{"product_id":"once-i-was-cool-personal-essays-9780810143920","title":"Once I Was Cool: Personal Essays","description":"\u003ci\u003eOnce I Was Cool\u003c\/i\u003e contrasts past aspirations with the mess and magic of the present. In her younger days, essayist Megan Stielstra saw Jane's Addiction at the Aragon Ballroom and fantasized about living on the same block, right in the thick of music and revelry. As an adult, she lives in a turreted condo across the street, with her husband, a child, and an onerous mortgage. It's just the home her young, cool self imagined. And it isn't what she expected, either. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e With conversational flourishes and on-the-mark descriptions, Stielstra's essays evoke the richness of her everyday life and the memories that are never far away. She remembers learning how to shoot a gun, a cancer scare, and--in a piece that was anthologized in \u003ci\u003eThe Best American Essays 2013\u003c\/i\u003e--the time she eavesdropped on another new mother using her son's baby monitor. \"I shouldn't have listened,\" she writes. \"But it was the first time since my son was born that I didn't feel alone.\" Combining footnotes, electric sentences, and uproariously funny anecdotes (have you ever run into an ex while rolling on ecstasy?), Stielstra shows us that maturity is demanding, but its rewards are a gift.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=AUTH-6273749\"\u003eMegan Stielstra\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Northwestern University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 08\/15\/2021\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 200\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.55lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.90h x 5.98w x 0.55d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780810143920\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0810143925\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBISAC Categories:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-BIO\"\u003eBiography \u0026amp; Autobiography\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-BIO026000\"\u003ePersonal Memoirs\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-BIO\"\u003eBiography \u0026amp; Autobiography\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-BIO007000\"\u003eLiterary Figures\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-FAM\"\u003eFamily \u0026amp; Relationships\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-FAM046000\"\u003eLife Stages | General\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMEGAN STIELSTRA\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of \u003ci\u003eThe Wrong Way to Save Your Life, \u003c\/i\u003e winner of the 2017 Book of the Year Award from the \u003ci\u003eChicago Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e, as well as \u003ci\u003eEveryone Remain Calm\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eOnce I Was Cool \u003c\/i\u003e(both reissued by Northwestern University Press). Her work has appeared in \u003ci\u003eThe Best American Essays 2013\u003c\/i\u003e, the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Believer\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003ePoets \u0026amp; Writers\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eLongreads\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eTin House\u003c\/i\u003e, and elsewhere. A longtime company member with 2nd Story, she has told stories for National Public Radio, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Goodman Theatre, and with \u003ci\u003eThe Paper Machete\u003c\/i\u003e live news magazine at the Green Mill. She teaches creative nonfiction at Northwestern University and is a mentor editor with the OpEd Project supporting women's voices in public discourse.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northwestern University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42698086580461,"sku":"9780810143920","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0550\/8097\/6621\/products\/img_67c6fa8b-904b-4dde-bde7-e864e3d92c4a.jpg?v=1649894817","url":"https:\/\/sureshotbooks.com\/products\/once-i-was-cool-personal-essays-9780810143920","provider":"SureShot Books Publishing LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}