Brave New Word

Michelle Riddell essays

Bravery, it seems, is as elusive as good taste: notable when it’s there, forgivable when it’s not. 

A Goodbye To HBO’s Girls

Michelle Riddell Girls

The success of Girls proved something we knew already: the lives of females are intrinsically and boundlessly interesting.

Circles of Girls, Fields of Boys

Michelle Riddell Boys

To the children, gender seemed like a social construct of the grown-up world, rooted in arbitrary semantics, and did not dictate social mores.

Farewell, My Lovey

Michelle Riddell Elementary School

But Lovey, she’s ten; it’s time to let her go. Everything she needs from you, she already has—except the will to leave you.