2 Rules of Writing co-founders Adam and Erika have collected some of their favorite pieces here. You’ll find prose and poetry as you get to know the 2 Rules team and read about the things that move them the most.
“We need to make space for these tough talks so that every kid hears the facts… especially those kids whose families aren’t prepared to share. Speaking up is an act of love.”
“‘Don’t Say Gay’ legislation tells all our kids that straight lives, cisgender lives, are worth more than queer ones.”
Early in 2022, as the Florida legislature debated legislation that would severely restrict discussion of LGBTQ+ issues in classrooms, Erika used this two part series to explore the impact legislation like this has on all children and their families, LGBTQ+ or not.
“So much of ‘surviving’ is really learning to live with what’s different.”
Erika reflects on why it’s become important for her to change the language she uses when she talks about her own experience as a rape survivor.
“If I’ve learned anything this year it’s that there is a kind of hierarchy to living. It’s really hard to experience life fully when there is nobody to talk to.”
A reunion in London frames Adam‘s insight on love, grief, travel, and hope. This is the first in a series of six letters.
“Anyway, I don’t really believe that books are sufficiently conscious that they feel intruded-upon when I crack the spine and start prying into their personal affairs.”
Adam explores what happens when you revisit a favorite book. Has the book changed? Have you?
“I give space for joy, love and success, and for grief and mourning, loss and growth. I will wear my red ribbon until there is no longer a need to do it.”
As the HIV epidemic turns forty, Erika reflects on its impact in her own life, and its influence in her choices-both personal and professional.
“…we’re still waiting for love and waiting for summer.”
In this piece from Adam, he explores explores the impact great teachers have on students. We learn lessons about music, literary analysis and humanity in a sweet and sensitive elegy for a beloved music teacher.
“Don’t get me wrong, I like vanilla ice cream. I did then and I do now. But there was definitely an appeal in at least trying the chocolate side sometimes.”
Erika guides us through some of the different ways we think about what “bisexual” really means, using a tasty metaphor.
“People who complain about linguistic usage tend to do so as if civilization itself were eroding. As if it’s a ‘sign of the times’ that people from un-American places like Guam and Puerto Rico (see what I did there?) are mispronouncing English words.”
Adam asks the hard questions about correcting someone’s grammar. What are you really correcting?
“Poems, as I said earlier, are harder to share than other pieces of writing. Like peek-a-boo slits in clothing, they show pieces of me that might not otherwise be seen unless you’re someone who gets to see me naked.”
In spite of poetry being one of Erika‘s favorite things to write, it’s also one she finds hardest to share. In this article she shares both a poem and some insight to her writing process.
“Because interrupting a moment
To try to capture it
Might mean losing it.”
Through poetry, Adam captures the breathtaking emotion and beauty of a single moment, sharing love and loneliness in just a few words.