Compulsions

What can you not not do, even when you’d like to stop?

Book Reader

Posted to Compulsions on 27 July 2008, with 3 comments so far.

by Maureen—Age 23—New Haven, CT Five weeks into my third semester at my second attempt at college, I padded down three flights of stairs on a Sunday morning in my slippers and PJs. In one hand I carried a coffee press, full and hot, as well as a coffee mug with a carton of half-and-half [...]

Folding Corners

Posted to Compulsions on 27 April 2008, with no comments so far.

by Shya—Age 30—New York City I do this thing my friends call “folding corners.” I didn’t name it. It’s when I take a piece of fabric, usually the edge of a sleeve or that lovely little stitching right where a zipper is sewn on to the coat, or maybe even, OK, I’ll take the tip [...]

She

Posted to Compulsions on 5 December 2006, with 2 comments so far.

by Sara — Age 86 — Cornwall, CT My mother-in-law, a short, wiry bundle of energy with prematurely gray hair, was obsessed with cleanliness. When I sponge-wiped the kitchen table Sadie donned rubber gloves and followed after me, spraying the table with Fantastick and wiping it again with a cloth. I have to admit that [...]

I

Posted to Compulsions on 1 December 2006, with no comments so far.

by Kyle — Age 27 — Brooklyn, NY The face of the pubescent boy changes fast. Previously oblivious that I materially existed, I was alerted in Jr. High by my peers that I was in possession of a large nose. A huge fuckin’ schnoz? A beak? Wasn’t there before. A kid, I was 12, a [...]