tagged ‘Testimony’

The Town Andover, Illinois, where I grew up, is a small farming town settled by the Swedish. Most of the people I knew were either a Larson, a Johnson, a Nelson, a Swenson, a Swanson, or a Thompson. My childhood home stood on a 2 ½ acre lot, right off the only road that can […]

There is a story about two sisters who became prostitutes in Egypt. Men fondled their breasts, caressed their bosoms, and poured all their lust out on them. They too lusted after their lovers, whose genitals, we are told, were like those of donkeys and whose emissions were like those of horses. The twins, Oholah and […]

“Nam myoh renge koh. Nam myoh renge kyo. Nam myoh renge kyo.” Six years ago, on an otherwise unremarkable Wednesday night, my dog began shaking out of control. He couldn’t stand upright, and his body became stiff and cold. I love my dog fiercely. I was heartbroken. I thought I had lost him. Looking for […]

When I was 10 years old, our next-door neighbor’s 21-year-old daughter held a traditional white wedding. The celebrations went on for a full week.. The wedding cards were handed out like candy. At the bottom of those white square cards, in black font, was text reading NO CHILDREN ALLOWED. I remember being distraught. I sulked […]

I am an Indo-Trinidadian woman who settled on Turtle Island in 1999 — more specifically, in Brampton, Ontario, in Canada. Despite an early unwavering religious conviction, my relationship with Hinduism, the religion of my childhood, remains complicated.  Way back when I first left Trinidad, it felt as if I had to hold on to those […]