The co-authors of ‘Country Music USA’ – a revised edition of the genre’s definitive history – talk about the music’s African-American tributaries, its unpredictable politics, country radio’s woman problem, and working on Ken Burns’ forthcoming doc.
2018
Posted inNonfiction, Story
The Cowboy Image and the Growth of Western Music
How did cowboy hats and boots become the visual iconography of American rural music?
Posted inEditor's Pick
Tokyo’s Long Lines Lead to Magic (And Life-Changing Ramen)
What do you do when you’re sent to Tokyo with no notice — and no dinner reservations? You learn how to be a person who waits.
Posted inEditor's Pick
What It Takes to Be a Trial Lawyer If You’re Not a Man
Contempt in court: female lawyers still consistently confront archaic discrimination.
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Long, Noble and Stinky Quest to Make Human Shit Useful
There’s gotta be something we can do with it instead of mixing it with potable water. Enter: the poop composters.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Working in a Wasteland
Even though the land was a Superfund site, officials said the former Hunters Point Naval Shipyard near San Francisco was safe. So why did members of San Francisco’s specialized police units get sick while stationed there?
Posted inBooks, Fiction, Profiles & Interviews, Story
‘I Loved God, I Loved Believing’: An Interview with R.O. Kwon
Not only will I never get my faith back, but I’m going to keep missing it. I’ll always have that longing — but there’s no going back into the garden.
Posted inCurrent Events, Highlight, Quotes
His Name Was Otto, and He Just Wanted a Little Adventure
Otto Warmbier got arrested in North Korea, sentenced to hard labor, and was eventually sent back to the U.S. — comatose. As with many things North Korean, the why and how is speculative at best.
Posted inCulture, Current Events, Nonfiction, Quote Posts, Quotes
Home Is a Mixed Bag, Like America
Why would a successful black woman move from the Bay Area back to Mississippi?
Posted inEditor's Pick
My True South: Why I Decided to Return Home
Why would a successful black woman leave the West Coast for her native Mississippi? Because Mississippi is America in all its racial violence, intergenerational trauma, leafy beauty and hope, and why run from a place you can remake together.