Recent Work

An essay for The Walrus about how we grapple with the deep question of belonging in Trump’s America, seen though the lens of growing up in a Quebec that was pushing for separation — and pushing my family out.

In grade 8, Julia Scott was bullied so badly by a group of girls that she changed schools without telling anyone. Soon after, the girls from her old school showed up at her house and rang her doorbell.

Produced by Julia Scott in partnership with KQED, this 60-minute Detour asks: What does it mean to “belong” in the Mission District, a San Francisco neighborhood in the midst of unprecedented upheaval and gentrification?

One of San Francisco’s best-known characters, Indian Joe, likes to dress up as his inspiration: Alice Cooper. He talks about overcoming addiction and making friends in one of the city’s toughest neighborhoods, the Tenderloin.

Reported and written by Julia Scott, this 50-minute Detour invites you to walk San Francisco’s most misunderstood neighborhood with people who call it home.

Five years ago, Caleb Orozco lent his name to a legal challenge to overturn Belize’s anti-sodomy laws. Now his name is a national slur.

The Back Story’s Leah Rose interviewed Julia Scott on the high highs, low lows, and endless trade-offs of the group relationship.

“So are you guys in an equilateral triangle, or are you more of a V?” A dark-haired woman leans over to an eager-looking young couple seated next to her and holds up her thumb and forefinger. Each of the V signifies a person; the fleshy connective tissue between them stands for the partner to whom they’re both sexually connected.

Edited by Julia Scott, DRIVEL features terrible early writing by established authors who really ought to have known better than to trust her with their work.

There is a certain kind of bad writing that occurs when you are between the ages of 16 and 24 and have an audience of one. ‘Self-indulgent’ doesn’t begin to describe it, and in fact to do so would minimize the intense feeling of urgency of budding writers of a certain age who feel called to bear witness to our years of transition.

I went 28 days without applying soaps, shampoo or deodorant while I tested out an invisible live bacterial body spray that promised to leave my skin feeling cleaner and more hydrated. Here’s what happened next.