Checking your phone during dinner is no less rude than reading 'People' during dinner, which I once saw a woman do at… — Rumaan Alam Blue Copy Share Image
Usually, when you see clothes on a model, by some transitive property, that garment is imbued with her beauty. — Rumaan Alam Beauty Copy Share Image
I have a theory that because my kitchen is small, you can't preheat an oven and deal with dough at the same… — Rumaan Alam Bad Copy Share Image
That's part of fashion's promise: that a girlfriend or boyfriend or a promotion are just one tie or sweater or pair of… — Rumaan Alam Fashion Copy Share Image
By a considerable margin, my family's largest-ever financial expenditure was the adoption of our two sons. — Rumaan Alam Family Copy Share Image
Men's fashion's tendency toward uniformity promises little fun, but at least it offers this: If I wear sweatpants and sneakers, I can… — Rumaan Alam American Copy Share Image
It comforts the adult conscience to remember that, amid history's grave injustices, there were still great lives. — Rumaan Alam Conscience Copy Share Image
The person most qualified to tell the tale of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the man himself, as gifted an intellect as he is… — Rumaan Alam Athlete Copy Share Image
When we had our first son, four different people gave us the same present: a copy of Ezra Jack Keats' 'The Snowy… — Rumaan Alam Day Copy Share Image
I always like it when writers posit writing as an act of empathy. It's such a grand turn of phrase, such a… — Rumaan Alam Art Copy Share Image
I didn't know, at 22, that regret is useless. If I could go back and change something - give myself some big… — Rumaan Alam Big break Copy Share Image
Years ago, I worked at a fashion magazine. I was the lowest man on the totem pole, one of the only men… — Rumaan Alam Brother Copy Share Image
Writing takes gall. I like to think that's true even for writers with several books under their belt, writers who have been… — Rumaan Alam Books Copy Share Image
This tension between ambition and parenthood, that's not a reckoning that many men face. There are plenty of men who say, 'Oh,… — Rumaan Alam Ambition Copy Share Image
I think that in the cultural imagination, motherhood has a primacy that fatherhood just doesn't; and that's not to say that there… — Rumaan Alam Fatherhood Copy Share Image
Parenting advice is mostly useless because every family is uniquely its own; artistic advice is mostly useless because every artist works in… — Rumaan Alam Advice Copy Share Image
Genre is a useful thing when organizing texts in a bookshop but immaterial to the particular exchange between writer and reader. — Rumaan Alam Between Copy Share Image
If you can't empathize with other people, then you will never really be able to write well about them. — Rumaan Alam About Copy Share Image
Everyone on Twitter - everyone on the Internet - seems so damn certain. Brevity doesn't allow for nuance, and it's a nice… — Rumaan Alam Brevity Copy Share Image
It is true for my family and many others: Adoption has made us infinitely richer in the ways that matter most. — Rumaan Alam Adoption Copy Share Image
When I look at the list of my favorite works, writers who are women do tend to outnumber writers who are men… — Rumaan Alam Look Copy Share Image
Children's literature - the product of adult guesswork - often fails to account for its audience's slippery grasp on the world. — Rumaan Alam Audience Copy Share Image
Parenting is love, sure, but it's as much about receiving love as it is giving it. Parenthood is a kind of vanity. — Rumaan Alam About Copy Share Image
Summer is meant to be for travel, for exploration, for leisure, but sometimes budgets and schedules dictate otherwise. — Rumaan Alam Exploration Copy Share Image
Wishing there were more children's books like 'The Snowy Day' is a bit like wishing there were more grownup books like 'Anna… — Rumaan Alam Books Copy Share Image
I know I've had a charmed experience of being a parent, with healthy kids, a helpful partner, access to good day care,… — Rumaan Alam Day Copy Share Image
History is a story like any other, but black history is a story so devoid of logic that it frustrates the young… — Rumaan Alam Black history Copy Share Image
Instead of a passion for the Yankees or fly-fishing or birding, I want to pass on to my sons a love of… — Rumaan Alam Art Copy Share Image
It's my own personal hang-up, but I find adults who are picky eaters to be the worst. I don't mean food allergies… — Rumaan Alam Dinner party Copy Share Image
I'm a square. I always wanted the standard-issue American dream: beautiful home, loving husband, couple of kids. I met another square, and… — Rumaan Alam American dream Copy Share Image
One of the many American ideals that make no sense at all is that we're all a million rugged individualists marching in… — Rumaan Alam American Copy Share Image
When my husband and I first became parents, we joked that our chubby baby was destined to grow into an Alex P.… — Rumaan Alam Brooklyn Copy Share Image
Among this country's enduring myths is that success is virtuous, while the wealth by which we measure success is incidental. We tell… — Rumaan Alam Happiness Copy Share Image
When you are young, it's deeply annoying to be told that certain things are a condition of your youth. There's almost always… — Rumaan Alam Age Copy Share Image
I grew up in the D.C. suburbs, and what I like about that place is that there's not a strong regional affect… — Rumaan Alam City Copy Share Image
I do think that I have a sensitivity to the depictions of maybe all minorities in literature. And I think that the… — Rumaan Alam American Copy Share Image
