Beth Boyle Machlan

Profile Photo

Beth Boyle Machlan is a writer and teacher who lives in Brooklyn. She's working on a book of essays about real estate, identity, and desire. Her essays have appeared on Avidly, River Teeth, Guernica, The Rumpus, The Awl, and the New York Times. She yells about writing, teaching, her pets, and hockey at @bethmachlan.

Stories

Cover Photo: A sepia photograph of a brochure depicting a large family home that says "Distinguished brick Georgian Colonial, Pelham Manor, New York."
What If We Dreamed of Shared Support Instead of Private Space?

It really was the house to end all houses: impossibly big, impossibly beautiful, and, ultimately, just impossible.

Cover Photo: A photograph of a sign in a front yard in front of a green bush. The sign says, in bold white all-caps text on a red background, "Wear a damn mask."
In This House We Believe

I don’t believe that signs are enough, because the claims of the house are empty without the actions of the people in them.

Cover Photo: A photograph of a big white clapboard house inside a white frame. The frame is lying on slats of wood, painted white, with a small leaf on the wood next to the frame.
Buying a Starter Home at the End of the World

I knew there was nothing natural about my homeownership. I had merely found a lucky loophole in the midst of tremendous misfortune.

Cover Photo: A photograph of a row of brownstone houses in Brooklyn, New York.
To All the Brooklyn Brownstones I’ve Loved Before

The brownstone stood for everything I wanted: solidity and urbanity, possibility and permanence. I could see it, stand inside it, even sleep there. But it wasn’t mine.