I mourn for the kind of dad I didn't have; I rue my first broken family while taking joy in the one… — Rumaan Alam Copy Share Image
The culture looms much larger than you do as a parent, and one can hardly rely on the culture to impart the… — Rumaan Alam Culture Copy Share Image
I didn't know, at 22, that everything that happens to you, the good stuff as well as the less-good stuff, accrues and… — Rumaan Alam Copy Share Image
Every sense has the power to transport us through time, but it's taste I find the most mysterious, and writing about it… — Rumaan Alam Copy Share Image
If you've ever watched a television cartoon, you know that kids don't appreciate subtlety, though perhaps that's because they're not often offered… — Rumaan Alam Copy Share Image
If writing really is empathy, then understanding your place in society might actually help you achieve it. — Rumaan Alam Empathy Copy Share Image
Children's picture books are a unique record of social evolution: in gender roles and racial politics, as is much discussed, but also… — Rumaan Alam Books Copy Share Image
That a friendship ends doesn't mean it was weak from the outset; that it ends says nothing about its importance. — Rumaan Alam Friend Copy Share Image
I've spent many hours of my life browsing in stores. At 21, I admired clothes I couldn't afford. At 30, I bought… — Rumaan Alam Beautiful Copy Share Image
Lindsay Hatton's novel 'Monterey Bay' so beautifully evokes the landscape of the titular locale, you'll feel transported to Northern California even if… — Rumaan Alam California Copy Share Image
I married the man I love when the state of California said I could. We made a family through adoption, as New… — Rumaan Alam Adoption Copy Share Image
When you are what we call a 'minority writer,' a writer of color, a writer of any kind of difference, there is… — Rumaan Alam Copy Share Image
To be five years old is to be surprised by life. I'm amused by my children's awe at quotidian things - a… — Rumaan Alam Art Copy Share Image
I don't want the staggeringly wealthy Elton John and his family to represent the standard of gay fatherhood any more than straight… — Rumaan Alam Beautiful Copy Share Image
Because the designers at Baby Gap and Crew Cuts have determined it would be cute if kids dressed like their dads, seemingly… — Rumaan Alam Copy Share Image
Kids are the ultimate trump card: a way to get out of co-op board meetings or lunch with a friend you don't… — Rumaan Alam Copy Share Image
Children's books deal in idealized worlds, so they're a document of how our notion of ideal worlds has changed over time. — Rumaan Alam Books Copy Share Image
Shot glasses make me think of youth and a mode of drinking and living that was never mine, even when I was… — Rumaan Alam Age Copy Share Image
For a long time, I thought that I was an enlightened parent by virtue of being an enlightened person. What a fool. — Rumaan Alam Enlightened Copy Share Image
I work when I'm alone, but I have children and a family and a job, so alone time is at a premium. — Rumaan Alam Alone 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
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 Copy Share Image
I am a binge reader, with a tendency to throw myself at a writer, immerse myself in their work. — Rumaan Alam 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
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
There are probably some readers who don't want a great American writer to acknowledge that cleaning out the bottom drawer of the… — Rumaan Alam 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 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
It comforts the adult conscience to remember that, amid history's grave injustices, there were still great lives. — Rumaan Alam Conscience Copy Share Image
Truly smart people and truly smart dressers share one thing in common: They make it look easy. — Rumaan Alam 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 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 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
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
Shopping for clothes is time consuming, it's tiring, and it can feel like a waste of an autumn afternoon. — Rumaan Alam 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 Copy Share Image
Children are weird. I was going to say 'most children,' but I think this a rare universal law. — Rumaan Alam Children Copy Share Image
Fashion has underscored the interchangeability of men for a long time, maybe from the outset. — Rumaan Alam Fashion Copy Share Image
The cultural conversation around privilege has grown vibrant enough that the ultimate privilege is to just ignore it altogether. Some decry this… — Rumaan Alam Communication Copy Share Image
“One of her most reached-for truisms was that some percentage of jobs were indistinguishable from one another, as they all involved the… — Rumaan Alam Copy Share Image
