Mehreen Kasana reveals the many true and beautiful meanings that you’ve never heard of behind “takbir” — the expression of Muslim faith, “Allahu Akbar” — literally, “God is great.”
Krista Stevens
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Meaning of Allahu Akbar
An essay on the many true and beautiful meanings you’ve never heard of behind “takbir” — the expression of Muslim faith, “Allahu Akbar” — literally, “God is great.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Rumpus Interview with George Saunders
In addition to plenty of great advice for aspiring writers, George Saunders reflects on the creative process for his new novel, Lincoln in the Bardo, the mystery of the “constellation of meaning” — the interviews, notes, and scenes that once distilled become his nonfiction work, and on bold compassion as the right course of resistance […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Phones Over Food: Why Mobile Phones Are More Important to Refugees
The Economist reports on how refugees prize mobile phone connection — even over food.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
What It’s Like to Drown
Fenella Souter reports in detail on what it’s like to drown
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Giving the Ultimate Gift: Granting the Wish to Die at Home
Andrew McMillen writes on palliative care as a critical service, and of the “power and the grace” required to care for those who are terminally ill and grant their dying wish: to die peacefully, at home.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Drowning statistics are a deadly reminder of our complex relationship with water
Fenella Souter reports in detail on what it’s like to drown, through the harrowing personal experience of a woman named Merav, who in a bid to show off to her boyfriend 40 years ago, jumped into the surf at Gunnamatta Beach in Victoria, Australia, and lived to regret it.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Phones are now indispensable for refugees
The Economist reports on how refugees prize mobile phone connection — even over food. Phones are their primary way to stay connected with family at home as they enter “informational no-man’s land,” not knowing who to trust, and where to go. Phones help them stay motivated with photos of family and successful migrants, and offer […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
‘4 the Boys’: The Tunnel Creek Avalanche, Five Years Later
Eva Holland talks to the survivors and explores the aftermath of the Tunnel Creek avalanche — the tragedy that inspired “Snow Fall” — five years after a massive snow slide claimed the lives of three men.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Profiles & Interviews, Quotes
On Midlife, Failure, and Thwarted Ambition: Sarah Manguso and 300 Arguments
Anna Furman interviews Sarah Manguso about the process of writing her new book 300 Arguments, her writing influences, failure and thwarted ambition, and how Sarah’s sleeping post-inauguration.