“The draw of a virtual restaurant is that of online shopping: The same products no matter where you are, or sometimes products exclusive to the virtual world. It’s fast food on an even grander scale.”
Cheri Lucas Rowlands
Cheri has been an editor at Longreads since 2014.
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Long Afterlife of a Terrible Crime
“Decades after her mother was killed, Regina Alexander reached out to the son of the people who did it.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Black Vanguard in White Utopias
“Country music issues a promissory note to its white listeners. The promise is that no matter how much the world around them may be changing, a country radio station or concert will be a safe space for white sentimentality.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The (Other) French Chef
“Julia Child’s collaborator Simone Beck has lingered as an object of pity in public memory. But maybe Beck didn’t want stardom at all.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
House of Cards
An interactive visual investigation detailing how decades of problems led to the collapse of a condominium tower in Surfside, Florida.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Under the Wheel
“I have always been drawn to stories about people who try to escape — escape their neighborhoods, their families, their histories — and who instead become what they were running from.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
This Isn’t the California I Married
“The honeymoon’s over for its residents now that wildfires are almost constant. Has living in this natural wonderland lost its magic?”
Posted inEditor's Pick
After ALS Struck, He Became the World’s Most Advanced Cyborg
“Scientist Dr. Peter Scott-Morgan is pushing the boundaries of what it means to be human.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The End of Travel
“Driven by the need for a storied life, I relished the opportunity for endless travel. Is that a moment in time, now over?”
Posted inEditor's Pick
‘My Sincere Condolences’
Inside the struggles and heartaches of FEMA’s massive COVID funeral assistance program.