Topic: 2017 best personal essays

The author's father, Randall Coyne, visiting Timothy McVeigh at the Denver courthouse during the trial. (Courtesy of the author)

Best of 2017: McVeigh, my dad & me

Marley Coyne
(Salon/Ilana LIdagoster)

A borderline intimate education

J. Munroe
A still from "Luxo Jr." (Pixar)

Best of 2017: This little light

Spencer Porter
(Getty/Salon)

Preyed upon by a Hollywood director

Ainsley McWha
(Getty/IP Galanternik D.U.)

Best of 2017: The mothering class

TaraShea Nesbit
(Getty/IvanMikhaylov)

The day I put my bikini away

T. Runyan
People walk through burning refuse in Dadaab, Kenya the world's biggest refugee complex August 20, 2009 in Dadaab, Kenya (Getty/Spencer Platt)

Best of 2017: Danger in my belly

Boyah J. Farah
(AP/Getty/Salon/Mireia Triguero Roura)

Of mice and murder, and Ronald Reagan

Peter Birkenhead
(Getty/Salon)

This "cool black girl" is gone

Maya Rupert
(Getty/123ducu)

Stop breaking up with my girlfriend

Nick Rowan Bassman
(Shutterstock)

Best of 2017: Bigfoot, bullets and bud

Tara Anaïse