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Editors’ Picks Features Topics Best Of 2020
Longreads
Deconstructing Disney: Queer Coding and Masculinity in Pocahontas
By Jeanna Kadlec Feature

Pocahontas may seem like a strange vehicle for discussing our gay villains. But Disney gets inventive when they need to circumvent white people’s historical responsibility for genocidal atrocities — and queerness is a useful scapegoat.

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Longreads Best of 2020

A collection of our favorite stories from the past year
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Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s Lost Album, Human Highway
By David Gambacorta Feature

How CSNY fumbled a chance to record their best album.

An Atlas of the Cosmos
By Shannon Stirone Feature

We’ve mapped Mars, the Moon, the solar system, even our own galaxy. Which means there is only one thing left to understand in this symbolic way and that is the entirety of the cosmos.

Out There I Have to Smile
By Heather Lanier Feature

Heather Lanier explores the pressure to perform happiness.

Latest Picks

Donovan Deaths: Families Kept in Dark While Inmates Die of COVID-19
By Mary Plummer , Jill Castellano  / inewsource
There is No After
By Molly Osberg  / Jezebel
Graves by the Sea
By Emily Cataneo  / The Assembly
The Man Who Keeps the Far Right Online
By William Turton , Joshua Brustein  / Bloomberg Businessweek
Ghost Walls
By Raffi Khatchadourian  / The New Yorker
“I Felt Hate More Than Anything”
By Kathryn Hurd , Gisela Pérez de Acha , Ellie Lightfoot  / ProPublica
Out of Thin Air
By Sirin Kale  / The Guardian
The Road to Terfdom
By Katie J.M. Baker  / Lux
Genetic Mapping
By Emma Gilchrist  / Maisonneuve
Ready
By Liam Boylan-Pett  / Lope
View more

Latest Posts

The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
By Longreads Weekly Top 5

This week, we’re sharing stories from Breai Mason-Campbell, Simon J. Levien, Paola Capó-García, Emma Gilchrist, and Liam Boylan-Pett.

“We Can’t Rush This Kind of Power”: An Educator on Teaching Poetry to High Schoolers During the Pandemic
By Cheri Lucas Rowlands Highlight

“Poetry has a way of forcing one into recognition, or transformation, or both if we’re lucky.”

‘The Price For Your Return to Normal Is My Life’: On Dismantling Layers of the Doll
By Cheri Lucas Rowlands Highlight

“I have to wear all of these dolls, you see, so that Whiteness does not have to wear any.”

No Escape from Online Memories
By Carolyn Wells Highlight

The algorithms that drive Facebook, Pinterest, and a million other apps don’t know when your life changes course — and can keep up a stream of painful memories.

The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
By Longreads Weekly Top 5

This week, we’re sharing stories from Eli Murray, Rebecca Woolington, and Corey G. Johnson, Ava Kofman, Olly Nze, Dina Gachman, and Larissa Pham.

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Switch at Birth — But How?
By Longreads Feature

Two women gave birth on the same day in a place called Come By Chance. Half a century later, their children made a shocking discovery.

When Refugee Families are Separated, Women Carry the Burden
By Longreads Feature

The story of a Somali family uprooted by war and separated by America’s broken refugee resettlement system — and the siblings who brought them back together.

Listen to the Sound of My Voice
By Seyward Darby Highlight

How a journalist found her voice as her mother lost hers.

The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
By Longreads Weekly Top 5

This week, we’re sharing stories from Megan Evershed, Mark Mann, Jaelani Turner-Williams, Minelle Mahtani, and Kim Cross.

The Silent Farm for Developmental Disabilities
By Carolyn Wells Highlight

“David believes that the men who come to the farm are able to connect deeply with the animals and the natural world, in part because of the way that society has dismissed them.”

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Popular Posts

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s Lost Album, Human Highway
By David Gambacorta Feature

How CSNY fumbled a chance to record their best album.

Shelved: Dr. Dre’s Detox
By Tom Maxwell Feature

Killer beats, huge hype, and failure to follow through.

Why Bumblebees Love Cats and Other Beautiful Relationships
By Longreads Feature

On the wonders and benefits of natural relationships and what happens when humans meddle with the delicate balance between species.

Switch at Birth — But How?
By Longreads Feature

Two women gave birth on the same day in a place called Come By Chance. Half a century later, their children made a shocking discovery.

Whatever Happened to ______ ?
By Longreads Feature

Envy over her success led her husband, also a writer, to become violent. She fights every day for her safety — and to avoid being relegated to obscurity like so many writers who are mothers.

Deconstructing Disney: Queer Coding and Masculinity in Pocahontas
By Jeanna Kadlec Feature

Pocahontas may seem like a strange vehicle for discussing our gay villains. But Disney gets inventive when they need to circumvent white people’s historical responsibility for genocidal atrocities — and queerness is a useful scapegoat.

Books

When Refugee Families are Separated, Women Carry the Burden
By Longreads Feature

The story of a Somali family uprooted by war and separated by America’s broken refugee resettlement system — and the siblings who brought them back together.

Why Bumblebees Love Cats and Other Beautiful Relationships
By Longreads Feature

On the wonders and benefits of natural relationships and what happens when humans meddle with the delicate balance between species.

The Powerful Decide
By Longreads Feature

What makes good or bad design happen anywhere depends on who has the most power.

‘The Sea and Sky Decide What They Will Allow’
By Krista Stevens Highlight

“I’m working on a book about Arctic explorers, and that means swimming in a sea of sorrow.”

The Grieving Landscape
By Longreads Feature

Upon discovering that her mother had been a member of the group Women Strike For Peace (WSP), Heidi Hutner becomes obsessed with feminist nuclear history.

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Current Events

The Syrian Rebels Who Found Refuge in Books
By Carolyn Wells Highlight

In a town under siege from Assad’s regime, a small group built a library from books rescued from the rubble.

“People are dying waiting”
By Krista Stevens Highlight

“Miguel Jr. and Jeannette are troubled that Miguel’s doctors didn’t present ECMO as an option, and then resisted the idea when the family suggested it.”

The Silencing of #MeToo Reporting in Germany
By Seyward Darby Highlight

How an HIV specialist in Germany is using media law to erase reporting of sexual abuse allegations against him.

What Happened to Cruise Ship Workers Once the Passengers Were Gone?
By Cheri Lucas Rowlands Highlight

At the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, cruise companies “went to great lengths to repatriate vacationers.” But for crew members, it was a different story.

Neighborhood Watch: The Strange Aftermath of a ‘Karen’ Encounter
By Seyward Darby Highlight

In a progressive New Jersey community, racial solidarity is complicated.

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Essays & Criticism

‘The Price For Your Return to Normal Is My Life’: On Dismantling Layers of the Doll
By Cheri Lucas Rowlands Highlight

“I have to wear all of these dolls, you see, so that Whiteness does not have to wear any.”

Listen to the Sound of My Voice
By Seyward Darby Highlight

How a journalist found her voice as her mother lost hers.

Good Naked vs. Bad Naked
By Krista Stevens Highlight

“As marriages go, ours is an infant. Soft-skulled and milk-breathed. We’ve been married for two years, together for five.”

Pop Culture Portrays OCD as a Blessing. It’s Not.
By Krista Stevens Highlight

“The Wall Street Journal recently used the headline ‘We All Need OCD Now’ for an article on COVID-19 … Finally, my debilitating mental illness has a timely hook!”

Out There I Have to Smile
By Heather Lanier Feature

Heather Lanier explores the pressure to perform happiness.

View all
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