Laura Bernstein-Machlay

Laura Bernstein-Machlay teaches literature and creative writing at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit. Her work has appeared in the Michigan Quarterly Review, The Georgia Review, Poetry Northwest, and the Alaska Quarterly Review. She is the author of Travelers, a collection of essays.

Bad Jew

Reckoning with a heritage as painfully distant as it is impossible to lose

by Laura Bernstein-Machlay | Thursday, September 22, 2022

The Dinner Party

Certain things shouldn’t be brought up at the dinner table, but in our fraught time, that’s nearly impossible

by Laura Bernstein-Machlay | Thursday, May 26, 2022

Why the Egg Matters

A meditation on remembrance, family, and time

by Laura Bernstein-Machlay | Monday, March 02, 2020

Wild Turkey Afternoon

A moment from a week in self-isolation

by Laura Bernstein-Machlay | Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Present Tense

Even in this interminable drugstore line, my daughter’s last summer before college is slipping by far too quickly

by Laura Bernstein-Machlay | Tuesday, September 04, 2018

Urban Wild

In slowly gentrifying Detroit, you might see a fox, or even a coyote, but where have all the stray dogs gone?

by Laura Bernstein-Machlay | Tuesday, September 05, 2017

Driving Toward the Breach

Woodward Avenue, the Dream Cruise, and the QLine

by Laura Bernstein-Machlay | Friday, September 01, 2017

Tales From Motor City

Left for dead yet pulsing with life again, Detroit survives as a place of inconsistency and contradiction

by Laura Bernstein-Machlay | Monday, December 05, 2016

Thriving and Striving

Introducing our newest Daily Scholar columnist

by Laura Bernstein-Machlay | Friday, July 28, 2017

The Grand Army of the Republic

Look what’s popping up all over the place

by Laura Bernstein-Machlay | Friday, August 25, 2017

The Little Aquarium That Could

Like Detroit, a tale of rise and fall and rise again

by Laura Bernstein-Machlay | Friday, August 18, 2017

80,000 Squirrels on My Block Alone

And other tales of Detroit wildlife

by Laura Bernstein-Machlay | Friday, August 11, 2017

Snapshots

The city may be changing, but the music is as great as ever

by Laura Bernstein-Machlay | Friday, August 04, 2017