Mother Tongue Issue 7

In this issue we confront the surreal confusion of the present, the friendly ghosts of the past and the utter unknown of the near future. We reminisce about arty orgies with Hillary Kelly and we follow the signs to a Spiritualist epicenter on an occult road trip with Janet Manley. "Nightbitch" author Rachel Yoder thinks about time: its passing, its limitations, its inevitability; and Suleika Jaouad and her mother, Anne Francey, dive headfirst into mortality, maternity, and the perils of doing drugs (not the fun ones) in the bathroom. Art critic Jori Finkel offers notes on cultivating an out of body perspective—with help from land art icon Lita Albuquerque—and Jennifer Romolini lets us in on her double life (and why solo travel makes her horny). Rachel Sklar profiles the inexhaustible Jessica Valenti, whose pro-choice crusade aims to save America from itself. And we head to DC before the election to find humanity in the digital abyss with counterrorism expert and Moonshot founder Vidhya Ramalingam. If that was