Naz Riahi recalls her vibrant childhood in a suburb of Tehran, and considers how the harsh realities imposed by the still new Islamic Republic seeped into her family’s life.
Story
Posted inFeature
On Solitude (and Isolation and Loneliness [and Brackets])
Sarah Fay reflects on four years spent in solitude (and isolation [and loneliness]), viewing it through the lens of punctuation.
Posted inNonfiction
The Strange and Dangerous World of America’s Big Cat People
A headline-grabbing murder-for-hire plot helped expose the dark side of exotic animal ownership in the U.S. Is there now enough momentum to reform the industry?
Posted inNonfiction
A Crying Public Shame
Dialogue, Twitter-style: you get called out on social media. People pile on to you. Other people pile on to the pile-oners. Soon everyone’s anxious or angry or both, no one’s really talking (or listening), and a few tech CEOs are buying new houses in Jackson Hole.
Posted inStory
“I Miss My Body When It Was Ferocious”: The Transfiguration of Paul Curreri
For years, singer-songwriter Paul Curreri was a shouter of singular beauty. Then he went quiet — slowly, at first, then all of a sudden.
Posted inNonfiction
What Do We Do With Feelings Now That They Don’t Matter Anymore?
Sarah Miller thinks about climate change and other current horrors, and what it’s like just being sad forever.
Posted inNonfiction
The Criminalization of the American Midwife
New York midwife Elizabeth Catlin faces 95 individual felony counts at her upcoming trial. For what? For doing her job. Politics and patriarchy make the work of many credentialed, experienced midwives illegal — to the detriment of women and underserved communities.
Posted inCrime, Story
“We Are Not Lost Causes”
How youth in Rochester, New York, are working to save their neighborhood — and themselves — by forging pathways away from violent street crime.
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Feature, Nonfiction, Story
How I Got My Shrink Back
An entanglement with her shrink-stalking protege teaches Susan Shapiro something about forgiveness.
Posted inNonfiction, Story
A Survey of My Right Arm
Why couldn’t this ailing appendage get over itself? Diagnosing a mysterious malady.