Tiny Love Story Rejects
Suck It, New York Times
I’ve tried (many times) and failed (an equal number of times) to convince the New York Times that my Tiny Love Stories are fit to print. No matter. Wiser heads have prevailed at Nevertheless, Persisting and my stories are beginning to gain some traction! The editorial board here knows what’s up. ;-)
For those less obsessed with these stories than I, New York Times began its Tiny Love Stories series in 2018 as a miniature off-shoot of its regular Modern Love column. The stories in the series, all 100 words or fewer, span first love, last words, unforgettable hugs, unforgiveable kisses, unbelievable adventures, unimaginable meals, and everything in between. These stories have kept me from sinking into the abyss of Long COVID, the pandemic, the election, the insurrection, the never-ending police brutality against black and brown people, the irony of uniquely cruel immigration policies designed by a nation of immigrants themselves, the madness of forcing parenthood on people not prepared for or interested in the job, … we all know I could go on.
Rather than circle the drain of despair, writing my own Tiny Love Stories has helped remind me of the goodness that surrounds me. It has provided me the gift of recalling the soak-up-this-moment-because-one-day-this-memory-will-save-me memories I’ve banked from 50+ years of living. Writing a Tiny Love Story is like giving yourself an insta boost of oxytocin, no labor or delivery required.
My very first Tiny Love Story, so heartlessly rejected by the NYT, is an ode to my beloved adopted hometown in Maine. Now, I know that New Yorkers can be blind to the greatness of anything not-NYC so I understand the cards were stacked against me going in. And I imagine the rejection rate over at Tiny Love Stories, whatever the story’s topic, is incredibly high. But I can’t help but wonder - have any stories expressing affection for municipalities other than New York City been published there? Ever?
A good investigative journalist, which I am not, would comb through these archives and find out. An exhausted Long COVID survivor/sufferer, who writes Tiny Love Stories as a form of self-care, would pose the question, wonder, but never get around to answering it. Instead, she’d share her heartfelt ode to her favorite little city in Maine with you.
Destination: Bangor, Maine
Sometimes, you go where the job takes you. I shouldn’t complain about a move to Maine but here you’re “from away” if you’re from away. Yet stick it out and you’ll find home. Let it go when your boss sees you in your jammies at the store. Proctologist joined the book club? Who cares. I thought I was an urban girl, that the city held the key to my heart. But there’s anomie in anonymity. And the chill in “from away” melts if you let it. In its quirky bars and Derry fame, I found my heart in Bangor, Maine.
