Khalid with his brother Mohamed
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Khalid
Alex Kotlowitz
‘Early one morning in July 2003 I was woken by a phone call from a young man who I’d known since he was twelve.’
Mark Up: On punctuation and grammar
Lol I’m trying to tell you how it feels for me
‘“lol” is a way of asking for something – attention, reassurance, care or even love – while pretending not to ask for anything.’
Harriet Armstrong on what we really mean when we punctuate our text messages with ‘lol’.
Today Is My Birthday
‘“To gift” is no gift to me.’
Christian Lorentzen on transitive verbs.
Breaking Point
‘Some line breaks coincide with the end of a sentence or phrase; others don’t.’
Maggie Millner on pauses, silences and choosing where to end the line.
X
‘The x was only really a kiss in context. It was a kiss depending on who sent it, and when. Otherwise it was affection, friendliness, and disguised aggression.’
Akshi Singh on language, letters, and when to leave a kiss.
Going Underground with Alice Notley
‘This is language interrogating itself.’
Will Harris on Alice Notley’s ‘wrong’ quotation marks.
