Open Secrets

Home
Podcast
Notes
Stuff-ed
Relationships
LGBTQIA+
Grief
Mental Health
Physical Health
Parenting and Family
Work
Archive
Leaderboard
About
How To Be a Hero
The joy of appreciating (and auditioning for) TV commercials, especially ones that include allergy sufferer, frustrated mom, and woman who likes eating…
 • 
Katina Corrao
Why I Tore Up My Wedding Album
My photo albums had to be destroyed, but the stories they told continue to inform my life
 • 
Karen Paul
2
Finding Permission to Mourn 22 Years After 9/11
I lost a man I almost dated on Flight 93 and have been seeking closure ever since
 • 
Trisha Kostis
4
This Job Will Kill Me If I Let It
No one told me a work-life imbalance could make me sick
 • 
Katrina Jackson
2
The Lasting Legacy of Medical Trauma
Why I still can’t bring myself to get a pap smear
 • 
Gretchen Lida
1
New
Top
Community
Live Through This
How I learned there are no guilty pleasures and embraced my music identity
 • 
Leah Nagely Robbins
5
Beyond the Embargo: Keeping the BTS Book a Secret
It was the biggest translation project of my translator life, and I had to keep it under wraps
 • 
Anton Hur
2
Beware the Barbies and Other Plastic Playthings
When cherished childhood toys come with additional baggage
 • 
Jerry Portwood
The Last Time I Had a Best Friend I Was 11
Diann Leo-Omine on the growing pains of girl friendships
 • 
Diann Leo-Omine
10
The Catheter Lady
When an invisible illness feels like a gross, sad secret
 • 
Jordan Sara Kurtzman
3
An Ode to Old-Fashioned Letters
Author Joshunda Sanders on the pleasure and power of handwritten letters in the social media age.
 • 
Joshunda Sanders
5
Am I My Pen Name?
Writer Ben Goodwin on saying goodbye to his longtime pseudonym, Guy New York
 • 
Ben Goodwin
2
Some Of Us Just Got Here Sooner
Teresa Douglas writes about standing up for her Mexican-American identity and the place she calls home.
 • 
Teresa
3
I Was a Lesbian Lothario
Allison Hope discovers that she's not cut out for playing the field
 • 
Allison Hope
1
Open Secrets
Open Secrets
Open Secrets is an online magazine for memorable, revealing personal essays about all the subjects we're taught to keep "secret." Contact Editor Rachel Kramer Bussel at opensecretsmag at gmail.com
Recommendations
View all 13
Ijeoma Oluo: Behind the Book
Ijeoma Oluo: Behind the Book
Ijeoma Oluo
Rachel Kramer Bussel’s Newsletter
Rachel Kramer Bussel’s Newsletter
Rachel Kramer Bussel
the braid
the braid
Rebecca Woolf
P
Poor Man's Feast
Elissa Altman
Human Stuff from Lisa Olivera
Human Stuff from Lisa Olivera
Lisa Olivera
© 2023 Rachel Kramer Bussel
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start WritingGet the app
Substack is the home for great writing