Things have been rather tense around here lately. Rene (a nickname for my wife, Irene) received a letter from that old friend of hers. God, what was her name? The one who disappeared from their childhood neighborhood, after some family member died…Clare was it? Yes, Clare Bellow, she’s married to that fellow John Bellow. I think Irene… View More

Between Brian and Clare, I am at my wit’s end! Clare keeps contacting me and I just don’t want to see her. I am so ashamed of what she has become. People belong to certain groups, and Clare is living a lie. I don’t like lies, I like things orderly and people to act who… View More

My name is Mary Rennels, and “I can’t say whether I’d ‘pass’ or not.” (85) I have just finished writing my review of the novel “Passing” by Nella Larsen for The New York Telegram. And I am confused and angry. I would have so much more to say about this novel, but as a professional… View More

I don’t know how much ‘Rene wants to see me. I think she might think of me as a traitor, the way I went and turned my back on her and everything connected with my past life. I had to make my own way. It wasn’t easy for me, growing up with my father’s drunkenness… View More

I want her out of my life! She brings me down and makes me question my own value. I am so sick of Clare Kendry. Her beauty and her charm are just obnoxious jabs at me, yet why can’t I stay this mad at her when I see her in person? When that happens I… View More

I feel more and more distanced from John. Ever since I saw ‘Rene in Chicago, well, I just don’t feel the same. I miss my people. Now who would have ever imagined me saying that! When I saw ‘Rene I told her that the money makes it worth it. But sometimes, despite all the comfort… View More

They say to write the books you want to read; they say to write what you know; well I did and now I don’t seem to be left alone about it. Of course “Passing” discusses the issue of its namesake, the pressures that come from bi- or multi-racial existence. This is of course something that… View More

Clare’s been secretive lately – mooning around, daydreaming all the time. Yesterday at breakfast I told her all about the big deal I just made, which she ought to care about because that’s what keeps her in furs. But she hardly answered. The least she could do is pretend, right? But I can’t blame her…. View More

I wrote Rene a long letter (Rene is Irene, my closest childhood friend. I stopped seeing her when I got married because she stayed in a world I left behind). I told Irene I am lonely, so lonely … and that I cannot help longing to be with her again, as I have never longed… View More