Our Words Will Save Us and Set Us Free By Jackson Bliss Feature In the wake of having his writing career belittled, Jackson Bliss becomes an interpreter for a refugee and comes to see words, translations, and storytelling as important acts of resistance.
Revisiting My Grandfather’s Garden By Mojgan Ghazirad Feature During a return trip to Tehran, Mojgan Ghazirad searches for her childhood home and witnesses the damage U.S. sanctions have brought to Iranian lives.
America’s Post-Frontier Hangover By Will Meyer Feature America binged on expansion, relying on land grabs as an engine of growth and a way to externalize racial hatred. Historian Greg Grandin asks, without a frontier, what can America be?
Everything is Fine By Sara Fredman Feature Sara Fredman thinks about the voices in her life as she raises young children and reckons with her fading father.
The End of Poker Night By Mindy Greenstein Feature Mindy Greenstein looks back on the gambling that was a big part of life with her Holocaust refugee parents.
“White” Isn’t Even Neutral When You’re Talking About Paint Colors By Michelle Weber Highlight Your systems will not protect you.
Jill the Ripper By Tori Telfer Feature True crime’s massive gender gap (95% of murderers are male) isn’t really one that needs fixing. And yet, since the beginning, a steadfast minority of Ripperologists have argued that Jack was really Jill.
If Only There Were Someone Who Would Listen By JW McCormack Feature Dror Burstein’s “Muck” sets a difficult course through themes of power, pita bread, and invasion, mixing up the biblical past and the just-as-lamentable present.
Where the Trouble Started By Saidee Sonnenberg Feature Decades after a childhood sexual assault, Saidee Sonnenberg tries to make sense of what happened.
The Beautiful Politics of the Backyard Barter System By Krista Stevens Highlight “My farm connects me to the world, the ground, its air, its water, its fauna, and people. In an introvert-kind-of-way. Which is to say, my-kind-of-way.”
The Problem With Nostalgia By Michael Musto Feature Michael Musto argues that wearing rose-colored glasses always leads to an unfair distortion — looking back on the best of the past while comparing it to the worst of the present.
Even the Dogs By Longreads Feature In an excerpt from her memoir, T Kira Madden recalls a harrowing adventure with her parents.
The Real Danger on the Promenade By Steffan Triplett Feature After coming out, Steffan Triplett considers rekindling a broken friendship, dancing with danger and mystery in a secluded area on the edge of town.
The Blaming of the Shrew By Sara Fredman Feature Golden Age antiheroes and the nasty women who humanized them.
Baring the Bones of the Lost Country: The Last Paleontologist in Venezuela By Zoe Valery Feature In light of recent events in crisis-ridden Venezuela, its last vertebrate paleontologist puts together key pieces of the baffling puzzle that the country has become in the past couple of decades.
The Reappearing Act By Audrey Olivero Feature In the aftermath of an eating disorder, Audrey Olivero builds a new relationship with her body — through knife-throwing.
Johnny Rotten, My Mom, and Me By Kimberly Mack Feature Kimberly Mack recalls the ways in which rock music bonded her with her African American mom, and how those fierce sounds helped them cope with the poverty, violence, and despair both outside and inside their Brooklyn home.
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.
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