How It Feels to Be Free

By Barbara Phillips

In 2018, I realized after reading Kiese Laymon’s Heavy, a universally lauded memoir, that my writing came from paddling around in honesty’s shallow waters.

As a novice writer of memoir, the essays I’ve written reflect the standard line, “write what you know.” Meanwhile, Kiese’s writing came from the terrifying deep end of the emotional honesty pool, and I just about quit in despair of having the courage to get there.

Kiese introduces Heavy with direct address to h...