[{"id":258890,"date":"2026-08-28T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/longreads.com\/?p=258890"},"modified":"2026-08-27T21:06:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T01:06:58","slug":"conservation-africa-wild-dogs-genetics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/08\/28\/conservation-africa-wild-dogs-genetics\/","title":{"rendered":"Africa\u2019s Wild Dogs Are the Most Hated Carnivores on the Continent. Here\u2019s Why Some Conservationists Are Saving Them Anyway"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Apparently, African wild dogs enjoy knocking around balls of elephant dung like a football. It\u2019s this playfulness that has endeared them to researchers\u2014but, as Helen Sullivan points out, they have their work cut out for them trying to protect this persecuted big predator. Sullivan follows conservationists in southern Africa who are carefully managing tiny, isolated populations and attempting to introduce genetic diversity. The story of the three sisters who are flown over from Mozambique to be introduced to Waterberg\u2014a South African municipality three hours from Johannesburg\u2014is heart-wrenching. Yet in such a harsh environment, individual tragedies have to be endured while staying focused on the bigger picture: the fragile recovery of the species as a whole.<\/p>\n<span hidden class=\"__iawmlf-post-loop-links\" data-iawmlf-links=\"[{&quot;id&quot;:48965,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.smithsonianmag.com\\\/science-nature\\\/africa-wild-dogs-most-hated-carnivores-continent-heres-why-conservationists-saving-them-anyway-180989287\\\/?src=longreads&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20260828110021\\\/https:\\\/\\\/www.smithsonianmag.com\\\/science-nature\\\/africa-wild-dogs-most-hated-carnivores-continent-heres-why-conservationists-saving-them-anyway-180989287\\\/?src=longreads&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-08-28 11:33:52&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-08-31 16:44:24&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-03 18:59:38&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-07 02:12:56&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-10 04:09:46&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-13 09:42:52&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-16 22:49:03&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:403},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-20 08:47:43&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:403},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-24 01:05:05&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-24 01:05:05&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;}]\"><\/span>\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As we help Greyling and Hlako lift a crate off the pickup, a dusty paw flops out of one corner, and I think of something my uncle says: \u201cYou can smell the world in a dog\u2019s paw.\u201d Mooney and I back away, watching from inside a container as Hlako moves the car so that the overheating dog is in the shade. Though it is late afternoon, the temperature is still around 90 degrees.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hlako and Greyling release the dogs one at a time, opening the crate and waiting until a dog walks, then trots, out. The first is less sure on her feet, the second seems almost normal, until Mooney points out that she would have run much faster from the crate and people had she not still been a bit dozy. The sisters stand together in a grassy area, point their noses in the air, move their satellite-dish ears and lie down under a thorn tree; it has been a long day.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-fe48e5de wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div style=\"--wp--block-button--width: 50;\" class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-width wp-block-button__width wp-block-button__width-50\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-primary-background-color has-background has-custom-font-size wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.smithsonianmag.com\/science-nature\/africa-wild-dogs-most-hated-carnivores-continent-heres-why-conservationists-saving-them-anyway-180989287\/?src=longreads\" style=\"padding-top:15px;padding-right:15px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:15px;font-size:20px\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read the story<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-light-gray-background-color has-background\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\t<div\n\t\tclass=\"wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles is-style-borders wpnbha is-grid columns-3 colgap-3 ts-2 is-style-borders\"\n\t\tstyle=\"\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t<div data-posts data-current-post-id=\"258890\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"article-section-title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span>More picks on conservation <\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"258890\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-africa tag-conservation tag-genetic-diversity tag-genetics tag-longreads tag-smithsonian tag-wild-dogs tag-wildlife category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/08\/28\/conservation-africa-wild-dogs-genetics\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Africa\u2019s Wild Dogs Are the Most Hated Carnivores on the Continent. Here\u2019s Why Some Conservationists Are Saving Them Anyway<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tHelen Sullivan | Smithsonian | August 25, 2026 | 3,211 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>&#8220;Meet the team that closely monitors the playful canines, which need help to form diverse packs and stop their numbers from dwindling.&#8221;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"257992\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-boyce-upholt tag-canids tag-clones tag-cloning tag-conservation tag-coyotes tag-extinction tag-gulf-coast tag-mit-technology-review tag-texas tag-wolves category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/08\/07\/texas-red-wolves-coyotes-cloning\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Colossal Biosciences Said It Cloned Red Wolves. Is It for Real?<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tBoyce Upholt | MIT Technology Review | April 20, 2026 | 5,106 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>&#8220;The red wolf has long been a contentious species. The debate over its preservation got even messier last year, when Colossal said it had cloned the animal.&#8221;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"254829\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-animals tag-bunnies tag-canada tag-cities tag-conservation tag-nature tag-nicholas-hune-brown tag-rabbits tag-the-local tag-toronto tag-urban tag-urban-wilderness tag-wildlife category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/05\/29\/bunnies-rabbits-toronto\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Are There More Bunnies in Toronto?<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tNicholas Hune-Brown | The Local | July 2, 2025 | 2,616 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>&#8220;I never used to see rabbits in Toronto. Then they were everywhere. Then I lost my mind.&#8221;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"252041\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-aeon tag-animals tag-conservation tag-cryopreservation tag-deextinction tag-extinction tag-sadiah-qureshi tag-science category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/03\/31\/deextinction-conservation-cryopreservation\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Reversing Extinction<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tSadiah Qureshi | Aeon | March 12, 2026 | 3,186 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>&#8220;Technologies of preserving and reviving organisms are already redefining the meaning of life, death, and extinction itself.&#8221;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"250640\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-ai tag-conservation tag-matthew-ponsford tag-mit-technology-review tag-surveillance tag-technology tag-trafficking tag-wildlife tag-wildlife-conservation tag-wildlife-trafficking category-editors-pick category-uncategorized type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/02\/26\/technology-ai-wildlife-conservation\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Why Conservationists Are Making Rhinos Radioactive<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tMatthew Ponsford | MIT Technology Review | February 24, 2026 | 2,663 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>&#8220;Rapid DNA tests, x-ray fluorescence guns, and other technologies are being deployed in the fight against wildlife trafficking.&#8221;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"249796\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-ai tag-animals tag-artificial-intelligence tag-conservation tag-fake tag-misinformation tag-mongabay tag-sean-mowbray tag-technology tag-video tag-wildlife category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/02\/11\/ai-fake-images-wildlife\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Wildlife Attacks and Strange Animal Behavior\u2014Fake Images Spark Conservation Concerns<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tSean Mowbray | Mongabay | January 28, 2026 | 2,263 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>&#8220;AI-generated images pose a direct threat to conservation efforts by distorting public perceptions of wildlife.&#8221;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Meet the team that closely monitors the playful canines, which need help to form diverse packs and stop their numbers from dwindling.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":698,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"single-feature.php","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"scaip_prevent_shortcode_addition":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"Helen Sullivan | Smithsonian | August 25, 2026 | 3,211 words","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"republication-tracker-tool-hide-widget":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[15973],"tags":[991,2190,29224,2194,325,1666,29223,379],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[15376],"class_list":["post-258890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editors-pick","tag-africa","tag-conservation","tag-genetic-diversity","tag-genetics","tag-longreads","tag-smithsonian","tag-wild-dogs","tag-wildlife","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Africa\u2019s Wild Dogs Are the Most Hated Carnivores on the Continent. 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Seniors Against Senior Housing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">America\u2019s elders need more places to live, but even in liberal enclaves that recognize the problem, developers are facing fierce foes: America\u2019s elders. Make it make sense! Charley Locke reports from her hometown of Oakland, California, where boomers are organizing against two proposals that would add 618 market-rate residential units to the city&#8217;s senior housing stock:<\/p>\n<span hidden class=\"__iawmlf-post-loop-links\" data-iawmlf-links=\"[{&quot;id&quot;:48957,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.bloomberg.com\\\/news\\\/features\\\/2026-08-19\\\/senior-housing-faces-opposition-from-seniors-themselves?src=longreads&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;}]\"><\/span>\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many in the crowd had been marching against governmental and corporate overreach for half a century: against the Vietnam draft and the invasion of Iraq; against Wall Street; against police brutality. They\u2019re part of a generational force that\u2019s antiestablishment and suspicious of power. But in this fight, it wasn\u2019t so clear who the establishment was or who had the power. Were these righteous middle-class activists fending off greedy developers who would charge high rents, or were they wealthy seniors prioritizing neighborhood character over ameliorating the housing crisis? Were they once again David, or had they become Goliath?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-fe48e5de wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div style=\"--wp--block-button--width: 50;\" class=\"wp-block-button is-style-fill has-custom-width wp-block-button__width wp-block-button__width-50\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-white-color has-primary-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color has-custom-font-size wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/features\/2026-08-19\/senior-housing-faces-opposition-from-seniors-themselves?src=longreads\" style=\"padding-top:15px;padding-right:15px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:15px;font-size:20px\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read the story<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-light-gray-background-color has-background\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\t<div\n\t\tclass=\"wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles is-style-borders wpnbha is-grid columns-3 colgap-3 ts-2 is-style-borders\"\n\t\tstyle=\"\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t<div data-posts data-current-post-id=\"258793\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"article-section-title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span>More stories about housing<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"259833\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-american-dream tag-anna-holmes tag-generational-wealth tag-home tag-homeownership tag-housing tag-the-new-yorker tag-wealth category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/09\/21\/homeownership-generational-wealth\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">On Not Being a Homeowner<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tAnna Holmes | The New Yorker | September 12, 2026 | 2,964 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>&#8220;Generational wealth shapes our futures and friendships, whether we talk about it or not.&#8221;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"258793\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-affordability tag-aging tag-berkeley tag-bloomberg-businessweek tag-boomers tag-california tag-charley-locke tag-housing tag-oakland tag-retirement tag-urban-planning category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/08\/27\/seniors-affordability-housing-oakland\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">The Seniors Against Senior Housing<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tCharley Locke | Bloomberg Businessweek | August 19, 2026 | 4,867 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>&#8220;America\u2019s elders need more places to live, but even in liberal enclaves that recognize the problem, developers are facing the fiercest foes of all: America\u2019s elders.&#8221;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"258854\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-architects tag-architecture tag-design tag-dwell tag-emilia-petrarca tag-father tag-home tag-housing category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/08\/27\/nyc-architect-design-legacy\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">You Can Never Go Home Again. But You Can Spend a Lifetime Trying<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tEmilia Petrarca | Dwell | June 30, 2026 | 2,286 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>&#8216;My father designed two of the houses I grew up in. Then he died. I\u2019m still untangling where his taste ends and mine begins.&#8221;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;America\u2019s elders need more places to live, but even in liberal enclaves that recognize the problem, developers are facing the fiercest foes of all: America\u2019s elders.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1294,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"single-feature.php","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"scaip_prevent_shortcode_addition":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"Charley Locke | Bloomberg 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Can Never Go Home Again. But You Can Spend a Lifetime Trying"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Most people don\u2019t get to buy their old homes back, or ever step foot in them again, and that\u2019s okay. But we sure can spend a lifetime trying to re-create them.&#8221; In this poignant essay for <em>Dwell<\/em>, Emilia Petrarca celebrates the work of her late father, the New York City architect John Petrarca, and explores how his influence has shaped her own relationship to home and interior design. Petrarca reflects on the process of finding her own aesthetic while carrying her father&#8217;s with her, considering the ways belongings and spaces can hold our memories, legacies, and grief.<\/p>\n<span hidden class=\"__iawmlf-post-loop-links\" data-iawmlf-links=\"[{&quot;id&quot;:48961,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.dwell.com\\\/article\\\/moving-out-of-your-childhood-home-john-petrarca-architect-b6d045d1-7df60e53-aeba682e?src=longreads&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20260826223151\\\/https:\\\/\\\/www.dwell.com\\\/article\\\/moving-out-of-your-childhood-home-john-petrarca-architect-b6d045d1-7df60e53-aeba682e?src=longreads&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-08-27 12:10:15&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-08-30 13:35:06&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-02 19:18:29&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-05 20:48:03&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-09 04:00:32&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-12 11:59:40&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-16 19:31:24&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-20 16:09:20&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-24 10:21:29&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-24 10:21:29&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;}]\"><\/span>\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When I moved out of my mom\u2019s house and into my first apartment with a roommate at 23, I brought with me a black rug my dad bought in Morocco. After graduating from Carnegie Mellon, he joined the Peace Corps and spent time in Ouarzazate designing government buildings. In a room full of cheap Ikea furniture, it was the only thing that truly felt like a reflection of me. Well, that and a rigid, plastic, yellow outdoor chair I for some reason bought to go with my desk. Looking back at photos now, I see that the choice makes more sense: The chair my dad got me for my room in the Big House was almost the exact same hue.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-fe48e5de wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div style=\"--wp--block-button--width: 50;\" class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-width wp-block-button__width wp-block-button__width-50\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-primary-background-color has-background has-custom-font-size wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dwell.com\/article\/moving-out-of-your-childhood-home-john-petrarca-architect-b6d045d1-7df60e53-aeba682e?src=longreads\" style=\"padding-top:15px;padding-right:15px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:15px;font-size:20px\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read the story<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-style-border has-light-gray-background-color has-background\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\t<div\n\t\tclass=\"wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles is-style-borders wpnbha is-grid columns-3 colgap-3 ts-2 is-style-borders\"\n\t\tstyle=\"\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t<div data-posts data-current-post-id=\"258854\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"article-section-title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span>More pieces from <em>Dwell<\/em><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"258854\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-architects tag-architecture tag-design tag-dwell tag-emilia-petrarca tag-father tag-home tag-housing category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/08\/27\/nyc-architect-design-legacy\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">You Can Never Go Home Again. But You Can Spend a Lifetime Trying<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tEmilia Petrarca | Dwell | June 30, 2026 | 2,286 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>&#8216;My father designed two of the houses I grew up in. Then he died. I\u2019m still untangling where his taste ends and mine begins.&#8221;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"239878\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-books tag-cabin tag-cabin-porn tag-dwell tag-home tag-housing tag-off-the-grid tag-simplicity tag-stassa-edwards tag-tiny-house category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2025\/07\/02\/cabin-porn-escapism-tumblr\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">How \u201cCabin Porn\u201d Took Over the Internet<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tStassa Edwards | Dwell | June 13, 2025 | 1,837 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>&#8220;A rough-hewn A-frame in a snowscape or a tiny log shack by a lake\u2014why off-grid, simple living has long captured the American imagination, and our online attention.&#8221;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"236004\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-altadena tag-art tag-california tag-dwell tag-eaton-fire tag-fire tag-los-angeles tag-marah-eakin tag-preservation tag-rebuilding tag-volunteers tag-wildfire category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2025\/03\/17\/the-grassroots-race-to-save-altadenas-historic-batchelder-tiles-before-the-bulldozers-move-in\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">The Grassroots Race to Save Altadena\u2019s Historic Batchelder Tiles\u2014Before the Bulldozers Move In<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tMarah Eakin | Dwell | March 14, 2025 | 1,795 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>&#8220;In the Eaton Fire burn zone, fireplaces adorned with Arts and Crafts tiles are among the sole surviving relics of the town\u2019s architectural heritage, and volunteers are on a mission to salvage them.&#8221;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8216;My father designed two of the houses I grew up in. 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23:54:42&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-23 00:02:19&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-23 00:02:19&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:347,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/twitter.com\\\/collazoprojects?lang=en&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;}]\"><\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:80%\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"font-size:22px;font-style:normal;font-weight:400\">Thoughtful stories for thoughtless times.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:17px\">Longreads has published hundreds of original stories\u2014personal essays, reported features, reading lists, and more\u2014and more than 14,000 editor&#8217;s picks. <strong>And they&#8217;re all funded by readers like you.<\/strong> Become a member today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-primary-background-color has-background wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/join?src=top-promo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">I want to support Longreads<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><em><em><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nerdygirly\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nerdygirly\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Lisa Whittington-Hill<\/a>&nbsp;| Longreads | August 27, 2026 | 5,568 words (20 minutes)<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cVery, very whorish,\u201d was how Annie Lennox described it to <em>Melody Maker<\/em>. \u201cIt was like she was fucking the music industry,\u201d the Eurythmics lead singer said of Madonna\u2019s performance at the inaugural MTV Video Music Awards (VMA) in September, 1984. With her bright orange crew cut and fondness for men\u2019s tailored suits, Lennox\u2019s androgynous appearance challenged sexualized, hyper-feminine images of women in music. For both artists, sweet dreams were made of shattering gender norms; Lennox just preferred her trailblazing with a little less dry humping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignleft has-light-gray-background-color has-background\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">We&#8217;ve been fortunate to publish Lisa Whittington-Hill in the past. Be sure to check out &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2019\/07\/09\/live-through-this-courtney-love-at-55\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2019\/07\/09\/live-through-this-courtney-love-at-55\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Live Through This: Courtney Love at 55<\/a>,&#8221;  &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2021\/05\/20\/judge-a-book-not-by-its-gender\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2021\/05\/20\/judge-a-book-not-by-its-gender\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Judge a Book Not By its Gender<\/a>,&#8221; and <a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2022\/06\/29\/the-women-who-built-grunge\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2022\/06\/29\/the-women-who-built-grunge\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Women Who Built Grunge<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Madonna had snagged a Best New Artist nomination for \u201cBorderline,\u201d the Top 10 single from her 1983 self-titled debut, but she was also opening the show. Rather than perform a track from the album, like MTV and her management wanted, Madonna insisted on the not-yet-released \u201cLike a Virgin.\u201d She had requested a Bengal tiger for the performance, but for safety reasons that idea was killed. (Protect <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/MTV_Video_Music_Awards\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Moonman<\/a> nominees Herbie Hancock and Huey Lewis at all costs!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Instead, Madonna appeared atop a 17-foot-tall, three-tier wedding cake, with a mannequin dressed as a groom. (Probably a better choice than future husband, Sean Penn.) Her wedding dress was a white lace bustier and tulle skirt. Her unconventional bridal attire also included fingerless, white lace gloves, chains, crosses, and her <span style=\"font-variant:small-caps;\">BOY TOY<\/span> belt\u2014a nod to Madonna\u2019s graffiti tag that also happened to irk feminists like Lennox.&nbsp;As she strode down the cake, she kicked off her white pumps, removed her veil, and shook out her hair. Later, she dropped to her knees, gyrated and writhed on top of the veil, and suggestively crawled across the Radio City Music Hall stage. In the process, she exposed her garters, white silk panties, and Moonman to the audience.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For Madonna, the performance was a commentary on marriage and sexual double standards. Others saw a career-ending disaster. \u201cThis gal, Madonna\u2014this is not going to happen,\u201d Huey Lewis\u2019s agent Dan Weiner said of the shocking opener.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Weiner wasn\u2019t alone in thinking the singer\u2019s image was as destroyed as the guitar Roger Daltrey had smashed onstage while presenting one of the night\u2019s awards. Watching backstage, her manager Freddy DeMann also worried she\u2019d gone too far, but Madonna wasn\u2019t concerned. As a new artist, she felt she didn\u2019t have a career to lose. She also maintained she didn\u2019t know about the wardrobe malfunction. \u201cWell, fuck it, I made a mistake,\u201d was her unapologetic reaction.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The mistake paid off. Rather than kill her career, the performance defined it. By late December, &#8220;Like a Virgin&#8221; was the number one single in America, and remained atop the charts for six weeks. MTV put the video in heavy rotation and the album from which it came, also called <em>Like a Virgin,<\/em> reached the top spot on the Billboard 200. Being touched wasn\u2019t the only thing Madonna was doing for the very first time. <em>Like a Virgin<\/em> was the first-ever album by a woman to sell more than five million copies.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I spent my allowance on one of those five million copies. I was 13 then, and Madonna was different than the female singers I heard in my house while growing up. The soft, soothing sounds of Anne Murray and the over-the-top, emotional ballads of Barbra Streisand had filled our living room and shaped my understanding of female singers. On album covers, they looked poised and polished. In television appearances they stood politely in front of microphones as they sang. Babs and Anne weren\u2019t rolling around on an MTV stage or dancing on a gondola in a music video while wearing spandex pants. It never occurred to me that women could do that. When Madonna descended from that wedding cake and stunned the MTV audience, she also shattered my notions of what a female singer was, what she looked like, and what she could accomplish.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As a nerdy kid growing up in suburban Edmonton, I struggled to fit in. I wasn\u2019t athletic like the other girls in my class: They made all the sports teams and racked up more Canada Fitness Test gold badges than Madonna had crucifixes. The girls on the volleyball team always got the boys, the party invites, and the coolest cabin on the school ski trip. I never felt fully comfortable in my Jordaches until Madonna and Cyndi Lauper burst into my life. (Lauper\u2019s debut <em>She\u2019s So Unusual<\/em> was released a year before Madonna\u2019s MTV performance, but her nine VMA nominations had ignited my interest in the quirky singer, especially her feminist anthem \u201cGirls Just Want to Have Fun.\u201d) I played their records non-stop and studied the covers, fascinated by Lauper\u2019s bright orange hair and Madonna\u2019s lace bustier. They defied conformity and represented a different version of femininity than the one I had been raised with. I didn\u2019t know where Lauper shopped, but it was definitely cooler than the Fairweather at my local mall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>As a nerdy kid growing up in suburban Edmonton, I struggled to fit in. I wasn\u2019t athletic like the other girls in my class: They made all the sports teams and racked up more Canada Fitness Test gold badges than Madonna had crucifixes.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They helped me understand that being different was more than just OK, it was cool. I didn\u2019t have to look, dress, or act like the volleyball girls. Rather than join their ski cabin, I could build my own (metaphorically speaking, of course, since the Canada Fitness Test had shattered any confidence I had in my upper arm strength). If girls just wanted to have fun, Lauper and Madonna taught me that physical fitness badges weren\u2019t the only way to do it.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019d also grown up surrounded by a steady stream of male artists on <em>Friday Night Videos<\/em>, in <em>Tiger Beat,<\/em> and on the radio. The ladies of the \u201980s showed me that girls could sing, play instruments, and make cool videos (and have fun doing so). They represented opportunities for women in music, roles that were something other than being David Lee Roth\u2019s set dressing. They seized on the expectations about what women could accomplish and ripped them to shreds\u2014a move previously reserved for Roth\u2019s animal-print spandex pants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A few days after the VMA aired, my friends and I sat in someone\u2019s wood-paneled basement, rewinding and replaying a VHS tape of the awards. \u201cMadonna is humping the floor,\u201d we said, giggling as we rolled around on the shag carpet imitating her performance. We didn\u2019t fully understand what we were watching, we just knew it was very cool and that our parents probably wouldn\u2019t like it. The VMA appearance kickstarted our obsession with all things Madonna\u2014as it did for the rest of the world. \u201cThat three minutes in 1984 was the point when Madonna became a superstar,\u201d said MTV\u2019s Jocelyn Vena of the performance, which <em>Rolling Stone<\/em> later called \u201cas indelible as the Beatles on <em>Ed Sullivan.<\/em>\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With \u201cLike a Virgin,\u201d Madonna delivered an anthem of female sexuality that was empowering rather than exploitative. Media messages and awkward health classes in school had taught us that sex was bad, something to be avoided unless we wanted to end up pregnant. While my friends and I whispered about sex in the library at lunch, Madonna sang openly about it, promoting pleasure over passivity and encouraging us to embrace our sexuality. Thanks to Madonna, our voices got louder.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Madonna and Lauper weren\u2019t the only \u201980s ladies I idolized. The decade provided plenty of trailblazing female musicians for me to look up to. Women from Tina Turner and Pat Benatar to Chaka Khan and Whitney Houston influenced me with their catchy songs, compelling videos, and unique personal styles. Their success redefined what it meant to be a woman making music, and for me it redefined what it meant to be a woman making her way in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With the help of my red Sony Walkman, I heard lyrics that promoted individuality, independence, and confidence. If Joan Jett didn\u2019t care about her reputation, why should I care about mine? (Not that I had one, serious dork that I was, but the message was empowering nonetheless.) Women like Jett sang about something other than romantic love, the perennial subject matter for female singers up to that point. Instead of heartbreak and hunks, I heard songs that inspired me. Lauper\u2019s \u201cTrue Colors\u201d promoted self-acceptance; \u201cSisters Are Doing It for Themselves,\u201d Annie Lennox\u2019s and Aretha Franklin\u2019s 1985 hit, celebrated women supporting each other; Irene Cara\u2019s \u201cFlashdance\u2026 What a Feeling\u201d encouraged young women like me to pursue our dreams (and was the perfect theme song for the sleepover-favorite movie it accompanies). While Deniece Williams sang \u201cLet\u2019s hear it for the boy,\u201d these women made me want to hear it for the girl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Music and videos that featured diverse women and addressed topics like race, class, and sexuality broadened my perspective. Donna Summer singing about the struggles of working women in \u201cShe Works Hard for the Money,\u201d Annie Lennox challenging traditional gender roles in the video for Eurythmics\u2019 \u201cSweet Dreams (Are Made of This),\u201d and Madonna\u2019s support for the LGBTQ+ community exposed me to a world beyond my very white, very conservative, very middle-class suburb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As my worldview evolved, so did my style. Growing up, pop culture\u2019s representations of girlhood included a blonde Wakefield twin from <em>Sweet Valley High<\/em>, a post-makeover Ally Sheedy in <em>The Breakfast Club<\/em>, and a big-breasted bombshell manufactured by some dorks with a Commodore 64. (We don\u2019t talk nearly enough about how problematic <em>Weird Science<\/em> was.) At a time when I was discovering makeup, Sun In hair lightener, and clothing my mom didn\u2019t buy for me, seeing women on MTV who were different taught me it was OK to develop my own look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Video might have killed the radio star, but it ignited something in me. Depictions of women standing up for themselves, whether it was Madonna\u2019s insistence on keeping her baby in \u201cPapa Don\u2019t Preach\u201d or Pat Benatar confronting a creepy club owner in the \u201cLove Is a Battlefield\u201d video, made me want to do the same. I felt rebellious and wanted to raise a lace-glove-clad middle finger to anyone who told me I had to fit in\u2014boys, teachers, mean girls, or my boss at Taco Time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These women helped to shape music long after the \u201980s ended, from Jett\u2019s production work with \u201990s riot grrrl band Bikini Kill to Grace Jones collaborating with Beyonc\u00e9. Pop princesses Debbie Gibson and Tiffany and later Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera would not have experienced success had Madonna and Lauper not paved the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, as we remember the decade when Axl welcomed us to the jungle, Public Enemy brought the noise, and the Go-Go\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2024\/01\/16\/beauty-and-the-beat-book-excerpt-lisa-whittington-hill\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2024\/01\/16\/beauty-and-the-beat-book-excerpt-lisa-whittington-hill\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">had the beat<\/a>, it\u2019s time to examine the impact these female musicians had. For a young girl like me, it was bigger than all that teased \u201980s hair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a 1982 <em>Melody Maker<\/em> interview, Madonna said she wanted to make music for \u201cthe kind of people who might like Grace Jones.\u201d It wasn\u2019t just the Jamaican singer\u2019s audience that inspired Madonna, it was also her subversive style and sound. A fixture in New York\u2019s disco scene, Jones signed a deal with Island Records in 1977 and achieved chart success with hits like \u201cI Need a Man\u201d and \u201cI&#8217;m Not Perfect (But I&#8217;m Perfect For You).\u201d In the \u201980s, as anti-disco sentiment spread, her music embraced a new wave, pop, funk, and reggae sound, as evidenced by 1980\u2019s <em>Warm Leatherette<\/em> and 1981\u2019s <em>Nightclubbing<\/em>, the latter of which introduced Jones to a wider audience, including MTV.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of my earliest memories of Jones was seeing her present the Best Male Video award at the 1985 VMA. She was wearing a slinky, rust-colored silk evening gown that clung to her body and accentuated her statuesque height. Her signature flat-top hair peeked out from under a black headwrap and her blush highlighted razor-sharp cheekbones. The look was avant-garde and androgynous, a rejection of traditional gender roles and conventional beauty standards. The Best Female Video award nominees that year were Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, Tina Turner, Sheila E., and Sade. (Tina won for \u201cWhat\u2019s Love Got to Do with It.\u201d) They all had distinct styles, but Jones seemed like she had been beamed in from another universe, one I desperately wanted to visit. \u201cHer image celebrated blackness and subverted gender norms; she presented something we had never seen before in pop performance\u2014a woman who was lithe, sexy, and hyperfeminine while also exuding a ribald, butch swagger,\u201d Barry Walters wrote in a 2015 <em>Pitchfork<\/em> piece.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>They all had distinct styles, but Jones seemed like she had been beamed in from another universe, one I desperately wanted to visit.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jones has talked about the rejection she faced in her early modeling days, including regularly being told her skin was too dark and her face too angular. In her 2015 memoir, she recalled a modeling agent who told her that \u201cselling a black model in Paris is like trying to sell them an old car nobody wants to buy.\u201d Her response was, \u201cI\u2019m going to make you eat your words.\u201d She did just that, walking the runways for designers like Yves Saint Laurent and appearing on the covers of <em>Elle<\/em> and <em>Vogue<\/em>. Jones made rejection her trademark, rebelling against conformity and embracing an image and music that pushed boundaries and refused labels. \u201cI believe in individuality, that everybody is special, and it\u2019s up to them to find that quality and let it live,\u201d Jones famously said.&nbsp;She let her special quality live and encouraged me to do the same. At a time when I faced intense pressure to fit in, Jones showed me I didn\u2019t have to. On that VMA stage, and in interviews and videos, she exuded confidence and strength, qualities that soon mattered to me more than which Duran Duran member I was going to marry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I remember discovering <em>Nightclubbing<\/em> in a friend\u2019s older brother\u2019s record collection. (Older sibling vinyl was a powerful gateway drug in the \u201980s.) On the cover, Jones wears an oversized men\u2019s suit jacket with sharp shoulder pads. Her chest is bare under the jacket and a cigarette dangles from her lip. I didn\u2019t see people like Jones in the hallway at school or in the mall food court, but thanks to MTV she was now regularly in my living room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jones\u2019s videos often felt more like experimental art projects than slick productions. Everything she did was creative, an expression of her unique personal style. The idea of being able to express myself through clothing, makeup, or how I carried myself in the world hadn\u2019t occurred to me before Jones and my \u201980s ladies entered my life. I thought being creative meant playing the recorder or writing a book report on Judy Blume in school. Jones taught me I could embody creativity in every aspect of my life.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Like Madonna, Jones proudly expressed her sexuality and encouraged others to do the same. <em>Nightclubbing<\/em>\u2019s hit single \u201cPull Up to the Bumper\u201d featured the lyrics:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Pull up to my bumper baby<br>In your long black limousine<br>Pull up to my bumper baby<br>Drive it in between<br>Grease it<br>Spray it<br>Let me lubricate it.<\/em><br><br>She has insisted the song is not about what you think it is, but rather a post-disco ode to parking cars (as all great post-disco songs are). Whatever the subject matter, it reached number two on <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Billboard_(magazine)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Billboard\u2019s<\/a>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hot_Dance_Club_Songs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Hot Dance Club Songs<\/a>&nbsp;and was the singer\u2019s first transatlantic hit. It was also some of my earliest exposure to suggestive lyrics; I didn\u2019t entirely know what the song meant, but I knew it wasn\u2019t about parallel parking (a skill I was still trying to master).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jones released her last studio album in 2008, but her influence lives on in today\u2019s female singers, and especially in their videos. I see it in the \u201980s aesthetic of Rihanna\u2019s \u201cRude Boy,\u201d the avant-garde imagery of Nicki Minaj\u2019s \u201cStupid Hoe\u201d (Minaj even replicated Jones\u2019s poses from the cover of <em>Island Life<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=T6j4f8cHBIM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">in the video<\/a>), and the theatrical performance style of Lady Gaga. Jones has also made an impact beyond videos, having contributed vocals to Janelle Mon\u00e1e\u2019s <em>The Age of Pleasure<\/em> and Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s <em>Renaissance<\/em>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cTrends come along and people say, \u2018Follow that trend.\u2019 There\u2019s a lot of that around at the moment,\u201d Jones writes in her memoir. \u201c\u2018Be like Sasha Fierce. Be like Miley Cyrus. Be like Rihanna. Be like Lady Gaga. Be like Rita Ora and Sia. Be like Madonna.\u2019 I cannot be like them\u2014except to the extent that they are already being like me.\u201d I look forward to Miley\u2019s innuendo-filled post-disco ode to car parking.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Growing up, I saw Jett as an artist who carved their own path in the \u201980s. Jett projected a tough image, with her leather pants and jacket; rather than smile politely like female performers were supposed to, she snarled and stared. I studied her videos and played air guitar to \u201cI Love Rock \u2019n\u2019 Roll\u201d in the bathroom mirror after school. Growing up I had been taught that loving, and playing, rock and roll was strictly for the boys, but Jett changed that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She represented rebellion\u2014a very attractive thing when you\u2019re a teenage girl. I was constantly reminded of all the things girls <em>don\u2019t<\/em> do. Girls don\u2019t skateboard, girls don\u2019t play drums, girls don\u2019t do math. Girls don\u2019t take up space. Girls definitely don\u2019t talk back. Then came Jett. She taught me that assertiveness and speaking your mind weren\u2019t negative traits, they were necessary. When the world tells you that you can\u2019t do something, you show them you can. (Who knew I was hiding a punk attitude under all that Maybelline and Esprit?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the 2018 documentary <em>Bad Reputation<\/em>, Jett recounts receiving a Sears electric guitar and amp from her parents as a Christmas gift when she was 13. While her first guitar teacher told her \u201cgirls don\u2019t play rock and roll,\u201d 16-year-old Jett thankfully ignored him to found all-girl band the Runaways with drummer Sandy West.&nbsp;While the band toured the world and released four albums, not everyone was a fan. \u201cI thought everyone would love it. Once they realized it was serious and we planned to make an album and go on tour and do everything that male bands were doing the tables turned where it went from \u2018cute, sweet\u2019 to \u2018slut, whore, cunt,\u2019\u201d Jett said about the sexist double standards the band faced. Misogynistic headlines followed them in the press from \u201cRunaways\u2014Teenaged, Wild &amp; Braless\u201d (<em>Circus<\/em>) to \u201cThe Runaways: Lissome Lolitas or Teenage Trash?\u201d (<em>Creem<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>When the world tells you that you can\u2019t do something, you show them you can. (Who knew I was hiding a punk attitude under all that Maybelline and Esprit?)<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After various lineup changes, the Runaways broke up and Jett went solo. In May 1980, Ariola Records released Jett\u2019s self-titled debut album in Europe, but she didn\u2019t experience the same luck in the US. The album was rejected by 23 major labels. Jett and her producer Kenny Laguna decided to release it independently on their newly formed Blackheart Records, sometimes selling albums out of the trunk of Laguna\u2019s car. Casablanca Records founder Neil Bogart eventually made a joint venture with Laguna. He signed Jett to his new label, Boardwalk Records, and <em>Joan Jett<\/em>&nbsp;was rereleased as <em>Bad Reputation<\/em>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While record labels might have said no to Jett, fans were saying yes. Her second album, 1981\u2019s <em>I Love Rock \u2019n\u2019 Roll<\/em>, went platinum and its title track was Jett\u2019s first number one hit, spending seven weeks in the top spot on the Billboard 100. She had two other Billboard Top 10 hits during the \u201980s, \u201cCrimson and Clover\u201d and \u201cI Hate Myself for Loving You,\u201d and performed sold-out tours with the Police and Queen. In 1987, she starred in the movie drama <em>Light of Day<\/em> with Michael J. Fox as he tried to shed the conservative, Reaganomics-loving Alex P. Keaton role he played on the popular \u201980s television series, <em>Family Ties<\/em>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jett\u2019s influence also extended well beyond the \u201980s, and beyond me. In the summer of 1992, she got her hands on a Bikini Kill demo tape at a Fugazi show in Washington, DC. She became a fan and produced the band\u2019s 1994 vinyl seven-inch EP, <em>New Radio<\/em>. She also played on the record and sang backup vocals. Bikini Kill\u2019s riot grrrl and DIY ethos were a perfect match with Jett. \u201cShe was the cement that kept a lot of things going for some of the feminist bands in the \u201990s. Definitely for me. She changed my whole career path and taught me how to record an album,\u201d Bikini Kill lead singer Kathleen Hanna said in <em>Bad Reputation<\/em>. The Bikini Kill seven-inch was not Jett\u2019s first work as a producer. She also produced the first, and only, studio album by Los Angeles punk band the Germs, 1979\u2019s <em>(GI)<\/em>, which is considered the first full-length hardcore punk record.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Her attitude was best summed up in a 2010 <em>Rolling Stone<\/em> interview: \u201cDon\u2019t let anyone tell you that you can\u2019t do something. Make your own victories. Make your own mistakes.\u201d While I never looked as cool as Jett in a leather jacket, her attitude was something I learned to pull off. All that bathroom mirror air guitar was worth it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When \u201cI Love Rock \u2019n\u2019 Roll\u201d reached the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1982, Jett wasn\u2019t the only woman there: Olivia Newton-John, Diana Ross, Debbie Harry (with Blondie), Sheena Easton, Dolly Parton, and Kim Carnes all had number-one hits the year before. But after August 1981, female artists\u2019 visibility began to increase significantly. That, friends, is when MTV launched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pre-MTV, radio was how my friends and I discovered new bands. We made mixtapes of songs recorded off the radio and knowing the exact moment to hit \u201crecord\u201d when \u201cMickey\u201d by Toni Basil came on was a highly-respected skill in the \u201980s. Now with music videos, we could not only hear Toni, we could also see her in our living room. A musician\u2019s style and videos now mattered as much as their sound. We traded VHS tapes of <em>Friday Night Videos<\/em> and spent our babysitting money on records by our favorite video stars. We weren\u2019t the only ones hitting the record store at our local mall. MTV boosted sales; record stores received requests for bands that weren\u2019t on the radio but got MTV play. (Devo is one example.) Record companies and musicians initially skeptical of MTV soon saw the appeal. MTV also influenced concert demographics. Pat Benatar noticed more women at her concerts after MTV started playing her videos. \u201cWhen we first began, most of our concerts were probably 80\/20 male-oriented. There were very few women. Very few women used to go to concerts no matter who was playing, male or female. I saw that really change around 1982.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Benatar was the first female artist aired on the channel\u2014and in fact was the first solo artist overall, with her video for \u201cYou Better Run\u201d running directly after the network\u2019s debut (and perennial pub-trivia answer), the Buggles\u2019 \u201cVideo Killed the Radio Star.\u201d Yet \u201cLove Is a Battlefield\u201d remains Benatar\u2019s most iconic video, as well as my favorite. The song\u2019s feminist lyrics promoted independence and addressed the emotional volatility of relationships, presenting love as something more than just happily ever after. <em>Teen Beat<\/em> may not have devoted much ink to the concept of female agency, but I felt it when Benatar sang the lyrics, \u201cWe are strong. No one can tell us we\u2019re wrong.\u201d In the video, Benatar escapes an abusive family situation, confronts a sexist club owner, and encourages a group of female dancers to fight back. The strength and resilience she projected taught young girls like me to stand up for ourselves. Also that killer choreography remains a surprisingly effective tool against creeps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>The strength and resilience she projected taught young girls like me to stand up for ourselves. Also that killer choreography remains a surprisingly effective tool against creeps.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sadly, creeps were something she was used to. In her 2010 memoir <em>Between a Heart and a Rock Place<\/em>, Benatar talked about facing music industry sexism, from misogynistic marketing campaigns to DJs insisting she sit on their laps. \u201cWe\u2019d be pushing to get airtime for our songs,\u201d she wrote, \u201cand radio programmers would say things like, \u2018We\u2019ll definitely put that single in heavy rotation at the end of the week, but we can\u2019t right now. We\u2019re already playing a single by a girl.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">MTV helped change this \u201cone girl at a time\u201d policy. Now there were many girls at a time, and they were successful. \u201cThe 1985 winner of the top Grammy award, Tina Turner, had no record deal one year, but a top hit single the next. Her album, <em>Private Dancer<\/em> has sold 10 million copies around the world. Pat Benatar, Chaka Khan, and the Pointer Sisters all reached a million in sales with albums promoted by music video,\u201d wrote Lisa Lewis in <em>Jump Cut<\/em>, a journal devoted to film, television and media. Turner was almost 45 when she released the 1984 single \u201cWhat\u2019s Love Got to Do with It.\u201d After the video became an MTV hit, the song went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and ultimately won Record of the Year at the Grammys. (While Turner\u2019s success helped challenge ageist notions of sexuality, beauty, and fame, <em>Rolling Stone<\/em> still put her on an October 1984 cover with a\u00a0headline that read \u201cShe\u2019s Got Legs!\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I loved that when I&nbsp;watched MTV or video shows like <em>Friday Night Videos<\/em> I could go from Bananarama to Gloria Estefan to Bonnie Tyler to Sade inside 30 minutes. (I liked Tyler, but the glowing eyes in \u201cTotal Eclipse of the Heart\u201d video still give me the creeps. Please don\u2019t turn around, bright eyes.) Their videos presented female role models who were quirky, androgynous, powerful, fun, and sexual without being sex objects.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Had it not been for these women, female representation in music videos would have been limited to ZZ Top\u2019s \u201cLegs,\u201d Van Halen\u2019s \u201cHot for Teacher\u201d and Tawny Kitaen cartwheeling on the hood of a car in a Whitesnake video. Instead, I experienced women of different ages, races, and body types, all with their own distinct styles. I also saw women playing instruments, singing songs, and commanding stages. I remember recording the video for \u201cWe Got the Beat\u201d by the Go-Go\u2019s and playing the VHS tape over and over because it was the first video I saw that showed women actually playing drums and guitars. As a teenager, I wouldn\u2019t have had the courage to pick up a drumstick or a guitar if I hadn\u2019t seen women playing them on MTV first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While MTV helped increase representation for female artists, it was&nbsp;criticized in its early days for failing to play Black artists. During <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=XZGiVzIr8Qg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a 1983 interview<\/a> with VJ Mark Goodman, David Bowie called out MTV for ignoring Black musicians, or only playing them during early morning hours. Donna Summer\u2019s 1983 hit \u201cShe Works Hard for the Money\u201d was the first video by an African American woman put in heavy rotation by MTV; its portrayal of the struggles of working women and single mothers helped contribute to broader pop culture portrayals of family dynamics during the decade. Single mothers were increasingly represented thanks to Summer\u2019s song and \u201980s sitcoms like <em>Who\u2019s the Boss?<\/em> and <em>Kate &amp; Allie.<\/em> I was one of the only kids in my class who lived in a single-parent household, and actually seeing this as the subject of songs and videos made me feel seen. (Thanks, Donna!) The majority of my classmates were from middle-class, two-parent households and I hoped hearing Summer\u2019s lyrics (or Dolly Parton singing about working nine to five) might help them better understand my family dynamic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Summers\u2019s success helped break down racial barriers, but it was Whitney Houston who transformed MTV\u2019s relationship with Black artists. Her early videos received heavy play on Black Entertainment Television and VH1, but her label struggled to get them on MTV. The network initially rejected the video for her debut single, \u201cYou Give Good Love,\u201d because of its R&amp;B sound, but when \u201cSaving All My Love for You\u201d became a huge hit, MTV had no choice but to play the video. \u201cIt was a major breakthrough for African American entertainers to be on MTV, because it was solely for rock artists,\u201d Houston said in a 2001 interview. \u201cI remember Michael Jackson making a very big breakthrough, and then Tina Turner, along with myself and Bobby Brown and a few others that were major breakthrough artists on MTV. I do remember the hassle of introducing Black artists to MTV, because, let\u2019s face it, it was solely for white artists at that point.\u201d The heavy rotation she received on MTV helped increase&nbsp;representation for other Black female artists on the station, including Janet Jackson, Jody Watley, and Tracy Chapman. Houston\u2019s success opened MTV\u2019s door for other Black female artists and helped them crossover from R&amp;B stations to pop and Top 40 radio.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It was the video for \u201cHow Will I Know,\u201d the third single from Houston\u2019s self-titled debut, that made me a fan. She appeared in a shiny dress, with a giant sparkly hairbow, dancing through a maze of bright, paint-splattered walls. She was vibrant and energetic, with a girl next door image young girls could aspire to. I was 14 when the video was released and Houston, at 22, seemed closer to my age than some of the other women I saw on MTV. After \u201cHow Will I Know\u201d played heavily on MTV, Houston became the first Black female artist to win a VMA, taking home the 1986 Best Female Video award.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Next came the frothy, fun pop energy of \u201cI Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me),\u201d from her second album, <em>Whitney<\/em>. A VHS recording of the video enjoyed heavy rotation in my bedroom where I danced along with Houston. With her candy-colored clothing, bright dangly earrings, and crimped hair teased higher than her four-octave voice, her infectious smile brought me joy (not an emotion I associated with puberty).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Houston was more than just the soundtrack to my after-school dance parties; she was a feminist trailblazer who breached white, male-dominated music to become the first Black woman to achieve mainstream commercial success in the MTV era, setting records along the way. <em>Whitney Houston<\/em> is still the most successful debut album by a solo artist, with sales of more than 25 million copies, and \u201cI Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)\u201d made Houston the first female artist to debut at number one on the Billboard 200. It wasn\u2019t just her musical success I found inspiring; she was one of the first Black women to appear on the cover of <em>Seventeen<\/em> magazine, the required reading at all my teenage sleepovers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>With her candy-colored clothing, bright dangly earrings, and crimped hair teased higher than her four-octave voice, her infectious smile brought me joy (not an emotion I associated with puberty).&nbsp;<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I loved that Houston\u2019s videos showed her performing, rehearsing, or working in the studio, contributing to the images of working women I saw in \u201980s music videos. Throughout her career she lifted up other Black women, mentoring young singers like Brandy and Monica. The Benetton-clad mean girls at my school could have taken some boosterism tips from Houston. \u201cShe kicked down doors for every Black female artist, every Black artist and artists in general,\u201d Brandy told ABC News in 2021. With multiple lead roles in movies, Houston also pioneered the triple threat (singing, acting, and dancing), inspiring other Black female artists like Queen Latifah and Beyonc\u00e9 to achieve the same legacy. Icon status aside, Houston dancing in her purple dress in the \u201cI Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)\u201d video still sparks joy for me, especially since it no longer has puberty to compete with.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Houston passed away in 2012, having sold more than 200 million records worldwide and boasting seven consecutive number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100\u2014the only artist to do so. In 2023, she had the biggest posthumous earnings for a female artist, proving her crossover appeal isn\u2019t limited to radio stations. And she\u2019s not the only one of the \u201980s ladies still in the spotlight. Cyndi Lauper, whose debut album was the first by a female artist to achieve four top-five Billboard Hot 100 hits, was finally inducted into the Rock &amp; Roll Hall of Fame in 2025. Pat Benatar, Tina Turner, Chaka Khan, and Annie Lennox (as part of Eurythmics) have also been inducted in recent years. The Go-Go\u2019s\u2014another recent inductee and still the first and only all-girl band who wrote their own music and played their own instruments to have a Billboard number one album (1981\u2019s <em>Beauty and the Beat<\/em>)\u2014played last year\u2019s Coachella Music Festival, bringing Green Day\u2019s Billie Joe Armstrong onstage to help them with \u201cHead Over Heels.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Recent documentaries have also honored \u201980s ladies, including 2023\u2019s <em>Love to Love You, Donna Summer<\/em> and 2022\u2019s <em>I Wanna Dance with Somebody<\/em> (an examination of Whitney Houston\u2019s legacy). The 50th&nbsp;anniversary of hip-hop celebrations in 2023 included tributes to groundbreaking \u201980s rap groups like Salt-N-Pepa. Music journalist Jessica Hopper\u2019s 2022 <em>Women Who Rock<\/em>&nbsp;series, a history of female musicians, featured several ladies of the \u201980s, including Sheila E. and Joan Jett. Recent memoirs and biographies have explored the decade\u2019s female musicians and bands, from Stevie Nicks and Debbie Harry to Heart and the Bangles.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And while Madonna\u2019s 1984 VMA performance was shocking at the time, the singer doesn\u2019t see it that way. \u201cThe most controversial thing I have ever done is stick around,\u201d she said in January 2024 during one of two Toronto stops on the Celebration Tour, which grossed over $225.4 million. The tour\u2019s final stop in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, attracted over 1.6 million people\u2014at the time, the largest all-time crowd for a female singer.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Queen of Pop remains the best-selling female musician of all time, with sales of more than 300 million records worldwide. She has had 12 number one songs on the Billboard Top 100, 38 Top 10 hits, won seven Grammys and 20 VMAs. <em>Confessions II<\/em>, her 15th album, came out in July and was the singer\u2019s 10th number one album on the Billboard 200. Madonna still deserves all the Moonmen, and to roll across any stage she wants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Lisa Whittington-Hill is the publisher of&nbsp;<\/em>This Magazine<em>. She also coordinates and teaches in Centennial College&#8217;s Book and Magazine Publishing program. Her writing has appeared in&nbsp;<\/em>Longreads<em>,&nbsp;<\/em>The Globe and Mail<em>,&nbsp;<\/em>The Walrus<em>,&nbsp;<\/em>Hazlitt<em>,&nbsp;<\/em>Catapult<em>, and more. She is the author of&nbsp;<\/em>Girls, Interrupted: How Pop Culture Is Failing Women<em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<\/em>The Go-Go\u2019s Beauty and the Beat<em>.&nbsp;<\/em>You Know What You Did: The Hills<em>, her book about the MTV reality show&nbsp;The Hills&nbsp;and how it changed the conversation on fame and young women will be out in October from ECW Press. She is currently working on a collection of essays about Gen X and \u201980s pop culture to be published by Vehicule Press in 2027.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Editor:&nbsp;<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/kristastevens.bsky.social\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Krista Stevens<br><\/em><\/a><em>Copyeditor:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/brendan-fitzgerald\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/brendan-fitzgerald\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Brendan Fitzgerald<\/a><br>Fact checker:&nbsp;<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/collazoprojects?lang=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Julie Schwietert Collazo<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How Madonna, Grace Jones, Joan Jett, Whitney Houston, and their contemporaries broke the stodgy musical mold of the &#8217;60s and &#8217;70s to inspire generations of women to pick up an instrument and learn to play music. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":258768,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"single-feature.php","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"scaip_prevent_shortcode_addition":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"How Madonna, Grace Jones, Joan Jett, Whitney Houston, and their contemporaries broke the stodgy musical mold of the '60s and '70s to inspire generations of women to pick up an instrument and learn to play music. ","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"republication-tracker-tool-hide-widget":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[15974],"tags":[222,29213,29214,29212,25600,55,5615],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[15706],"class_list":["post-258760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature","tag-1980s","tag-grace-jones","tag-joan-jett","tag-lisa-whittiington-hill","tag-madonna","tag-music","tag-whitney-houston","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ladies of the &#039;80s - Longreads<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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Yarddogs of Northwest Arkansas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Northwest Arkansas has been changing. Walmart, which has been rooted in Bentonville for more than 75 years, has reshaped the small town, and now that growth is spreading into the surrounding countryside. With that change, writes Jordan P. Hickey in this poignant essay, come wealthy newcomers looking for a country lifestyle and gravel cyclists riding thousands of unpaved rural roads. And then there are the dogs\u2014who have been here longer than any of these transplants\u2014caught in the midst of it all. Hickey calls them &#8220;yarddogs,&#8221; finding in them a metaphor for a region in the process of transformation. (Subscription required.)<\/p>\n<span hidden class=\"__iawmlf-post-loop-links\" data-iawmlf-links=\"[{&quot;id&quot;:48960,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/southlandsmag.com\\\/the-yarddogs-of-northwest-arkansas?src=longreads&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/southlandsmag.com\\\/the-yarddogs-of-northwest-arkansas\\\/&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;}]\"><\/span>\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Downtown Bentonville, so carefully planned, feels surreal today\u2014&#8221;Disneyfied,&#8221; &#8220;Pleasantville,&#8221; &#8220;gentrification&#8221; are the apt words of the critics.And not that it needs to be said, but there are no yarddogs in Bentonville. Not anymore. Here, there are only good dogs. Dogs on leashes, dogs that have been to school, dogs that listen, obey, behave, and will not lunge at every passing jogger.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But, of course, this is not really about dogs at all.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-fe48e5de wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div style=\"--wp--block-button--width: 50;\" class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-width wp-block-button__width wp-block-button__width-50\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-primary-background-color has-background has-custom-font-size wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/southlandsmag.com\/the-yarddogs-of-northwest-arkansas?src=longreads\" style=\"padding-top:15px;padding-right:15px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:15px;font-size:20px\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read the story<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-style-border has-light-gray-background-color has-background\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\t<div\n\t\tclass=\"wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles is-style-borders wpnbha is-grid columns-3 colgap-3 ts-2 is-style-borders\"\n\t\tstyle=\"\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t<div data-posts data-current-post-id=\"258848\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"article-section-title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span>More stories by Jordan P. Hickey<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"252781\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-arkansas tag-athletes tag-climate-crisis tag-clr tag-culture tag-football tag-islands tag-jordan-p-hickey tag-marshallese tag-migration tag-sea-level-rise tag-soccer tag-sports tag-springdale tag-the-marshall-islands tag-world-cup category-feature type-post post-has-image\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/04\/21\/marshall-islands-soccer-team\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">The Wayfinders<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>The Marshall Islands\u2019 first national soccer team discovers what \u201chome\u201d can mean\u2014on a field in Arkansas.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"235774\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-connection tag-conversation tag-d-magazine tag-high-school tag-human-connection tag-instagram tag-jordan-p-hickey tag-plano tag-reconnection tag-texas category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2025\/03\/12\/plano-senior-high-alums-instagram-quest-to-find-1122-former-classmates\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Plano Senior High Alum\u2019s Instagram Quest to Find 1,122 Former Classmates<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>&#8220;An optometrist and Pok\u00e9mon master Minh Nguyen has tracked down nearly 200 former classmates. It may have saved his life.&#8221;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"207500\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-arkansas tag-bakery tag-baking tag-clr tag-cooking tag-cuisine tag-family tag-food-writing tag-gaza tag-jordan-p-hickey tag-palestine tag-palestinian-authority category-feature category-food category-nonfiction type-post post-has-image\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2024\/02\/22\/expanding-table-palestinian-food-family-culinary-tradition-gaza-arkansas\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">The Expanding Table: Honoring Palestinian Culinary Tradition in Arkansas<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>For one baker and educator in Northwest Arkansas, food is a connection to her family\u2019s roots in Gaza\u2014and an essential way to share the stories of their culture.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;What is never discussed in all of this hand-wringing is the fact that those dogs and their owners likely far predate the people riding their bikes here.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"single-feature.php","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"scaip_prevent_shortcode_addition":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"Jordan P. Hickey | Southlands | August 26, 2026 | 3,073 words","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"republication-tracker-tool-hide-widget":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[15973],"tags":[764,26789,21227,26782,1658,24918,80,108,27979,25255,29218,29217,27863],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[15385],"class_list":["post-258848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editors-pick","tag-arkansas","tag-bentonville","tag-change","tag-countryside","tag-cycling","tag-cyclists","tag-dogs","tag-gentrification","tag-growth","tag-jordan-p-hickey","tag-northwest-arkansas","tag-rural","tag-southlands","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Yarddogs of Northwest Arkansas - Longreads<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/08\/26\/bentonville-arkansas-dogs-cyclists\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Yarddogs of Northwest Arkansas - Longreads\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&quot;What is never discussed in all of this hand-wringing is the fact that those dogs and their owners likely far predate the people riding their bikes here.&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/08\/26\/bentonville-arkansas-dogs-cyclists\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Longreads\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-26T19:49:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-31T17:05:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cheri Lucas Rowlands\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cheri Lucas Rowlands\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longreads.com\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/26\\\/bentonville-arkansas-dogs-cyclists\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longreads.com\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/26\\\/bentonville-arkansas-dogs-cyclists\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Cheri Lucas Rowlands\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longreads.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6fb8b0279f9adbc305f71b3c97fbbf2f\"},\"headline\":\"The Yarddogs of Northwest Arkansas\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-26T19:49:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-31T17:05:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longreads.com\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/26\\\/bentonville-arkansas-dogs-cyclists\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":184,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longreads.com\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Arkansas\",\"Bentonville\",\"Change\",\"countryside\",\"cycling\",\"cyclists\",\"dogs\",\"gentrification\",\"growth\",\"Jordan P. 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Is Dead. Organoids Are Alive"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Scientists are growing miniature human brains in labs around the world. (Yep, you read that right.) For <em>Wired<\/em>, Claire L. Evans reports on the latest research in the field of organoid intelligence, or OI, where scientists are artificially growing brain organoids from tiny human samples, whether skin, blood, teeth, or even hair. As these seed-sized globs mature, they are able to send and receive electrical signals, and even learn to remember and anticipate them. In other words, this living matter is programmable. &#8220;And this is where things get truly weird,&#8221; writes Evans.<\/p>\n<span hidden class=\"__iawmlf-post-loop-links\" data-iawmlf-links=\"[{&quot;id&quot;:48959,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.wired.com\\\/story\\\/organoids-lab-grown-brains-neural-networks\\\/?src=longreads&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;pending&quot;}]\"><\/span>\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For now, these neural computers are mostly of interest to researchers who want to work with neurons without taking on the tedious wet-lab husbandry themselves. Eventually, however, the company hopes that neurons will prove themselves to be an energy-efficient, resilient substrate for more general computing applications\u2014including some tasks currently handled by AI, like image recognition and classification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhen you think about what you want from AI, it\u2019s biology,\u201d said Brett Kagan, Cortical Labs\u2019 chief operating officer, when I reached him over Zoom. \u201cYou want it to be self-repairing as much as possible. You want it to be adaptable. You want it to be long-lived. You want it to be energy-efficient. These are all features you get for free in biology.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-fe48e5de wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div style=\"--wp--block-button--width: 50;\" class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-width wp-block-button__width wp-block-button__width-50\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-primary-background-color has-background has-custom-font-size wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/organoids-lab-grown-brains-neural-networks\/?src=longreads\" style=\"padding-top:15px;padding-right:15px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:15px;font-size:20px\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read the story<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-style-border has-light-gray-background-color has-background has-small-font-size\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\t<div\n\t\tclass=\"wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles is-style-borders wpnbha is-grid columns-3 colgap-3 ts-3 is-style-borders\"\n\t\tstyle=\"\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t<div data-posts data-current-post-id=\"258776\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"article-section-title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span>More stories by Claire L. Evans<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"258776\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-biology tag-claire-l-evans tag-organoid-intelligence tag-organoids tag-research tag-science tag-wired category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/08\/26\/human-brain-organoids\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">AI Is Dead. Organoids Are Alive<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tClaire L. Evans | Wired | August 11, 2026 | 4,189 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>&#8220;Mini human brains are being grown in labs all over the world. Soon, they could outthink neural networks.&#8221;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"255144\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-biology tag-claire-l-evans tag-memory tag-neuroscience tag-quanta-magazine tag-science category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/06\/08\/quanta-memory-worms\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Are Memories Transferable \u2014 or Edible?<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tClaire L. Evans | Quanta Magazine | June 5, 2026 | 3,103 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>&#8220;In the 1960s, worm-training experiments and their strange implications captivated the nation.&#8221;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"229426\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-claire-l-evans tag-dream-science tag-history tag-lucid-dreaming tag-noema-2 category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2024\/09\/12\/living-in-a-lucid-dream\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Living In A Lucid Dream<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tClaire L. Evans | No\u0113ma | July 1, 2024 | 3,921 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>&#8220;Recent research on lucid dreams suggests that consciousness exists along a spectrum between sleep and waking, between hallucination and revelation, between dreamworlds and reality.&#8221;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Mini human brains are being grown in labs all over the world. Soon, they could outthink neural networks.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"single-feature.php","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"scaip_prevent_shortcode_addition":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"Claire L. Evans | Wired | August 11, 2026 | 4,189 words","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"republication-tracker-tool-hide-widget":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[15973],"tags":[2977,23671,29210,29211,1930,575,330],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[15385],"class_list":["post-258776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editors-pick","tag-biology","tag-claire-l-evans","tag-organoid-intelligence","tag-organoids","tag-research","tag-science","tag-wired","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>AI Is Dead. 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For Hrishikesh Hirway, who wrote four albums under the name The One AM Radio, it meant commercial attention. His interest in making music cooled after sales and airplay failed to materialize; he went 15 years without releasing an album. In this essay for <em>The Bitter Southerner<\/em>, Hirway looks at how he overcame perfectionism to write and record <em>In the Last Hour of Light<\/em>, an album heavy on collaboration.<\/p>\n<span hidden class=\"__iawmlf-post-loop-links\" data-iawmlf-links=\"[{&quot;id&quot;:48949,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/bittersoutherner.com\\\/issue-no-14\\\/the-sound-of-your-voice?src=longreads&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20260825140446\\\/https:\\\/\\\/bittersoutherner.com\\\/issue-no-14\\\/the-sound-of-your-voice?src=longreads&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-08-26 13:08:49&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-08-29 15:46:07&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-01 17:04:50&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-04 18:15:51&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-08 03:16:44&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-11 08:58:52&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-14 22:42:37&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-18 02:11:26&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-22 00:25:16&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-25 01:07:58&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-25 01:07:58&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;}]\"><\/span>\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;But Phil was echoing something I\u2019d heard in the interviews I\u2019d conducted and read about in books on writing: separate your creative, generative side from your editing, critical side. They push in opposite directions, and as soon as you start to edit, you\u2019re no longer as free to play.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;It was two days after my 47th birthday, which had left me feeling melancholy about reaching middle age and still feeling so far from my goals. I sat on my couch, put my headphones on, and played the album. Something had shifted for me. Somewhere around the third song, I felt something for the first time: I loved what I was hearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The music brought back memories with perfect clarity: what it felt like to write each song, to record them, the long journey to transform a part of myself into this music. It was no longer a question of the music\u2019s worth. I can say to myself: this album is a document. And in it \u2014listen!\u2014you\u2019re alive.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-fe48e5de wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div style=\"--wp--block-button--width: 50;\" class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-width wp-block-button__width wp-block-button__width-50\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-primary-background-color has-background has-custom-font-size wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/bittersoutherner.com\/issue-no-14\/the-sound-of-your-voice?src=longreads\" style=\"padding-top:15px;padding-right:15px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:15px;font-size:20px\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read the story<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-light-gray-background-color has-background\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\t<div\n\t\tclass=\"wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles wpnbha is-grid columns-3 colgap-3 show-image image-aligntop ts-2 is-3 is-landscape \"\n\t\tstyle=\"\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t<div data-posts data-current-post-id=\"258749\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"article-section-title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span>More picks from <em>The Bitter Southerner<\/em><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"257295\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-libby-callaway tag-nashville tag-photography tag-profile tag-ray-di-pietro tag-street-photography tag-the-bitter-southerner category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/07\/22\/ray-dipietro-bitter-southerner\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Accidental Historian<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tLibby Callaway | The Bitter Southerner | May 27, 2026 | 2,592 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p> &#8220;With little fanfare, Ray Di Pietro has attracted tens of thousands of devotees. His images are artfully composed, spontaneous, honest, and, well, kind.&#8221;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"241547\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-elissa-altman tag-family tag-music tag-the-bitter-southerner category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2025\/08\/19\/my-24-guitars\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">My 24 Guitars<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tElissa Altman | The Bitter Southerner | August 19, 2025 | 4,204 words \t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>&#8220;Music was hazardous in my family, yet I couldn&#8217;t help playing\u2014even in my sleep.&#8221;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"229898\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-domestic-violence tag-holly-haworth tag-murder tag-predators tag-the-bitter-southerner category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2024\/09\/26\/woman-in-the-woods\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Woman in the Woods<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tHolly Haworth  |  The Bitter Southerner | September 8, 2024 | 2,884 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>&#8220;To me, the woods are an intricate tapestry in which I always try to see the bigger picture.&#8221;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;The fact that I had song ideas, let alone a place where I was saving them, was significant. It had been 15 years since I\u2019d last released an album.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":699,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"single-feature.php","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"scaip_prevent_shortcode_addition":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"Hrishikesh Hirway | The Bitter Southerner | August 19, 2026 | 3,230 words ","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"republication-tracker-tool-hide-widget":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[15973],"tags":[45,29208,1712,55,29209,377],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[15980],"class_list":["post-258749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editors-pick","tag-family","tag-hrishikesh-hirway","tag-memory","tag-music","tag-song-exploder","tag-the-bitter-southerner","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Sound of Your Voice - Longreads<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/08\/26\/perfectionism-bitter-southerner\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Sound of Your Voice - Longreads\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&quot;The fact that I had song ideas, let alone a place where I was saving them, was significant. 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and Other Lovers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As Eliran Arazi spends time with the Andoque, an Indigenous people in southern Colombia along the Caquet\u00e1 River, he finds himself increasingly drawn into their tales that interweave sexuality with the creatures of the jungle. 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A fascinating piece that blurs the lines between writer and subject, leaving the reader in a dreamlike state.<\/p>\n<span hidden class=\"__iawmlf-post-loop-links\" data-iawmlf-links=\"[{&quot;id&quot;:48958,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/aeon.co\\\/essays\\\/why-the-andoque-of-the-amazon-fear-the-seductive-dolphin\\\/?src=longreads&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20260826111852\\\/https:\\\/\\\/aeon.co\\\/essays\\\/why-the-andoque-of-the-amazon-fear-the-seductive-dolphin?src=longreads&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/aeon.co\\\/essays\\\/why-the-andoque-of-the-amazon-fear-the-seductive-dolphin?src=longreads&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-08-26 11:38:12&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-08-29 13:23:04&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-01 17:44:42&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-04 22:54:43&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-08 03:16:56&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-11 12:29:11&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-14 17:53:35&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-18 02:41:21&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-21 15:34:33&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-24 17:17:15&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-24 17:17:15&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;}]\"><\/span>\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A few days later, jaguar footprints appeared along the long path leading to a small harbour on the Caquet\u00e1 River. For the next week, Dufi\u2019s family expressed concerns about venturing down that path, especially alone, for fear of a jaguar attack. When I mentioned my plan to go there for a phone call, hoping for better reception by the river, one of Dufi\u2019s sons again cautioned me about the jaguar. Dufi, however, quickly reassured me. I had nothing to fear because jaguars dislike the soapy, perfumed scent of white people, which, he added, is precisely the smell that attracts dolphins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As I reached the Caquet\u00e1 in the late afternoon, I sensed the dolphin smell again. Odours and attraction, I thought \u2013 at least it works both ways.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-fe48e5de wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div style=\"--wp--block-button--width: 50;\" class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-width wp-block-button__width wp-block-button__width-50\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-primary-background-color has-background has-custom-font-size wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/aeon.co\/essays\/why-the-andoque-of-the-amazon-fear-the-seductive-dolphin\/?src=longreads\" style=\"padding-top:15px;padding-right:15px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:15px;font-size:20px\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read the story<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-light-gray-background-color has-background\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\t<div\n\t\tclass=\"wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles is-style-borders wpnbha is-grid columns-3 colgap-3 ts-2 is-style-borders\"\n\t\tstyle=\"\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t<div data-posts data-current-post-id=\"258728\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"article-section-title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span>More picks on anthropology <\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"258728\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-aeon tag-amazon-jungle tag-andoque tag-anthropology tag-dolphins tag-eliran-arazi tag-indigneous tag-longreads tag-tripes category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/08\/26\/dolphins-and-other-lovers\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Dolphins and Other Lovers<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tEliran Arazi | Aeon | August 20, 2026 | 6,500 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>&#8220;The Andoque of the Amazon know what we have forgotten: the forest\u2019s most beautiful creatures are also its most dangerous.&#8221;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"239843\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-aeon tag-anthropology tag-bodies tag-culture tag-design tag-fashion tag-history tag-matthew-mccormack tag-shoes tag-society category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2025\/07\/01\/shoes-history-society\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Walk In These<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tMatthew McCormack | Aeon | June 30, 2025 | 3,205 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>&#8220;Shoes are deeply personal, literally moulded to our lives. But they create our social lives as much as express them.&#8221;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"234089\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-anthropology tag-human-behavior tag-kirsten-bell tag-laughter category-editors-pick category-uncategorized type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2025\/01\/23\/the-strange-power-of-laughter\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">The Strange Power of Laughter<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tKirsten Bell | Sapiens | January 21, 2025 | 1603 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>&#8220;An anthropologist explores laughter as a far more complex phenomenon than simple delight\u2014reflecting on its surprising power to disturb and disrupt.&#8221;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"186972\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-aeon tag-anthropology tag-april-nowell tag-ice-age category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2023\/02\/15\/children-of-the-ice-age\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Children of the Ice Age<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tApril Nowell | Aeon | February 13, 2023 | 4,400 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>&#8220;With the help of new archaeological approaches, our picture of young lives in the Palaeolithic is now marvellously vivid.&#8221;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"177925\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-anthropology tag-architecture tag-deep-time tag-earthquakes tag-geology tag-mexico-city category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2022\/07\/14\/deep-time-sickness\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Deep Time Sickness<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tLachlan Summers | Noema | July 14, 2022 | 3,699 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>&#8220;In Mexico, people who are &#8216;tocado&#8217;\u2014&#8217;touched&#8217;\u2014reveal that geological traumas, like earthquakes, can destabilize our concepts of health, identity and even time.&#8221;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;The Andoque of the Amazon know what we have forgotten: the forest\u2019s most beautiful creatures are also its most dangerous.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":698,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"single-feature.php","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"scaip_prevent_shortcode_addition":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"Eliran Arazi | Aeon | 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Soviets Drilled the Deepest Hole Ever"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For <em>Nautilus<\/em>, Charles Digges recounts a massive undertaking begun in 1970 by the Soviet Union: As part of its science program, they decided to dig into Earth. Known as the Kola Superdeep Borehole, at 40,230 feet, it was\u2014and is\u2014the deepest human-made hole on the planet. While the hole didn&#8217;t go as deep as they planned, the project gave geologists a new understanding of the subterranean world and the earth&#8217;s deep continental crust\u2014a place more alive and dynamic than they ever thought possible. <\/p>\n<span hidden class=\"__iawmlf-post-loop-links\" data-iawmlf-links=\"[{&quot;id&quot;:48951,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/nautil.us\\\/the-soviets-drilled-the-deepest-hole-ever-1283561?src=longreads&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20260825151628\\\/https:\\\/\\\/nautil.us\\\/the-soviets-drilled-the-deepest-hole-ever-1283561?src=longreads&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-08-25 15:32:09&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-08-28 16:05:44&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-08-31 18:19:41&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-03 21:45:50&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-06 23:14:15&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-10 06:56:47&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-13 08:39:46&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-16 11:18:40&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-19 17:55:33&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-22 18:39:42&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-09-22 18:39:42&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;}]\"><\/span>\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Other discoveries proved just as momentous. Nearly 22,000 feet beneath the surface, drill cores contained microscopic fossils from two dozen species of plankton that had drifted through an ancient sea more than 2 billion years ago. This showed that even after billions of years of burial deep within the continental crust, unmistakable evidence of some of Earth\u2019s earliest life had survived. Between 16,000 and 23,000 feet, the borehole encountered saline water circulating through fractures in crystalline rocks that geologists had long considered essentially dry. Rather than groundwater that had somehow seeped miles underground, the fluids appear to have originated within the crust itself. As ancient minerals were transformed by heat and pressure, they released chemically bound water, while reactions between water and iron-rich rocks generated hydrogen gas, showing that the supposedly inert continental crust was still chemically active billions of years after it had formed.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-fe48e5de wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div style=\"--wp--block-button--width: 50;\" class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-width wp-block-button__width wp-block-button__width-50\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-primary-background-color has-background has-custom-font-size wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/nautil.us\/the-soviets-drilled-the-deepest-hole-ever-1283561?src=longreads\" style=\"padding-top:15px;padding-right:15px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:15px;font-size:20px\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read the story<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-style-border has-light-gray-background-color has-background\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\t<div\n\t\tclass=\"wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles is-style-borders wpnbha is-grid columns-3 colgap-3 ts-2 is-style-borders\"\n\t\tstyle=\"\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t<div data-posts data-current-post-id=\"258723\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"article-section-title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span>More stories about rocks<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"258723\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-charles-digges tag-drilling tag-earth tag-geology tag-hole tag-nautiilus tag-rocks tag-science tag-soviet-union tag-underground category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/08\/25\/soviet-kola-superdeep-hole-earth\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">The Soviets Drilled the Deepest Hole Ever<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tCharles Digges | Nautilus | August 11, 2026 | 2,175 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>&#8220;What on Earth for?&#8221;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"257455\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-art tag-automation tag-building tag-coherence tag-geology tag-making tag-matt-seaton tag-rocks tag-stone-walls tag-the-atlantic tag-time tag-writing category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/07\/29\/stone-walls-new-england\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">The Beauty of a Stone Wall<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tMatt Seaton | The Atlantic | July 19, 2026 | 1,821 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>&#8220;Why we love them, and why I build them.&#8221;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"248714\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-california tag-earthquakes tag-geology tag-high-country-news tag-history tag-melissa-l-sevigny tag-plate-tectonics tag-science category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/01\/15\/how-plate-tectonics-revolutionized-our-understanding-of-earth\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">How Plate Tectonics Revolutionized Our Understanding of Earth<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tMelissa L. Sevigny | High Country News | January 5, 206 | 4,557 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>&#8220;And how scientist Tanya Atwater was at the center of it all.&#8221;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"248656\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-deep-time tag-earth tag-environment tag-high-country-news tag-history tag-marcia-bjornerud tag-rocks tag-science tag-wyoming category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/01\/13\/wyoming-rocks-geologic-history\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Meet the Oldest Rock in the West<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tMarcia Bjornerud | High Country News | January 9, 2026 | 4,246 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>&#8220;Wyoming\u2019s 3.5 billion-year-old geologic history reminds us that Earth is ever-changing.&#8221; <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"240171\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-butterfly tag-charles-darwin tag-deep-time tag-evolution tag-extinction tag-geology tag-harpers-magazine tag-lewis-hyde category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2025\/07\/10\/the-geological-sublime\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">The Geological Sublime<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tLewis Hyde | Harper\u2019s Magazine | June 18, 2025 | 6,655 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>&#8220;Butterflies, deep time, and climate change.&#8221;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"239939\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-atmos tag-climate-crisis tag-conversation tag-daphne-chouliaraki-milner tag-earth tag-earth-science tag-geologist tag-geology tag-interview tag-marcia-bjornerud tag-nature tag-rocks tag-science category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2025\/07\/03\/rocks-geological-time\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Why One Geologist Thinks We Should All Pay More Attention to Rocks<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tDaphne Chouliaraki Milner and Marcia Bjornerud | Atmos | June 25, 2025 | 2,930 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>&#8220;Professor Marcia Bjornerud urges us to understand rocks as records of earlier versions of the planet\u2014and as a call to protect its future.&#8221;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;What on Earth for?&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"single-feature.php","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"scaip_prevent_shortcode_addition":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"Charles Digges | Nautilus | August 11, 2026 | 2,175 words","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"republication-tracker-tool-hide-widget":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[15973],"tags":[25567,29200,21066,19258,29201,16823,19278,575,2410,3925],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[15385],"class_list":["post-258723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editors-pick","tag-charles-digges","tag-drilling","tag-earth","tag-geology","tag-hole","tag-nautiilus","tag-rocks","tag-science","tag-soviet-union","tag-underground","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Soviets Drilled the Deepest Hole Ever - Longreads<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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