Spencer Seabrooke wanted to break a slacklining record. The only problem was that if he failed, he’d die.
Editor’s Pick
Posted inEditor's Pick
The High Cost of Cheap Labor
At least half of all farmworkers in the United States are undocumented Mexican immigrants. And “documentation” often dictates inclusion in a guest-worker program that’s been compared to slavery. Americans avoid these jobs, yet elected a president who promised mass deportation. There’s a crisis brewing in our fields, and it’s about to get much, much worse.
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Rise of Roxane Gay
A profile of hyper-prolific essayist, novelist, short story writer, comic book author and tweeter Roxane Gay. Author Molly McArdle brings to light Gay’s prominence not only as a brilliant author, but as one of the literary community’s most upstanding citizens, frequently championing under-recognized writers, and tirelessly battling bigotry of all stripes in various ways–most recently […]
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‘What kind of a childhood is that?’
The story of Zaine, Arianna, and Zoie Pulliam — three kids under 17 living in South Charleston, West Virginia. Deemed “opiate orphans,” they exemplify a generation of children whose parents have died of drug overdoses as a result of the opioid epidemic.
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Meet the Woman Who Helps Humanize Murderers
Mitigation specialist Jennifer Wynn investigates the upbringing of defendants on trial — often for their lives — to humanize clients in a bid to convince at least one juror to bypass the death penalty for a life in prison without parole. Wynn shares the stories of three of her clients — men charged with murder, […]
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Killer, Kleptocrat, Genius, Spy: the Many Myths of Vladimir Putin
Russian-born journalist and author Keith Gessen’s analysis of seven theories about Putin borne of “Putinology,” a long-standing tradition in eastern Europe, newly adopted by Americans as a diversion in the Trump era.
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The Faces of Obamacare
As the GOP discusses repealing the Affordable Care Act, it’s essential to look at some of the lives that nationalized health care has improved and saved, and at the activists who helped get eligible people enrolled. Here are a few from Texas.
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The Fighting Azov Dolphins
The Mariupol, Ukraine Dolphins play (American) football seven miles from the front lines — a weekly chance for “three hours of American way of life.”
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The Librarian of Congress and the Greatness of Humility
Armed with a drawerful of butterscotch candy and a charge to safeguard America’s past, Carla Hayden may be the last person left in Washington with a hopeful eye to future.
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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.”