Imran Siddiquee considers the ways in which his identities — as a Bangladeshi-American and as a man — were shaped by growing up in the shadow of The Simpsons.
2017
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Plot to Bomb Garden City, Kansas
When some angry white male Kansans got tired of Somali refugees living in their little town in “God’s country,” they did the least God-like thing and decided to blow up their place of worship, to stop Islam’s destruction of America. These are men, mind you, who read Breitbart and believe Sandy Hook was a hoax, […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Teens Trapped Between a Gang and the Law
More than 200,000 children from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras came to the U.S. unaccompanied between 2014 and 2016. Allowed to enter the country while awaiting deportation proceedings or asylum decisions, many settled with relatives in parts of Suffolk County, Long Island. For The New Yorker, Jonathan Blitzer writes of the precarious course the children must […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
How Hospitals Are Failing Black Mothers
In the latest entry of ProPublica’s Lost Mothers series, which looks at maternal care in the U.S., Annie Waldman examines how black mothers who deliver at hospitals that disproportionately serve black patients are more likely to suffer serious complications.
Posted inEditor's Pick
On Basquiat, the Black Body, and a Strange Sensation in My Neck
Aisha Sabatini Sloan weaves together recollections of her own neck injuries and back pain with a study of visual artist Jean-Michel Basquiat’s diligent, abstract renderings of body parts and bones.
Posted inEditor's Pick
‘What Are We Going to Do About Tyler?’
A devastating indictment of America’s failure to treat mental illness. ProPublica reporter Sarah Smith tells the story of Tyler Haire, who was sent to jail at age 16 for a violent crime and then spent years locked away while waiting for a psychological evaluation. Tyler struggled since early childhood, but state services are underfunded and […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
‘I Want It to Stop’
Fifteen-year-old Ruben Urbina suffered from depression and attempted suicide multiple times. His friends and family members pleaded with him to get help. But one morning, Ruben couldn’t handle it anymore and called the police to falsely report that he had a bomb strapped to his chest.
Posted inArts & Culture, Nonfiction, Quotes
Who Benefits from Homeless Relocation Programs?
Many American cities offer the homeless free bus tickets to move somewhere, but do these relocation programs do vunerable populations more harm than good?
Posted inEditor's Pick
Kenji Dreams of Sausage
A profile of beloved food writer J. Kenji López-Alt, who uses science to perfect cooking methods and is opening a beer hall in Silicon Valley.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Maria’s Bodies
Nearly one hundred days after Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico, at least half of the island’s 3.4 million inhabitants still struggle to survive without electricity. The reason: the hurricane was a natural disaster, but the way the government let Puerto Rico’s infrastructure degrade set this vulnerable impoverished population up for a manmade disaster. Without electricity, […]