The best essays, according to John D’Agata, Director of the University of Iowa’s Nonfiction Writing Program, are a “mind on a page.” According to Bernard Cooper, they magnify “some small aspect of what it means to be human.” But what does this mean, exactly? It means the best essayists harness a very particular and personal truth to speak to larger experience. Amy Butcher shares how a New York Times Sunday Review Op-Ed on the startling lack of diversity in our universal emoji set (while male emojis engaged in work and industry, female avatars had their nails painted, received haircuts, or enjoyed flamenco dancing) inspired Google technicians and international change.
