Narratively – Outsiders Week – December 31, 2014 “MAIL CONTAINS DRUG, YOUNG WOMEN SEIZED” reads an August 22, 1969 headline in the Milwaukee Journal. Below, in grainy black and white, floats Meridy Domnitz’s mug shot. At twenty, my mother looks more pathetic than criminal. Her frizzy hair has gone renegade from a sideways ponytail and…

I’m thrilled to have an essay in the gorgeous “Winter Reading” issue of Tin House,  the sharpest journal in the west. This issue includes new work by the legendary  Ursula K. Le Guin, Joy Williams, and Josh Weil, among other fine writers. I could  not be more pleased. I encourage you to pick up Tin House at your…

My essay about children in immigration court is live this morning, featuring original illustrations by artist Chris Koehler. BY ALIA VOLZ October 19th, 2014 The courtroom smells of talcum powder. On this afternoon’s docket, we have thirty-four children. Thirty-four out of 35,000 or 57,000 or 90,000 kids who have crossed our borders without permission since…