Published Jun. 19, 2026at9:00am<\/p>\n
No one said relationships were easy. But here in the city that invented free love, the dating app, gay marriage, orgasmic meditation, and OpenAI, don\u2019t the highs seem higher and the lows lower? We think so. And we want to hear all about it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hard Feelings is a new personal essay column launching this summer that will explore love, sex, dating, and mating in San Francisco. We seek true, Bay Area-based stories that speak to both the universal challenges of relationships, marriage and children as well as the more experimental aspects of partnering up at the edge of the continent \u2014 from sex parties in Soma to sperm banks in Berkeley to postponing divorce because of your astronomical rent. Please follow these guidelines to have your essay considered:<\/p>\n
We want first-person narratives of 1,000-1,300 words that have a beginning, middle, and end \u2014 not abstract thought pieces. Your essay can express a strong conclusion or opinion, as long as you tell us how you got there in detail. We want to know what happened to you.You may change people\u2019s first names to preserve their anonymity, but your byline must reflect your real name.\u00a0The events portrayed must be true, with no composite characters or scenes and no invented dialogue.\u00a0We will not accept essays previously published in full on any other media site or platform including Substack, Medium, blogs, or personal newsletters.\u00a0Do not submit any writing that has been created or modified by generative-AI tools. (Though we do want to hear about your AI boyfriends and girlfriends!)\u00a0<\/p>\n