The Canadian Bonsai Star of YouTube By Krista Stevens Highlight For Harley Rustad’s too-tall bonsai Ficus religiosa, the first cut was indeed the deepest.
A New View of Crime in America By Longreads Feature What does incarceration do for the member of a family that views prison as a rite of passage? A New York Times reporter takes a close look at intergenerational criminality.
To Heil, or Not To Heil, When Traveling in the Third Reich By Longreads Feature One of the first decisions any tourist had to make when crossing the German border in the mid-1930s was whether or not to “Heil Hitler.”
The Specialized Field of Fetal Surgery By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight It’s a field as small as the people it operates on, and for many parents, it’s the only hope their children have.
How the Border Patrol Threatens Civil Liberties Far from the Border By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight While ICE makes headlines, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency continues to detain and search American citizens far from the actual border, and it doesn’t need a warrant.
To Tell the Story, These Journalists Became Part of the Story By Martha Pskowski Feature In two recent books about immigrant families seeking asylum in the U.S., the authors’ attempts to help become part of their subjects’ stories.
Charting the Love — and Betrayal — in Our Stars By Cherise Morris Feature Cherise Morris turns to astrology and Beyoncé lyrics to move through a difficult moment in her relationship.
Shelved: Bill Evans’ Loose Blues By Tom Maxwell Feature An album that took five months to record sat in the vault for 20 years before finally getting pressed to vinyl.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week By Longreads Weekly Top 5 This week, we’re sharing stories from Russ Buettner, Susanne Craig, and David Barstow, Nicole R. Fleetwood, Jaeah J. Lee, Shelley Puhak, and Sarah Miller.
An Inclusive Guide to Lingerie and a New Take on Self-Care By Danielle Jackson Feature Cora Harrington’s first book, In Intimate Detail, is an accessible, inclusive guide to undergarments.
When It’s Time to Say Goodbye to the Old House By Siddhartha Mahanta Feature Siddhartha Mahanta looks back at the small suburban starter house in Texas that helped his immigrant father redefine “home.”
It’s a Small Paycheck After All By Katie Kosma Highlight Disneyland’s painfully low wages make for an unmagical kingdom.
Of Politics and Prose By Sari Botton Highlight Roxane Gay writes about the necessary and inevitable influence of politics on literature at this fraught time in history.
Women Are Really, Really Mad Right Now By Hope Reese Feature Rebecca Traister talks about the revolutionary power of women’s anger.
Remembering Pioneering Studio Engineer Geoff Emerick By Tom Maxwell Feature Emerick engineered more than The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. He helped re-engineer the way music got made.
Remembering G. Dep, the Rapper Who Confessed to a 17-Year Old Cold Case By Matt Giles Commentary Lil Wayne’s reimagining of G. Dep’s “Special Delivery” has thrust the ex-Bad Boy rapper back into the pop culture spotlight.
The Art of the Pan By Sari Botton Highlight Sarah Miller recalls her days in the ’90s as a fickle movie critic.
The Return of the Face By Adrian Daub Feature Physiognomy is a discarded 19th-century pseudoscience. Why can’t we stop practicing it?
Banished By Beth Schwartzapfel and Emily Kassie Feature After passing a series of restrictive housing laws, Miami-Dade County faces an odd predicament: bands of nomadic sex offenders and a cat-and-mouse game to move them.
Character Work By Alison Fields Feature Alison Fields remembers the perils of junior high: fitting in, standing out, and trying out.
At the Place Where Marketing and Art Meet, You Get This Profile of Bradley Cooper By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight Bradley Cooper’s new film is ultimately about the way commerce can ruin art, which is why he won’t answer the personal questions Taffy Brodesser-Akner asked him.
The Gilded Age of (Unpaid) Internet Writing By Rebecca Schuman Feature How ’90s webzines heralded the best — and worst — of today’s online media landscape.
‘Just Assimilate Her Into Your Family and Everything Will Be Fine…’ By Nicole Chung Feature In an excerpt from her new memoir, ‘All You Can Ever Know,’ transracial adoptee Nicole Chung recounts how her parents came to adopt her.
The Underground Magazine That Helped Shape Portland, Oregon By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight Before Portland was a known entity, a group of volunteers and one charismatic editor published an indie arts magazine called Snipehunt. This is its story.
The Targeting and Killing of a Helmandi Combatant By Nick McDonell Feature I interviewed everyone present in the tactical operations center during a routine airstrike in Helmand Province. Without exception they believe themselves to be doing the right thing.
A Visit to Opioid Country By Aaron Thier Feature Aaron Thier contemplates the connections between privilege, addiction, and recovery.
Still Celebrating the Greatest Day in Hip-Hop By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight On one summer day in 1998, XXL magazine gathered 177 hip-hop artists for one of the greatest musical photographs of all time: A Great Day in Hip-Hop.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week By Longreads Weekly Top 5 This week, we’re sharing stories from Jane Mayer, Michael J. Mooney, Elisa Gabbert, Nicole Chung, and Ashley Fetters.
It’s Time to Stop Painting Joyce Maynard as an ‘Oversharer’ Already By Sari Botton Highlight In the #metoo era, there’s no excuse for continuing to deride women like Maynard who speak out about their experiences with men who had much more power.
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