Automattic

“Not all my favorite animal reads this year are about dogs, or even directly about animals, they’re more about the complex ways humans interact with and react to animals. Some of these are a reach, but they’re all excellent reads with animals (in one case, a Triassic period aquatic crustacean, no really) as the instigator.”

Sara Melngailis had a thriving vegan restaurant visited by customers like Alec Baldwin, Chelsea Clinton, and Anne Hathaway — and then she met Anthony Strangis.

Christina Frangou writes on becoming a widow at age 36, after her husband Spencer died of kidney cancer, 42 days after diagnosis.

Concerned that she’s a “bad victim,” a writer is silent about being raped—until she isn’t.

Still looking for some post-election inspiration? Try watching Heathers, and/or standing in front of a classroom. Pete Coviello pens an essay on “loving your students, hating your enemies, and Winona.”

Residents in luxury buildings are rarely swayed by the economic calculus of saving energy. What does this mean for architecture that tries to respond to local climates and global warming?

Many people can’t believe that a talented, widely published sports writer makes his living by giving boxing lessons in Central Park. But Brin­-Jonathan Butler is for real. You can see for yourself, and like the boxers he writes about, he fights to get by.

While his American neighbors to the south argue over a Muslim registry and deportations, one Canadian imam works to save fellow Muslims from radicalization. Enlightening people with knowledge is his true jihad.

“The Obamas are not Teflon. The Obamas are Lonsdaleite. Even as our nation convulses and writhes, a king snake biting itself, the Obamas stand calm. America may well be broken. The Obamas are not.”

At Maisonneuve, Seila Rizvic reflects on contacting Staton Winter 20 years after he photographed her at age two, along with her parents as Bosnian refugees.