“Shoes are deeply personal, literally moulded to our lives. But they create our social lives as much as express them.”
Cheri Lucas Rowlands
Cheri has been an editor at Longreads since 2014.
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Wild Within the Walls
“From antiquity to modern times, Rome has been entangled with the wild animals who creep, slither, scurry, and nest among its pillars and palaces.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
How Societies Morph With the Seasons
“An evolutionary anthropologist details seasonal changes among foraging communities—and distills how the fixed political structures of industrialized societies are an outlier in human history.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
3 Teens Almost Got Away With Murder. Then Police Found Their Google Searches
“An arson attack in Colorado had detectives stumped. The way they solved the case could put everyone at risk.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
They Asked an A.I. Chatbot Questions. The Answers Sent Them Spiraling.
“Generative A.I. chatbots are going down conspiratorial rabbit holes and endorsing wild, mystical belief systems. For some people, conversations with the technology can deeply distort reality.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Final Flight of Captain Forrester
“Fifty years after the last American helicopter departed Saigon, 1,572 Americans are still lost in Vietnam. This is the story of a missing Marine from Odessa, Texas.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Gravekeeper’s Paradox
“People want permanent tombstones that also show decay.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Man Who Unsolved a Murder
“If you’re accused of a crime, will someone investigate your side of the story? In California, there’s no guarantee.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Hollywood Has Left L.A.
“For years, studios found it cheaper to shoot elsewhere. Post-industry-collapse, elsewhere is the only place they’ll shoot.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Teachers Are Not OK
“AI, ChatGPT, and LLMs ‘have absolutely blown up what I try to accomplish with my teaching.'”