Our stories matter. And they are our legacies for future generations. (Plus: some free writing resources.)
Sari Botton
When Your Barber Assumes You’re a Racist Too
At 37, Isaac Fitzgerald reviews his relationship to his hair and his appearance throughout his life. But more than that, he considers the ways in which he’s grown past staying silent when racist barbers —and others who took his Gavin McInnes-inspired cut to mean he was a white supremacist, too — ran their mouths, uncensored, […]
The Storykiller and His Sentence: Rebecca Solnit on Harvey Weinstein
Rebecca Solnit considers Harvey Weinstein’s 23-year prison sentence through the lens of storytelling, and who gets to do it now that at least two men who were “in charge of stories” — Weinstein and Woody Allen — have in the past week lost so much of their power, and women are now finding their voices.
Behind One of the Sketchiest Men, a Sketchy Woman
Moe Tkacik reveals the web of shadiness lurking behind WeWork’s facade.
Rebekah Neumann’s Search For Enlightenment Fueled WeWork’s Collapse
Moe Tkacik takes a close look at the ways in which wealthy, new-agey Rebekah Paltrow Neumann — Gwyneth Paltrow’s cousin, Adam Neumann’s wife — helped fuel WeWork’s rise and spectacular fall.
People Don’t Get it’: Inside the World of Hyper-Realistic Baby Doll Collecting
Kelli Korducki dives into a subculture of (mostly) women who collect “reborns” — dolls made to look and feel like actual human infants. Sometimes the dolls are a source of emotional support and comfort; sometimes they are collectible art objects; and sometimes they are income generators for those who profit off of viral YouTube videos […]
Sharing Our Stories Was Supposed to Dispel Our Shame
Emily Gould reconsiders the likelihood of women’s first-person writing bringing about change.
Replaying My Shame
In the past 13 years, Emily Gould has become an accomplished author and feminist book publisher. As she prepares for the launch of her latest novel, Perfect Tunes, she worries that to many people, she will only ever be what she was for less than a year, in 2007: an editor at now defunct media […]
Between Russell Simmons and The World and Oprah
Russell Simmons moved to Bali to avoid the legal fallout from a litany of #metoo accusations, but that didn’t stop him from spending time, recently, in New York City. Veteran journalist Kevin Powell conducted many interviews with him there, attempting to understand his one-time idol’s perspective. In the wake of Oprah Winfrey’s withdrawal from producing […]
My Journey Through Tijuana for the Best Surgery $2,000 Can Buy
In Tijuana, uninsured freelancers Amy Martyn and her husband Aaron pursue inexpensive orthopedic surgery for his doubly broken ankle. For both better and worse, they get what they paid for.
