Kin Are the People Who Still Pick Up the Phone: An Essay on the Social Constructions of Family, Kin, and Self

In this short creative nonfiction piece, author Casey Anne Brimmer discusses their understanding of kinship as a matter of chosen family that relies on covenants—spoken and unspoken—to built kinship ties. Here, the author speaks to their experience of being isolated from kin by circumstances and how, to them, kin are the people who pick up the phone even after years of not talking to one another.