An absolutely stunning collection of memoir essays. Gem after gem after gem. I was very engaged with all of the different ways Chee wrote about writing itself. In one of my favorite essays, "The Writing Life", Chee talks about taking a class from Annie Dillard at Wesleyan in 1989. I loved the specific pieces of advice and exercises he recounted- "never quote dialogue you can summarize" stuck out to me particularly strongly as a very good reminder for prose, but literally the opposite of what I feel makes a good comic script. He also describes an exercise of taking a pair of scissors to an essay, cutting out and saving only the best lines, watching the others fall to the floor. I think about this all the time- paring down my drafts to the bare minimum. I also loved all of the essays that centered around Chee's time living in San Francisco, during which he was a member of ACT UP. Further pieces include mediations on family and inheritance, gender, queerness, rose gardens, tarot cards, sexual assault and memory. I'm very curious now to go back and read some of his fiction work. I may also buy a copy of this book at some point so I can underline in it. Highly recommend.