Laura Billings Coleman
creative content for the common good
Essays and Opinion
Unsentimental Education
Tiananmen Square wasn’t the touch point I was hoping for as an ESL tutor, but it was the start of long, maddening, and educational conversation with my most unsentimental tutee.
Motherhood Leaves Some Scars
Back in the days before five-point harnesses and tricycle crash helmets, my mom used to strap my little brother and me to her bike -- one in the basket, one on the fender -- and go for a ride with the neighbor ladies. This worked nicely until the day my brother could...
Weary o’ the Green
Because when it comes to stoking the ancestral fires, the Irish put most other immigrant groups to shame.
Recommended Reading
Beatlebone by Kevin Barry
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra
A Little History of the World by E. H. Gombrich
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
Vivid Faces: The Revolutionary Generation in Ireland, 1890-1923 by RF Foster
The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
The Tenth of December by George Saunders
Bio: Laura has been writing for national magazines, newspapers and new media since before it was called "content." A former columnist for the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Mademoiselle and Mpls/St. Paul, her reporting and reviews have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, Outside, Fast Company, SELF, Salon and many other publications.
Fun fact: Laura spent her formative years writing relationship advice in women’s magazines. Ask her anything. She’s here to help.