Tents, Chores, and T-Shirts

Readers Write is a feature in The Sun where readers share their personal writing on a given topic—a unique fixture of the magazine since the section’s inception in 1978. Send us your true story on an upcoming topic, and if we publish it you’ll receive a complimentary one-year subscription.

Not sure what to write? See below for some prompts to spark an idea. Writing style isn’t as important as thoughtfulness and sincerity, and topics are intentionally broad to give room for expression and interpretation.

Tents
Due August 1
The musty waxed-canvas ones at summer camp. The lightweight tech-y sort you pack in when you’re mountaineering. The big white ones you string with café lights and flowers for a wedding reception. Leaky ones, the ones with a circus inside, the kind with a raccoon sniffing around outside the door, the kind where you can take the rain fly off and see a giant sky hung with stars. Pitch us your true stories about tents by August 1.

Chores
Due September 1
Did you—or your kids—grow up helping out around the house, the farm, or a family business? Do you dread cleaning day, or is it your form of meditation? Do you secretly love to file your taxes? Maybe the real chore for you isn’t vacuuming or laundry, but social obligations or keeping up with the news. Dust off your true stories about chores and send them to us by September 1.

T-Shirts
Due October 1
Remember that free one from summer camp that was more comfortable than any shirt you’ve owned since? Or the overpriced tie-dye you bought in the parking lot after the concert? Maybe you inherited your mom’s. Maybe your kids are now wearing your old favorites—and getting compliments on something so retro. Send us your true story about T-shirts by October 1, and we’ll see how well it fits.