Dear Megaphone, A couple of my friends are in open relationships, poly, monogamish — whatever they want to call it. My girlfriend has been hinting about it for a while, and I kind of figured she was eventually going to pop the question about seeing other people. So she did Read More…
Once upon a time, a group of mean-spirited kids elected their whipping girl prom queen to humiliate her in public. This has happened a few times in fictional American history, but only Carrie White got the revenge every bullied kid dreamed about. This tale of horror, ostracism and coming of Read More…
A few weeks ago, American author Joyce Carol Oates mused on Twitter how fascinating it was that alumni always lament the falling standards at their alma mater after they have graduated but never while they were in attendance. If this is the case, then homecoming is a charged time. It Read More…
Usually I can’t wait for guys like Tom Clancy to die. I saw the news of his death on Twitter, the modern equivalent of the doleful ringing of church bells, and I was surprised at what I felt. I mourn Tom Clancy the writer, not the man. One of the Read More…
Got questions? Crazy questions, weird questions, questions you can’t ask anyone else? Ask anonymously, but remember your question will be answered through a megaphone. Hey Megaphone, This doesn’t happen that often, but when it does, it makes me feel crazy. Sometimes I dream that my boyfriend did something, but I’m Read More…
Whoever said that the pen is mightier than the sword must have had a fight with a writer. For who can insult more sharply, who can cut deeper, who can slash an opponent to the bone like a writer, who has sharpened the tool of words throughout her whole career. Read More…
“Doctor Sleep” is Stephen King’s sequel to the work that brought us REDRUM by the bucketful. Little Danny Torrance is all grown up, but the monsters of his childhood have not gone away. Read More…
Brunch is the ultimate expression of leisure: You don’t get up early, and you don’t cook it yourself. All you have to do is put on your sunglasses and show up at some lovely place at a golden late-morning hour, and brunch will come to you. With or without alcohol, Read More…
Poet and UC Berkeley alumna Alicia Zakon, even on the eve of publication, admits embarrassment is still the strongest emotion she has toward her own verse. It is very probable that readers will feel the same way. Read More…
The story of Salome is anything but simple. It’s biblical and apocryphal, and great writers like Gustave Flaubert and Oscar Wilde have tried to pin it down into a story of sex or scandal or both. Playwright Brooke Silva takes this New Testament story and makes it into something modern Read More…