I tried to coax imagery from my clients. When someone described a girlfriend as beautiful, I asked him to describe her in a certain moment. He said she looked so lovely when she held a baby. That was better. Some people really delivered. “I told you about my dream of you at the opera, wearing […]
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Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Why Good Health Care Depends on Nurses
Arnold Relman, a physician with more than six decades of experience, broke his neck and discovered what it’s like to be critically ill and cared for under today’s health care system.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Children Are the 'Forgotten Grievers'
The standard of care for decades for children who had suffered a loss did not help. Thinking it was best, adults urged children to move past their loss as quickly as possible. Mourning was broken. “Children have always been the forgotten grievers,” said Andy McNiel, executive director of the National Alliance for Grieving Children. “The […]
Posted inQuotes
'There are patterns in the language that are the language of suicide'
Back in the 1970s, as part of his own research, Shneidman asked a group of men at a union hall, “If you were going to commit suicide, what would you write?” The union hall experiment was, by contemporary research standards, ethically ambiguous at best. “You couldn’t do that today,” Pestian says. But the notes turned […]
Posted inGuest Pick, Nonfiction
'The Lost Girls of Rocky Mount': A Guest Pick by Douglas Williams
Douglas Williams is currently a doctoral student in political science at the University of Alabama, where his research centers around public policy and politics as it relates to disadvantaged communities and the labor movement. You can find him on Twitter at @DougWilliams85, at a collaborative blog on Southern progressivism called The South Lawn, as well as at The […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Your Body Is a Composite of Other Beings
In recent years, research has shown that what people commonly think of as “their” bodies contain roughly 10 microbial cells for each genetically human one. The microbial mass in and on a person may amount to just a few pounds, but in terms of genetic diversity these fellow travelers overwhelm their hosts, with 400 genes […]
Posted inQuotes
How Horror Stories Are Being Created in the Digital Age
‘Daddy, I had a bad dream.’ You blink your eyes and pull up on your elbows. Your clock glows red in the darkness — it’s 3:23. ‘Do you want to climb into bed and tell me about it?’ ‘No, Daddy.’ The oddness of the situation wakes you up more fully. You can barely make out […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Why Soda Expires in the Houses of the Super-Rich
In Harper’s, John P. Davidson discusses his time at The Starkey Institute, a “butler boot camp” which certifies estate managers to work for the super-rich (the story is currently only available to magazine subscribers).
Posted inBest of 2013
Longreads Best of 2013: My Favorite New Publisher Discovery
Roads & Kingdoms David Weiner (@daweiner) is creative and editorial director at Digg. Roads & Kingdoms makes me feel bad about myself in the best possible way. Ostensibly a travel and food site, Roads & Kingdoms is more like a revolver of adventure—each story a bullet that enlightens and inspires, educates and informs. Through them, […]
Posted inQuotes
What It's Like to Have a Transient Ischemic Attack
Recently, I suffered a brain attack—a few, in fact; so stealthy, they’re called transient. I’ve dropped stroke from my vocabulary, since it is too soft and soothing a word for an event that often goes unnoticed until it has choked your words and energy right out of you. A brain attack happens silently, and can […]