Cackles and murmurs ululate between us. On the Internet, we collect insults about each other like cans for doomsday, but here, from our respective corners of the tent, we break bread.

Redeem us, the gesture begs to the algorithm that will tag our faces. We hardly mean what we share!

Catherine J. Dorian’s stories and essays have been featured in The Milk House, Adirondack Life Magazine, and The 2026 Best in Rural Writing Anthology. She was shortlisted for the 94th Annual Writer’s Digest Contest for Memoir / Personal Essay and longlisted for the 2026 Ploughshares Emerging Writers’ Contest. She lives with her husband in central Massachusetts, where she teaches high school.