I believed that there was no music existing in the world with an unbroken connection to its original context. I was wrong.
Story
Posted inBooks, Essays & Criticism, First Chapters, Story, Unapologetic Women
The Miracle of the Mundane
In an excerpt from her new essay collection, Heather Havrilesky calls for tuning out the online cacophony telling us we aren’t enough, and tuning in to the soul-affirming, quiet truth of the present moment.
Posted inBooks, Fiction, Profiles & Interviews, Science Fiction, Story, Uncategorized
Putting a New Stone on the Grave: Sjón Brings the Golem to Iceland
Sjón’s “CoDex 1962” is the fulfillment of a pact he made with the Maharal of Prague in the Old Jewish Cemetery almost three decades ago.
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Story
Mega-drought and Me
As California gets drier, a woman entering her 30s reflects on PCOS, pregnancy, and her desire to have children.
Posted inBooks, Essays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Story
A Trip to Tolstoy Farm
Even if one of the last surviving Tolstoyan communes has fallen short of Leo Tolstoy’s ideals, it’s still turned into something meaningful. It’s a place for people who don’t want to be found.
Posted inBooks, Profiles & Interviews, Story
An Immoderate Novel for an Immoderate Season: An Interview with Olivia Laing
Olivia Laing’s new novel, “Crudo,” is a fictionalized account of the summer of 2017, written in real time by Laing — from the perspective of Kathy Acker.
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Story
Weighing the Costs — and Occasional Benefits — of Ethnic Ambiguity
Aram Mrjoian reflects on his experiences of being part Armenian in America.
Posted inArts & Culture, Nonfiction, Story
J.R.’s Jook and the Authenticity Mirage
When a young white musician gets invited to a house-party, the musicians he plays with show him a slice of blues culture many people assumed had died.
Posted inArts & Culture, History, Science & Nature, Story
The Ugly History of Beautiful Things: Perfume
Sometimes it takes a touch of darkness to create something alluring.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books, Fiction, Story
Sabrina
A video of a missing woman being murdered has surfaced on the internet, confirming the worst. Her boyfriend, lying low at a friend’s house, stumbles upon a radio program whose enigmatic host says she’s still alive.