Robin Garrison Leach

An essay urging Americans to call the holiday Independence Day, not just the Fourth of July, and to remember the freedoms and sacrifices the celebration represe...

JULY FOURTH SALE: ONLY 25¢ Independence Day has lost its name. In a moment of laziness or maybe just forgetfulness, many of us decided to take away the descriptive title and replace it with a calendar number.

Each July, a traveling carnival transforms a town park into a sensory world of rides, claw machines and hopeful nights in this nostalgic summer memoir.

On the opening night of the carnival, the town was hopping. Every car seemed to turn toward the park. Kids scurried down the sidewalks.

Regardless of the weather or time of day, when we had to go, we sprinted to the outhouse, which seemed to be at varying distances in proportion to our urgency.

I make my way toward the Room of Doom — the one with the mirror and bright fluorescent lights that capture every dimple and pucker and bulge.

I see another human, and I begin jiggling the bars with excited fists. I'm going to talk to this person, and I'm going to talk a lot.

SALE: ONLY 25¢ They arrive in late summer, lurking within paper bags and tattered cardboard boxes.

Aug. 13 marks International Left-Handers Day, honoring the challenges, adaptations and pride of the roughly 15% of people who are left-handed.

SALE: ONLY 25¢ Have you ever been homesick? Can you remember the hollow thumping in your chest, the jitter of anxious thoughts that dripped down your spine like ice melting?