New York Times - Modern Love

The New York Times column on Modern Love focuses on issues of life and love. They host a variety of different articles written by people of all ages on all sorts of subjects relating to love and relationships. They look for memoir-esque writings, something that the author has gone through themselves so they can pass on experiences and advice to others that might be going through similar things.

A recent contest asked college students to write about what love is like for them. They recieved over 1,200 essays from nearly 400 schools across 46 states and Puerto Rico. The essays addressed everything from love, to hooking-up, to dating and more. The winning essay is called Want to be my Boyfriend? Please Define. The essay, written by Marguerite Fields, talks about the noncommittal nature of most college relationships. It is a very intriguing article about how the definition of even boyfriend and girlfriend has changed and the different views held my many college age students.

Other articles include:

A Surrender, After Uneasy Peace by Jenny Williams. It is an essay about the life of an army wife whose husband is deployed to Afghanistan. She talks about the pain she feels when her husband is gone. In the end, he leaves the army and they move to the suburbs where they can build a life with their young kids.

Adoption Story: What My Life Might Have Been by Jaime Cone. I found this article very intriguing as I was adopted myself and I often wonder what my life would be like if I had not been adopted and kept by my biological mother. This article talks about how the author was adopted and how better off her life is since she was.

Exit Left, Wordlessly by Aimme Ball. This article talks about the authors boyfriend and how he left her on Christmas without saying a word. She speaks of her betrayal and how hurt she was by his sudden leaving.

Taking a Step Forward by Deborah Derrickson Kossmann. This is an article about how a young couple was experiencing problems in their marriage. They developed a creative way to keep their marriage alive: to take dance lessons! The story tells of how they worked out their problems with rhythm.

These essays were written to people who are married, in relationships, or just love to live life. It ranges in ages from 20-60 and covers every topic you can think of. Sex, love, life. Most articles are expected to be 1500-1700 words in length. They cannot be previously published articles, including blog posts and other places online. Their promise to respond to all admissions within four weeks. There is no deadline except for special contests, such as the college love contest.

Overall this was a very interesting site to peruse. I enjoyed reading about the articles about love and life because I think it is very important to learn a lot about both of those topics.

Over and out,
Felicia