Switch at Birth — But How? By Longreads Feature Two women gave birth on the same day in a place called Come By Chance. Half a century later, their children made a shocking discovery.
When Refugee Families are Separated, Women Carry the Burden By Longreads Feature The story of a Somali family uprooted by war and separated by America’s broken refugee resettlement system — and the siblings who brought them back together.
The Deadly Fentanyl Fraud Between the Doctor and the Pharmacist By Krista Stevens Highlight “Then, after he was done seeing patients for the day, he’d begin his other work. The work no one could find out about. The work that would destroy his life, along with hundreds of others.”
Why Bumblebees Love Cats and Other Beautiful Relationships By Longreads Feature On the wonders and benefits of natural relationships and what happens when humans meddle with the delicate balance between species.
Stand By Your Dictator By Krista Stevens Highlight “The UN gave up trying to count the war’s death toll in 2016, when it had already reached nearly half a million. More than 10m Syrians are refugees.”
Good Naked vs. Bad Naked By Krista Stevens Highlight “As marriages go, ours is an infant. Soft-skulled and milk-breathed. We’ve been married for two years, together for five.”
Pop Culture Portrays OCD as a Blessing. It’s Not. By Krista Stevens Highlight “The Wall Street Journal recently used the headline ‘We All Need OCD Now’ for an article on COVID-19 … Finally, my debilitating mental illness has a timely hook!”
The Joy of a Pointless Walk By Carolyn Wells Highlight “Maybe walking into some marshes, and deciding at an undetermined future point to stop walking, was what was available to the Romantics, but I think we can do better.”
Why Mother Maybelle Carter’s Work Was Never Done By Krista Stevens Highlight “In a few years’ time, however, she became a different kind of working woman: a musician by trade and one of the hardest working women in country music.”
Out There I Have to Smile By Heather Lanier Feature Heather Lanier explores the pressure to perform happiness.
Congratulations, You Now Own a Newspaper By Krista Stevens Highlight “’I think if the town survives, the newspaper will survive. I think we’re so intertwined. It’s not going to be one without the other. Our fates are going to be the same.'”
When Death Came to Mauritius By Krista Stevens Highlight “Black waves bring animals to the town’s shore. Sticky corpses float on the oil.”
Graded by an Algorithm By Carolyn Wells Highlight “Algorithms…don’t go on mutant rampages, they only sometimes reveal and amplify the cruddy human biases that underpin them.”
“People are dying waiting” By Krista Stevens Highlight “Miguel Jr. and Jeannette are troubled that Miguel’s doctors didn’t present ECMO as an option, and then resisted the idea when the family suggested it.”
“Addiction is a thief of your goodbyes” By Krista Stevens Highlight “I got angry, my mother cried, the addicts got high. That became a holiday theme for years to come.”
“The Internet Is Inside Us”: Patricia Lockwood on the Portal, Twitter, and Her New Novel By Cheri Lucas Rowlands Highlight In an interview at GQ, Patricia Lockwood talks about the perils of being extremely online.
Taking Your Butt to a Higher Level By Carolyn Wells Highlight “Working in concert with the perfect breasts, the perfect bottom turns the body into the shape of an S. ‘It’s the classic hourglass figure,’ said Melissa. ‘That’s what you go after.'”
Dear Mom & Dad: We Need to Talk about QAnon By Seyward Darby Highlight Children Of QAnon believers are desperately trying to deradicalize their parents.
The Big Bear Reading List By Carolyn Wells Feature The elusive bear is a thing of fascination, and writers have a lot to say about them.
“A Series of Small Collapses Caused by Continual Neglect” By Krista Stevens Highlight “A series of small collapses is how they come to be radicalized.”
Life Goals: Power Couple Megan Rapinoe and Sue Bird By Krista Stevens Highlight “When two people are on the same page, and they love each other, and they’re working towards something better, you can do a lot of good things.”
Justin Townes Earl: The Saint of Lost Causes By Krista Stevens Highlight Fellow singer-songwriter Jessica Lea Mayfield, who frequently toured with Earle, described his gift more simply: “He was able to explain trouble better than most.”
Getting Up When You Fall From the Sky By Carolyn Wells Highlight “Fear coursed through my veins. A horrible metallic taste, worse than bile, rose in my throat. The taste of terror.”
A Young Cartographer’s Mission to Map the Catholic Church — and Fight Climate Change By Cheri Lucas Rowlands Highlight “The role of the cartographer isn’t just data analytics,” says Molly Burhans, an activist mapping the land assets of the Catholic Church. “It’s also storytelling.”
Binders Full of Men By Jennifer Berney Feature In an excerpt from her new book on fertility, feminism, and queer family-building, Jennifer Berney explores the possibilities of sperm banks.
Earl King Deserves His Due By Krista Stevens Highlight Earl King’s “discs were among the rare ones where the words were as important as the music, where blues guitar was balanced with second-line piano, and where the B-sides were as strong as the A-sides.”
Making Art Awash in Grief By Krista Stevens Highlight “In art and grief there are days you’re not proud of, days the emotions turn ugly, days the images don’t turn out the way you want. But that’s the human in us, and it belongs in the process. “
The Heavy Burden of Breasts By Carolyn Wells Highlight “He covers his face with his hands. He doesn’t cry. He hasn’t really cried for eight years – since he started with testosterone injections.”
