The Swan (Mascot) that Would Not Be Tamed By Ben Huberman Highlight The story of a football team’s mascot, the man inside the costume, and the town that rallied around its local hero.
The Current Hot Chicken Craze Is Also about Race and Gentrification By Ben Huberman Highlight In Nashville, an exploration of the current obsession with the city’s signature dish: hot chicken.
‘Turn Off Your Brain and Just Trust Instinct’: Q-Tip on the Evolving Sound of Hip-Hop By Cheri Lucas Rowlands Highlight Kyle Kramer, editor at Noisey, talks with A Tribe Called Quest’s Q-Tip about staying true to himself while evolving with the sound of hip-hop.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week By Longreads Reading List Our top stories of the week, as chosen by the editors at Longreads.
‘Dance Me to the End of Love’: Joan Juliet Buck on Her Platonic Friendship with Almost-Lover Leonard Cohen By Sari Botton Highlight “Under the influence of Leonard Cohen’s words, Germaine Greer’s polemic, and [Anais] Nin’s lies, I believed that sexual rapture was the key to connection through chaos.”
Why Should a Website Decide Where You’re From? By Michelle Weber Highlight In Real Life Mag, information accessibility and data-use expert Zara Rahman explores the coercive power of the location drop-down menu.
How Tiny, Yet Über-Efficient Spider Brains Can Improve Computer Technology By Krista Stevens Highlight Big brains offer no advantage in the animal kingdom.
The Religious Iconography of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ By Michelle Weber Highlight A vast range of political, historical, and religious influences went into Margaret Atwood’s dystopia, including one unexpected logo.
24-Hour Competitive Rock Climbing: Finger Tips as Rough as Rhino Skin By Krista Stevens Highlight Why would anyone want to find out how many rock climbs they can do in a 24-hour period? For fun, of course.
Want To See a Polar Bear? Just Follow the Bones By Michelle Weber Highlight In one Alaskan town, the bone pile is a bounty for hungry polar bears and enterprising tour guides.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week By Longreads Weekly Top 5 This week, we’re sharing stories from Amy Wallace, Katherine Laidlaw, Lisa Miller, Porochista Khakpour, and Lauren Schwartzberg.
The Rules For Being John Hinckley By Michelle Weber Highlight In a fascinating New York magazine profile of John Hinckley, recently released, writer Lisa Miller lays out the conditions of his freedom.
Stories of Immigration as Protest: Letters to Donald Trump By Krista Stevens Highlight Barbara Zitwer, Colm Tóibín, Elham Manea, Linda Coverdale, Kyung-sook Shin, and Anne Landsman share their stories of immigration to protest Donald Trump’s Muslim Ban.
Peanut Butter and Jelly: The NBA’s Secret Addiction By Krista Stevens Highlight The secret sweet and salty comfort food that fuels the NBA? None other than the lowly, delicious, peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind By Michelle Weber Highlight Sam Kriss, in a post he calls his “magnum opus” in The Outline, explores the age-old warning not to stare directly at the sun.
MAWA! The Christian Alt-Right Wants to Make America White Again By Michelle Weber Highlight Sarah Posner introduces some of the main players in “alt-right Christianity” in her exploration of American Evangelicals’ embrace of Trump.
On Being Trans, Disabled and Using the Washroom: ‘I have a right to exist safely in public spaces.’ By Krista Stevens Highlight Christian McMahon so rightly reminds us that everyone has “a right to exist safely in public spaces.”
Who’s Been Seeding the Alt-Right? Follow the Money to Robert Mercer By Michelle Weber Highlight Jane Mayer profiles hedge fund manager, alt-right supporter, political funder, and Ayn Rand-wannabe Robert Mercer in the New Yorker.
Am I in an Abusive Relationship? ‘I knew if I had to ask I already knew the answer.’ By Krista Stevens Highlight Katherine Laidlaw recalls an abusive relationship in which her boyfriend threatened her with a boxcutter.
Don’t Fear the Painter, or the Tyranny of Whiteness By Michelle Weber Highlight In Chromophobia, David Batchelor explores color theory and argues for the West’s historical fear of color.
How a Story Becomes a ‘Hopeful Thing’: George Saunders on His Writing Process By Krista Stevens Highlight At the Guardian, the author recounts how it takes “hundreds of drafts” and “thousands of incremental adjustments” to form a story into a “hopeful thing.”
There Are Reasons We Can’t Handle the Truth By Michelle Weber Highlight Julie Beck digs deep into news silos, alternative facts, and cognitive dissonance.
A Small Town Crushed By a Big Weight — the Military-Industrial Complex By Michelle Weber Highlight This meticulously-reported piece explores the bungled investigation into a 1994 double murder in Oak Grove, Kentucky, a small town weighed down by the military-industrial complex.
27 Years and 1,000 Break-Ins: North Pond Hermit — Book Edition By Krista Stevens Commentary An excerpt from The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit — Michael Finkel’s book on Christopher Knight, the hermit who survived by committing 1,000 break-ins over nearly three decades.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week By Longreads Weekly Top 5 This week, we’re sharing stories by Sam Knight, Rick Perlstein, Ijeoma Oluo, Keziah Weir, and George Saunders.
A Nuclear Bomb at Ground Zero, and What Happens Next By Krista Stevens Highlight At the Atlantic, two researchers discuss their study of how humans might respond after a nuclear attack on Manhattan.
The Midwestern Birthplace of March Madness By Matt Giles Commentary At ESPN, the surprising marketing history behind the phrase, and the phenomenon, of March Madness.
Filmmaker Kyrre Lien Traveled the World Interviewing Internet Trolls in Person By Krista Stevens Highlight Filmmaker Kyrre Lien was curious about what drives people who make hateful comments online, so he traveled the world to interview internet trolls in person.
The Restless Ghosts of Baiersdorf By Sabine Heinlein Feature A small German town is haunted by its Jewish legacy and antisemitic past.
Voices from the Last Days of Obamacare: A Reading List By Erin Blakemore Reading List One of the best ways to assess the ACA’s impact on real people is to hear from those who have experienced its costs and benefits.
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