Wait, What? By Soraya Roberts Feature It’s surprising when stodgy institutions award progressive artists, and surprises, even good ones, are alarming — so we immediately burden the winners with the weight of symbolism.
“What Do I Know To Be True?”: Emma Copley Eisenberg on Truth in Nonfiction, Writing Trauma, and The Dead Girl Newsroom By Jacqueline Alnes Feature “We were interested in dead girls, but so interested in them that we were trying to do the opposite of what had been done before.”
Making Periods Green To Topple Tampax By Carolyn Wells Commentary Will a pain-relieving, CBD-infused, biodegradable cotton tampon be enough to beat Tampax?
Soli/dairy/ty By Liza Monroy Feature As a nursing mother newly exposed to the harsh realities of milk production, Liza Monroy reconsiders the dairy cow, and questions the meaning of compassion.
Sight and Insight By Liane Kupferberg Carter Feature After a childhood filled with intrusive medical interventions for misaligned eyes, Liane Kupferberg Carter wrestles with learning to see herself and others clearly.
House of the Century By Daisy Alioto Feature Daisy Alioto reconsiders the nature of architecture while researching window alarms.
Shelved: Jeff Buckley’s Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk By Tom Maxwell Feature The posthumous Buckley industry began with this problematic album, proof that the people who control a musician’s estate don’t always have his music in mind.
Carly Rae Jepsen’s Exhilarating, Emotionally Intelligent Pop Music By Rachel Vorona Cote Feature Although music often involves emotional expression, pop star Carly Rae Jepsen has built a career and a persona out of big, unguarded emotions, a range that could be called “too muchness,” which is just right for some of us.
Closing the Loop on Diabetes By Carolyn Wells Commentary Open source code could be the key to transforming the life of diabetics.
A Tribute to Lynn Cohen, 1933-2020 By Catherine Cusick Commentary New York character actress Lynn Cohen died on Valentine’s Day 2020, survived by an extended family of friends and collaborators.
“The Ugliness of Greatness”: A Kobe Bryant Reading List By Matt Giles Reading List It has been a dozen days since the shocking death of the Los Angeles Lakers star. How do we talk about Kobe and his legacy on and off the court?
Deconstructing Disney: The Princess Problem of ‘Frozen II’ By Jeanna Kadlec Feature Audiences wanted Disney to give Elsa a girlfriend. But the Frozen franchise is at the center of the corporation’s latest princess project, whose nationalist concerns are decidedly here for the gay agenda.
Don’t Let Old Wounds Die Out By Longreads Commentary Our last editors’ roundtable of the season, with guest Nick Chrastil.
This Month In Books: What Did We Miss? By Dana Snitzky Commentary The end of the year is a time for regrets. What are the books we didn’t feature?
The Poetry We Need and the Chitchat We Don’t By Longreads Commentary What we all need to hear right now, with special guest Marisa Siegel, Editor in Chief of The Rumpus.
Telling About Auschwitz, Before It’s Too Late By Sari Botton Commentary His lover in Auschwitz helped him survive. Now he’s sharing his memories to help prevent the worst from happening again.
Longreads Best of 2019: Crime Reporting By Longreads Reading List We asked writers and editors to choose some of their favorite stories of the year. Here is the best in crime reporting.
Postcard from the (Literal) Edge By Longreads Feature In an excerpt from her recovery memoir, Erin Khar recalls the depths of her self-destruction as a heroin addict.
Searching For Mackie By Annie Hylton Feature Seven years ago, a young woman from Tache, British Columbia, went out for the evening and never came back. Her family won’t stop looking for her, and they deserve answers.
The Danger of Befriending Celebrities By Michael Musto Feature Once upon a time, nightlife journalist Michael Musto didn’t set the strongest boundaries with the boldfaced names he covered.
The Poke Paradox By Adam Skolnick Feature Where culinary bliss meets environmental peril, and how to solve America’s poke problem.
Regarding the Pain of Oprah By Soraya Roberts Feature She gets a mansion and she gets a boat and she gets a jet! And you get to suffer and then maybe pull yourself up by your bootstraps, if you’re lucky enough and bare enough of your private pain.
The Ancient Waterways of Phoenix, Arizona By Longreads Feature To understand this sprawling desert city, you have to understand its canals, whose routes Indigenous people dug as far back as A.D. 200.
American Dirt: A Bridge to Nowhere By Sarah Menkedick Feature “Jeanine Cummins can write about Mexico — but she will be judged on whether her writing actually captures the experiential and emotional and ethical complexity of that place, and she will be judged with extra care because she is an outsider.”
‘I Want Every Sentence To Be Doing Work’: An Interview with Miranda Popkey By Zan Romanoff Feature “Something I did learn writing this book is that being impressed by something doesn’t mean you should try and do it.”
All Mom’s Friends By Svetlana Kitto Feature Svetlana Kitto recalls her 1980s childhood in Hollywood during the early years of the AIDS crisis.
Be a Good Sport By Soraya Roberts Feature Competitive sports can mean professional and financial success — if they don’t compromise your mental health first. ‘Cheer’ and ‘Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez’ show how athletics can hurt as much as they can heal.
Remembering the Things That Remain By Amos Barshad Feature A Polish artist invites a journalist to dig into disturbing remnants from the Holocaust that Poland would rather keep buried.
At Mrs. Balbir’s By Jillian Dunham Feature Jillian Dunham traveled thousands of miles from home to get away from her grief. It found her anyway, in a stranger’s Bangkok apartment.
Inking Against Invisibility By Talia Hibbert Feature In the face of chronic pain, invisible illness, and medical discrimination, Talia Hibbert turned to tatoos to reclaim ownership of her body.
Eating To Save My Mind By Claire Fitzsimmons Feature Can diet determine the future of your mental health? Claire Fitzsimmons attempts to find out through a month of Whole30.
Menace Too Society By Soraya Roberts Feature Cancel culture suggests we can change the world from the outside in, but the misogyny and racism are coming from inside the house.
In Defense of Boris the Russki By Ayşegül Savaş Feature Ayşegül Savaş calls into question a kind of racism in Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch, and laments the liberal reluctance to rebuke discrimination outright, regardless of its targets.
In Pocahontas County, Deep Divisions and a Gruesome Discovery By Longreads Feature In an excerpt from ‘The Third Rainbow Girl,’ Emma Copley Eisenberg interrogates various social conditions that might have contributed to a mysterious double murder in West Virginia in 1980.
Leadership Academy By Victor Wei Ke Yang Feature Victor Yang considers how his time as an immigrant rights organizer helped him understand his mother, and the guilt and obligation he carries from their relationship.
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.
Telling Stories In Order to Live: On Writing and Money By Sarah Menkedick Feature Sarah Menkedick examines the perils inherent in trying to earn a living as a full-time writer.
Will a pain-relieving, CBD-infused, biodegradable cotton tampon be enough to beat Tampax?