The Top 5 Longreads of the Week By Longreads Weekly Top 5 This week, we’re sharing stories from Emily Bazelon, Alex Ronan, Justine Harman, Emily Harnett, and Sam Leith.
Through a Glass, Tearfully By Maureen Stanton Feature Maureen Stanton contemplates her history of crying in inappropriate moments, and considers tears from gender-based and political perspectives.
Whatever Happened to ______ ? By Longreads Feature Envy over her success led her husband, also a writer, to become violent. She fights every day for her safety — and to avoid being relegated to obscurity like so many writers who are mothers.
Happily Never After By Soraya Roberts Feature By protecting ourselves and no one else, we destroy ourselves along with everyone else.
Searching Sephora for an Antidote to Aging — and Grief By Abby Mims Feature Five years after her mother’s death, while still grieving and suddenly middle-aged, Abby Mims turns to beauty products to cure what ails her.
The God Phone By Leora Smith Feature What happens when ordinary people play God to strangers? Leora Smith explores the history of one of the oldest art installations at Burning Man and the conversations that unfold there.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week By Longreads Weekly Top 5 This week, we’re sharing stories from Elizabeth Wurtzel, Nick Martin, Nafissa Thompson-Spires, David Wolman, and Jason Turbow.
The Price of Dominionist Theology By Eve Ettinger Feature After leaving fundamentalism, Eve Ettinger grapples with the loaded theological heritage of evangelical personal finance teachings.
Violence Girl By Longreads Feature How a young bilingual Latina became one of punk’s enduring icons and helped create a new musical universe.
Elizabeth Wurtzel Made it Okay to Write ‘Ouch’ By Sari Botton Highlight Today’s memoirists and personal essay writers owe a debt of gratitude to the Prozac Nation author for rewriting an inhibiting rule.
What I Did for (Strange) Love By Laura Bond Feature As a teen, Laura Bond went all out to meet Depeche Mode — and to hang onto her best friend.
Addiction’s Seismic Effects on a Family By Sarah Evans Feature A mother confronts the painful truths of trying to save a son who’s a danger not only to himself, but to the rest of the family as well.
When Media Miscalculations Pivot Talented People Out of a Job By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight Pivoting to video is only one of many ways media workers lose their jobs, but it’s still a horrible way.
Infatuation By Deena ElGenaidi Feature Deena ElGenaidi considers the ways in which adoring Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine from afar in her teens and early 20s provided a safe outlet for expressing desire.
(Who Gets to) Just Up and Move By Nicole Walker Feature Nicole Walker contemplates the nature of migration, and realizes there are two places you can never escape: the planet and your own head.
If My Scars Could Talk By Tega Oghenechovwen Feature Tega Oghenechovwen contemplates the ways in which acute childhood trauma can infect and compromise relationships later in life.
Jersey Girl By Longreads Feature Too Japanese for Americans and too American for the Japanese, one New Jersey native traces the influence of racism on her parents’ careers and her own life.
The 25 Most Popular Longreads Exclusives of 2019 By Longreads Feature The original reporting, personal essays, columns, and collaborations that were our most-read stories of the year.
Witness Mami Roar By Sonia Alejandra Rodriguez Feature Sonia Alejandra Rodriguez remembers growing up undocumented in the shadow of her mother and father’s tumultuous relationship.
Renovating a Family By Christine Kalafus Feature After her husband’s infidelity, Christine Kalafus re-architected her marriage. Now she needs to let her son in on the plans.
A Beloved Art Critic Sings His Swan Song By Sari Botton Highlight “Drink was destroying my life. Tobacco only shortens it, with the best parts over anyway.”
What the World’s Most Controversial Herbicide Is Doing to Rural Argentina By Longreads Feature After enormous lobbying efforts, Monsanto’s GMO soybeans, treated with Roundup, became the country’s largest export, as cancer rates and other health issues skyrocketed.
The Christmas Tape By Wendy McClure Feature Wendy McClure recounts how an old audio tape of holiday music becomes a record of family history, unspoken rituals, and grief.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week By Longreads Weekly Top 5 This week, we’re sharing stories from Elizabeth Van Brocklin, Brian Merchant, Christine Fennessy, Peter Schjeldahl, and Gabriella Paiella.
Longreads Best of 2019: Food Writing By Longreads Reading List We asked writers and editors to choose some of their favorite stories of the year in various categories. Here is the best in food writing.
An Addict, a Nurse, and a Christmas Resurrection By Suzanne Ohlmann Feature Working the night shift on an intensive care unit, Suzanne Ohlmann brushes up against death, Jesus, and her biological father.
Seedy By Elizabeth Logan Harris Feature Elizabeth Logan Harris recalls an incident in ’70s-era Radio City Music Hall when unwanted attention to her teenage body put her in league with her father.
In Jo’s Image By Jeanna Kadlec Feature Jeanna Kadlec considers the impact of Little Women’s matriarchy — and its heroine — on the formation of her own queer identity.
A Woman’s Work: Becoming a Home of One’s Own By Carolita Johnson Feature Carolita Johnson considers what it takes to recover from grief, build strength for the future, and become one’s own center of gravity again.
