ears flapping out the w...

Every January, millions of kites take to the sky over India, dancing and diving in a colorful competition that lasts from dawn until well after dark. In October, 1,500 sheep parade through an Idaho mountain town, bells ringing as ranchers on horseback guide them down Main Street. Finland crowns a world champion for air guitar, where performers shred on instruments that exist only in their imaginations. Deep in the Louisiana bayou, a festival celebrates the Rougarou, the Cajun swamp werewolf, ...

I wish I could say I collect milk glass, but I don’t. I’m the keeper of someone else’s collection—a dead woman’s life work that I rescued from an estate sale almost twenty years ago.
The Blue Woman, as I think of her, lived in a house completely immersed in blue: blue carpet, blue couch, blue curtains. But it was her milk glass that caught my attention—hundreds of white pieces scattered throughout her home, filling a large area with shelves upon shelves. I’d never seen milk glass before that ...

Cycling every day is a great cardio activity for improving your heart health while keeping your bones free from heavy impact. It can be a challenge for the heart and light relief for your joints. The fresh air is another plus, as is the freedom it can offer you. I should know, I've been cycling every day for the last five years, come rain or shine.
I first remember learning to ride a bike properly when I was four, ditching my stabilisers and rolling down the road. I rode my bike for pleasure ...

Welcome to another edition of The Body, Brain, & Books. If you enjoy reading these quick, insightful interviews brimming with wisdom and hope, please become a subscriber!
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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...