By: Kevin Obsatz

I had to promise not to “use them on anyone.”

By: Allegra Huston

Over the left breast it reads “’79, Legs”: my nickname and the year I became a member of Skataway.

By: PROJECT:OBJECT

Kicking off a series of 25 true stories about objects that evoke vanished eras.

By: Bishakh Som

“Some days just going out, being in public, feels like a battle.”

By: David Hajdu

“Yes, I know wearing pince-nez makes me come off as pretentious.”

By: Davy Rothbart

“Dude,” he said to me, “You can’t walk around everywhere holding your pants up.”

By: James Gaddy

“Maybe it’s that clicky sound, which can give just about any task a metronomic rhythm.”

By: Hillary Chute

“My pocket knife tumbled out of my pants pocket and fell into the toilet and was immediately swept away .”

By: Kristin Parker

“Then she took the steel bracelet off her tiny wrist and fitted it onto mine.”

By: Anne Quito

“I imagined the earrings as a kind of heirloom from a fabulous ancient ancestor.”

By: Nicola Twilley

“I started flashing my teeth like a cheerleader in a yearbook headshot.”

By: Adam McGovern

“What really turned me into a princess were the bronze-to-cream-fade plastic alligator shoes.”

By: Mark Frauenfelder

“The second I saw the Clark Kent eyeglasses he was wearing I knew…”

By: Jennifer Howze

“They made me feel sexy and independent, like I had been before marriage.”

By: Deb Chachra

“Clothing is often referred to as metaphorical armor; this armor is entirely literal.”