The Unseen in a Pandemic without Technology By Carolyn Wells Highlight “It’s been more than a year that we haven’t been able to see him…We’re getting old. We don’t know how much time we have left.
‘Everyone Benefits from a Frozen Arctic’ By Krista Stevens Highlight “The world should not, cannot, go back to business as usual without a clearer understanding and consciousness of how we live.”
What Happened to Cruise Ship Workers Once the Passengers Were Gone? By Cheri Lucas Rowlands Highlight At the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, cruise companies “went to great lengths to repatriate vacationers.” But for crew members, it was a different story.
‘Almost Home’: On Place, Legacy, Growing Up in Atlanta, and Symbols of White Supremacy By Cheri Lucas Rowlands Highlight An essay on growing up in the South, legacy, and a place rooted in white supremacy.
2020: One Year, Lifetime Consequences By Carolyn Wells Highlight “I think there is a better-than-good chance that our behaviors will change as a result of this pandemic. I am currently creating a ledger and thinking about opportunities, not just for innovation, but for a better humanity.”
Ten Outstanding Short Stories to Read in 2021 By Longreads Feature Pravesh Bhardwaj read and and shared 304 short stories on the #longreads Twitter hashtag in 2020. Here are his favorites.
The Music of the Cave By Carolyn Wells Highlight “Though the team didn’t find the metal library, Armstrong put the adventure ‘up there with the moon landing.'”
Is the Cure for Cancer Locked in Shrunken Heads from the Amazon? By Seyward Darby Highlight Could shrunken heads from the Amazon hold the key to curing cancer?
The Case of the Disappearing Bucatini By Cheri Lucas Rowlands Highlight Having trouble finding bucatini? You are not alone.
The Rehab of Big Sky Country By Carolyn Wells Highlight “Daily treks in silence are an effective way to get anyone to reflect on their lives and consider what’s really important.”
The Boom and Bust Cycles of Rock Springs, Wyoming By Krista Stevens Highlight “The day I turned 18, the Astro Lounge called and asked me to come strip for them. I have no idea how they knew I’d turned 18.”
How Does the Story End? By Krista Stevens Highlight “How other people live is pretty much all I think about. Curiosity is the rock upon which fiction is built.”
Quarantine Brain: How ‘the Internet Became More Internet’ in 2020 By Cheri Lucas Rowlands Highlight Nothing made sense in 2020 — unless you were on the internet.
A Bit of Mud is Good for You By Carolyn Wells Highlight “Leung says a “misalignment with nature” in building design is partly to blame for our scourge of chronic diseases and the current pandemic.”
Alzheimer’s Before Forty By Carolyn Wells Highlight “Shawn says Jo asked him to promise he would never let him go into a nursing home, that he would help him find some way to end his life on his own terms.”
The Racist Healthcare System that Failed JaMarcus Crews By Krista Stevens Highlight “Donated kidneys are a precious, limited resource, and once again, Black Americans are at a disadvantage.”
Longreads Best of 2020: Investigative Reporting By Cheri Lucas Rowlands Feature Our top picks for investigative journalism this year.
The Grizzly Attack that Created a Bear Advocate By Carolyn Wells Highlight “The bear, still on all fours, was tall enough to look Mya in the eye. He huffed and gave a short growl. Then he charged.”
Longreads Best of 2020: Essays By Cheri Lucas Rowlands Feature A small sampling of standout essays published this year.
‘Hue’s Hue’: Katy Kelleher’s Column on Color By Krista Stevens Highlight “Tyrian purple was a difficult color to manufacture. Thousands of snails were required to create a single ounce of dye.”
Longreads Best of 2020: Profiles By Krista Stevens Feature Here’s a selection of profiles that resonated with us this year.
Plastic’s Broken Promise By Krista Stevens Highlight “The first one I saw was on the path outside my house: a single white plastic glove, the fingers curled inward like a sleeping animal.”
Longreads Best of 2020: Arts and Culture By Cheri Lucas Rowlands Feature Our top editors’ picks in arts and culture writing this year.
“Over a Glass of Wine and a Pint on a Quiet Friday Night” By Krista Stevens Highlight “Impending parenthood makes you reconsider the context of your own upbringing, and puts the work your parents did into a new light.”
Longreads Best of 2020: Science and Nature By Carolyn Wells Feature Our top picks in science and nature stories for 2020.
The Dark Side of Birding By Krista Stevens Highlight “Undeniably, eBird … brings birders together and allows for rapid information sharing. It’s also created new—and sometimes contentious—etiquette and social dynamics.”
Longreads Best of 2020: Sports and Games By Krista Stevens Feature With leagues across the world undergoing cancellations for much of the year, 2020 has been an interesting one in the world of sports. Here are some stories that resonated with us.
On Trees as Social Creatures and Fungi as the ‘Fabric of the Forest’ By Cheri Lucas Rowlands Highlight Trees were previously seen as individual and solitary organisms. But the research of Suzanne Simard shows otherwise.
Longreads Best of 2020: Music Writing By Krista Stevens Feature Music has been a salve this year, helping us cope with the myriad challenges that 2020 brought. Here are some favorite pieces of music writing we picked in 2020.
The Hungry Bears By Carolyn Wells Highlight “For the bears, the lack of salmon was a catastrophe on top of many others.”
