There’s a Fine Line Between “Discovering” and “Interloping” By Michelle Weber Highlight It’s only “discovery” if you assume the place — or the people — has no meaningful existence apart from your visit. Surprise: you’re not that important.
Maybe What We Need Is … More Politics? By Aaron Timms Feature Recent books by economists who hope to “save capitalism” dismiss popular ideas as “just politics.” But why assume the popular is the enemy of the good?
Class Dismissed By Alison Stine Feature When she attends an elite private college on scholarship, Alison Stine discovers that education isn’t quite the equalizer she expected it to be.
‘I Saw My Countrymen Marched Out of Tacoma’ By Joy Lanzendorfer Feature It started in Eureka, then it spread. Up and down the Pacific Coast, white mobs turned on Chinese-Americans.
Magen David and Me By Marya Zilberberg Feature After facing persecution in the former Soviet Union and a new wave of antisemitism in the United States, Marya Zilberberg decides to put her Jewishness on display.
You’re Just Too Good to Be True By Kavita Das Feature My on-again, off-again love affair with Engelbert Humperdinck.
Mothers of the Future By Thea Prieto Feature In a new memoir, Sophia Shalmiyev attempts to reunite with her missing mother through scraps, signs, and surrogates.
How Do You Get Help When No One Believes You? By Michelle Weber Highlight “Asylum” technically means “a place of safety or refuge,” but that’s not now many psychiatric in-patients experience their time on psych wards.
Versage By Longreads Feature Following knock-off fashion’s flow from Lagos to Guangzhou (and back again).
The New Scabs: Stars Who Cross the Picket Line By Soraya Roberts Feature “The opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude,” wrote George Orwell in 1946, and it still stands.
Wrestling With the Ghosts In My Head By Janet Steen Feature Janet Steen tries to understand the shifting causes behind a decade of mysterious migraine pain.
Lean On By Longreads Feature A declaration of dependence, excerpted from Briallen Hopper’s new essay collection.
Every Day I Write the Book By Michael Musto Feature At 63, Michael Musto reveals how he keeps managing to add new chapters to the consistently unfolding story of his career.
The Lost Boys of #MeToo By Soraya Roberts Feature When we hear “sexual abuse” we think “women and girls.” But Hollywood’s boy actors are suffering in a different way.
Almost Undefeated: The Forgotten Football Upset of 1976 By Britni de la Cretaz Feature How the Toledo Troopers, the most dominant female football team of all time, met their match.
A Second Passport By Pam Mandel Feature Normally, kibbutz volunteers visit Israel and return home. Pam Mandel went on to Egypt, and kept going . . .
‘Black Flight’ out of Chicago By Danielle Jackson Highlight By 2030, Chicago’s Black population will have decreased by half a million people in 50 years.
The Cabin By Lavinia Spalding Feature In a tiny, remote Utah town, Lavinia Spalding learns the difference between longing and belonging.
Elegy in Times Square By Lily Burana Feature A former teenage peep show girl looks back on a queer love story that began in New York’s notorious red-light district.
The Classroom Origins of Toxic Masculinity By Soraya Roberts Feature It’s a relatively new term for a concept as old as time.
What Falls to Earth By Susanna Space Feature Grieving the mysterious death of her father, Susanna Space seeks refuge in the study of meteors.
What He Left Behind By Kira Martin Feature Kira Martin struggles through her connection – both emotional and physical – with her troubled and destructive son.
Chimayó By Longreads Feature Esmé Weijun Wang discovers a new interpretation of faith while on two kindred pilgrimages: one to find an accurate medical diagnosis, one to a sacred site in New Mexico.
This Is the Excellent Foppery of the World By Michelle Weber Highlight Mercury’s in retrograde, so it’s a great day to read this post.
The Weather and the Wall By Will Meyer Feature Climate change and the border wall are more connected than you might think.
The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee By Longreads Feature “Our cultures are not dead and our civilizations have not been destroyed. Our present tense is evolving as rapidly and creatively as everyone else’s.”
Traveling While Black Across the Atlantic Ocean By Ethelene Whitmire Feature Following in the footsteps of African Americans traveling to Denmark in the early 20th century, Ethelene Whitmire experiences a 21st century transatlantic crossing.
True Crime and the Trash Balance By Soraya Roberts Feature True crime has a reputation for being trashy, but a recent renaissance has it tipping into advocacy.
The Gift Economy By Joanne Solomon Feature In the desert at Burning Man, Joanne Solomon dissects the implicit transaction that defines her cross-cultural love affair.
