Hestia in Kansas

“I have never kidded myself about Kansas,” writes Luke Babb. “There are parts of it I love, sure, in the way any kid loves the home where they grew up. But I was not yet out of high school before I knew that I was never going to come back.”

Aphrodite Symmachia

“I am all of the parts of love,” she said. “Those parts will be there, whether or not you know me. I am the heartbreak, the rush of falling, the work of maintaining. Hurting does not mean I have turned my back on you, child.”

Apricity

“I hit my knees there, too, awed and overwhelmed at the sheer amount of power as I was regarded by the god of the sun,” writes Luke Babb of their relationship with Apollo. “So this is what it’s like to have a god flex at you.”

Step Son

“For the first time,” writes Luke Babb on their experiences interacting with a divine child, “I’m starting to understand the benefit of getting to know kids – and I’m realizing how thoroughly they’re locked out of community.”