First Person - Vox

First Person

First Person

Vox's home for compelling, provocative narrative essays.

The Cambridge Analytica Facebook scandal

I was Zuckerberg’s speechwriter. “Companies over countries” was his early motto.

By Kate Losse

First Person

The brutal mirror: what the psychedelic drug ayahuasca showed me about my life

By Sean Illing

First Person

We’re journalists at a Sinclair news station. We’re pissed.

By Anonymous

First Person

The myths we teach children about Martin Luther King Jr., explained by an ’80s board game

By Jonathan Eig

First Person

I photograph trans and nonbinary kids. It’s made me rethink my own gender.

By Annie Tritt

States are starting to recognize a third gender. Here’s what that means for nonbinary youth.

By Annie Tritt April 2

Is a social network that doesn’t share user data possible?

By Christopher Shea March 27

“I hope you know that it’s not that we didn’t try”: a Columbine and Parkland survivor talk

By Vox First Person March 24

They survived the “first” school shooting at Columbine. They have feelings about Parkland.

By Vox First Person March 24

How Theranos hid its sketchiness from reporters — and helped keep the puff pieces coming

By Jenny Gold, Kaiser Health News March 22

How men are adjusting to the #MeToo era: “This is going to take a really long time”

By Robert L. Reece March 20

I’m a scholar of the “prosperity gospel.” It took cancer to show me I was in its grip.

By Kate Bowler March 12

“Embracing a child when they come out as transgender can be a matter of life and death”

By Hope Reese March 9

My husband pressured me into sex for years. #MeToo must include sexual assault in marriage.

By Anonymous March 8

Trans refugees fled to Greece for a better life. They found intolerance.

By Fahrinisa Campana and Demetrios Ioannou March 6

Why carrying a gun is an immoral act, according to Marilynne Robinson

By Eric Allen Been March 5

How the Afrofuturism behind Black Panther and Get Out combines social justice and sci-fi

By Hope Reese February 27

I was a young activist for LGBTQ Boy Scouts. Here’s my advice to Parkland students.

By Zach Wahls February 27

I’m a teacher. When parents told me I should carry a gun, I felt sick.

By De Elizabeth February 22

I’m a teenager. And I’m fed up with adults’ excuses for weak gun laws.

By Elizabeth Love February 21

I’m autistic. I just turned 36 — the average age when people like me die.

By Sarah Kurchak February 19

Streaming TV hijacked my brain — and almost derailed my life

By Mike Saewitz February 19

He was a Border Patrol agent. What he saw gave him nightmares.

By Hope Reese February 15

I lost my job at Carrier after President Trump promised to save it

By Quinton Franklin February 6

I thought I was one of the good guys. Then I read the Aziz Ansari story.

By Anonymous January 24

I’m a sexual consent educator. Here’s what’s missing in the Aziz Ansari conversation.

By Jaclyn Friedman January 19

It’s hard to keep a job with 2 autistic sons. A Medicaid work requirement would be disastrous.

By Trish Florence January 18

The problem with calling Harvey Weinstein ugly

By Suzannah Weiss January 5

I was a lobbyist for more than 6 years. I quit. My conscience couldn’t take it anymore.

By Jimmy Williams January 5

I thought “real” acting was for the young. Then I discovered a world of senior-citizen roles.

By Lee Gale Gruen January 2

My husband’s Orthodox Jewish family pressured us to call off our wedding

By Helaina Hovitz December 27

I'm Jewish. I shunned Christmas for 30 years. Then I met my fiancée.

By Zack Beauchamp December 22

Rediscovering my Judaism in the Trump era

By Britni de la Cretaz December 19

What I wish people understood about sexism and TV news

By Allison Yarrow December 18

The California fires were at my door. I had 20 minutes to pack. Here’s what I took.

By Sarah Doyel December 15

“Trust Black women” tells Black women you didn’t trust us before

By Dominique Matti December 14

Roy Moore and the confused identity of today’s “evangelical” voter

By Thomas S. Kidd December 13

I’m a grad student. Here’s how the GOP tax bill makes student loans even more expensive.

By Kristofer Holz December 11

Local TV news has a harassment problem — from people who watch the news

By Ellen Meny December 6

The utter failure of male apologies in 2017

By Anne T. Donahue December 5

I’m the professor who made Brock Turner the “textbook definition” of a rapist

By Callie Marie Rennison November 17

When the census recognized mixed-race people, I felt as if my country could finally see me

By E. Dolores Johnson November 16

I spent my 20s as an Obama speechwriter. Here’s what he taught me about growing up.

By David Litt November 15

I was harassed at the New Republic. I spoke up. Nothing happened.

By Sarah Wildman November 9

I was jailed for 9 days for driving while female in Saudi Arabia. Our activism worked.

By Manal al-Sharif November 9

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