What's endlessly complicated in thinking about women's gymnastics is the way that vulnerability and power are threaded through the sport. Meghan O'Rourke complicateendlesslygymnastic Change image and share on social
When my mother was sick, I found myself needing to put down in my journals all sorts of things - to try to understand them, and, I think, to try to remember them. Meghan O'Rourke findjournalmother Change image and share on social
Grief is a bad moon, a sleeper wave. It's like having an inner combatant, a saboteur who, at the slightest change in the sunlight, or at the first notes of a jingle for a dog food commercial, will flick the memory switch, bringing tears to your eyes. Meghan O'Rourke badbringchange share on social
Like my mother before me, I have always been a good speller. Meghan O'Rourke goodmotherspeller Change image and share on social
I'm not much like my mother; that role falls to my brothers, who have more of her blithe and freewheeling spirit. Meghan O'Rourke blithebrotherfall Change image and share on social
And after my mother's death I became more open to and empathetic about other people's struggles and losses. Meghan O'Rourke deathempatheticloss Change image and share on social
I am the indoctrinated child of two lapsed Irish Catholics. Which is to say: I am not religious. Meghan O'Rourke catholicchildindoctrinate Change image and share on social
To mourn is to wonder at the strangeness that grief is not written all over your face in bruised hieroglyphics. And it's also to feel, quite powerfully, that you're not allowed to descend into the deepest fathom of your grief - that to do so would be taboo somehow. Meghan O'Rourke allowbruisedeep share on social
Writing has always been the primary way I make sense of the world. Meghan O'Rourke makeprimarysense Change image and share on social
One of the ideas I've clung to most of my life is that if I just try hard enough it will work out. Meghan O'Rourke clinghardhave Change image and share on social
