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Topic: 10 Best Personal Essays 2016

(AP/G. Paul Burnett/Salon)

My bad date with Donald Trump

Lucy Klebanow
(<a href='http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-455110p1.html'>nisimo</a> via <a href='http://www.shutterstock.com/'>Shutterstock</a>/Salon)

I'm a server, not your sex toy

Amelia Bonow
(<a href='http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-110404p1.html'>dimitris_k</a> via <a href='http://www.shutterstock.com/'>Shutterstock</a>/Salon)

I fall for strangers

Kim Brooks
(<a href='https://www.shutterstock.com/g/MaxyM'>MaxyM</a> via <a href='http://www.shutterstock.com/'>Shutterstock</a>/Salon)

Sex in the cornfields

Dan Rousseau
(Getty/MilosStankovic/Salon)

What do I owe my mother?

Anna March
(AP/Jim Mone/Salon)

My Little Free Library war

Dan Greenstone
The author in one of his stolen photos

My face is catfish bait

William Dameron
(<a href='http://www.shutterstock.com/g/Yuliya+Savich'>Yuliya Savich</a> via <a href='http://www.shutterstock.com/'>Shutterstock</a>/Salon)

My weekend in a (sort of) cult

Alice Bradley
(Getty/mona plougmann/Salon)

Hacker house blues

David Garczynski
(NBC/Trae Patton/Salon)

Love, loss and what I'd sing

Doug Paul Case