Vivian Gornick on ‘Political Activism as a Path Toward a Coherent Self’ By Krista Stevens “But writing itself, living a life defined by work and intellect rather than love or marriage, became her primary feminist commitment.”
Behind the Magic: The Story of Prince’s Super Bowl Halftime Show By Krista Stevens “No it’s not about me. It’s about the music, it’s about this moment.”
Please Don’t You Be My Neighbor By Krista Stevens “To watch those people vanish and be replaced by people who shine like glass, who cut through the sidewalks like knives but reflect nothing back, has been another scraping out. Am I still here? I don’t know anyone here anymore.”
Science Says Life is Better in Intentional Communities By Krista Stevens Intentional communities are a prophylactic against the plague of loneliness and a gateway to a meaningful life.
Can Japan Break Its Addiction to Disposable Packaging? By Aaron Gilbreath One of the most technologically advanced countries in the world pays a high ecological price for its many culinary conveniences.
The Early Years of Elif Batuman’s Interest in Russian Authors By Aaron Gilbreath How a college student’s scholarly investigation into whether Tolstoy was murdered led to her first book, about the people obsessed with Russian literature.
Why the 9/11 Families May Never Get Closure By Krista Stevens LSS: Because Trump wants to be pals with Saudi crown prince Mohammad Bin Salman.
Making Something Out of Nothing With a Scratch and a Hope: The Ballad of Shovels and Rope By Krista Stevens “We had nothing to lose,” Cary Ann said. “Fuck it. Band. Family. Let’s give it a shot. . . . Handshake, spit on it. If it gets too nasty we’ll cut and run.”
China’s Communist Government Has a Strong Hold on Chinese Corporations By Aaron Gilbreath China’s largest e-commerce company is not only changing the way people in China shop, but how they think about commerce and each other in a Communist country.
N.K. Jemisin: ‘I am still going to write what I am going to write.’ By Krista Stevens Hells to the yes, says I.
Writing Emails to My Late Father By Krista Stevens “I’m writing my half of a dialogue that I know he would share with me if he could.”
We Use Language as a Spade By Krista Stevens “Though the embryo was only seven weeks old, I loved it. I loved it and wanted it, and its life ended.”
William Gibson on How Science Fiction Portrays Reality By Krista Stevens “Every fiction about the future is like an ice-cream cone,” Gibson says, “melting as it moves into the future.”
What Brings True Happiness: the Booze or the Bonding? By Krista Stevens “But there’s nothing wrong with a nudge toward examining the difference between what makes us happy and what is merely habitual.”
Elizabeth Wurtzel Made it Okay to Write ‘Ouch’ By Sari Botton Today’s memoirists and personal essay writers owe a debt of gratitude to the Prozac Nation author for rewriting an inhibiting rule.
How Bagel Makers’ Union Local 338 Beat NYC’s “Kosher Nostra” By Krista Stevens ‘“A bagel,” the newspaper of record explained in 1960, “is an unsweetened doughnut with rigor mortis.”’
Finding Solace in the Charged Particles of the Aurora Borealis By Krista Stevens “Cree First Nations believe ‘the northern lights are dancing spirits of loved ones who have passed on.’”
Risking Everything for a Better Life By Krista Stevens Migrants looking for greater opportunity, safety, and freedom sometimes stow away in the wheel wells of jetliners in a bid to escape.
When Media Miscalculations Pivot Talented People Out of a Job By Aaron Gilbreath Pivoting to video is only one of many ways media workers lose their jobs, but it’s still a horrible way.
A Beloved Art Critic Sings His Swan Song By Sari Botton “Drink was destroying my life. Tobacco only shortens it, with the best parts over anyway.”
On Course for Certain Disaster By Krista Stevens “Ten Navy sailors were killed and scores more were injured. It was the Navy’s worst accident at sea in 40 years.” And it was all avoidable.
How Rob Krar Helps Others Outrun Depression By Krista Stevens “I think a good way to describe my depression is an inability to feel happiness. It’s just this gray zone. I have this beautiful life that I can’t appreciate.”
Who was Behind the First State-Sponsored Computer Attack? The Russians, Quelle Surprise By Krista Stevens “Don’t go screwing with information that belongs to innocent people!”
The Guy who Ordered a Hit On His Stepmother for $5 By Krista Stevens Death, delivered as per your instructions.
Purging the Unhealthy Value System of the American Literary World By Aaron Gilbreath It’s time writers free themselves from concepts like “break out books” and “making it.”
They Were Extortionists and the Calls Came from Inside the Prison By Krista Stevens “At least 442 service members across almost every branch of the armed forces had been conned—by prisoners—out of a total of more than half a million dollars.”
Telling About Auschwitz, Before It’s Too Late By Sari Botton His lover in Auschwitz helped him survive. Now he’s sharing his memories to help prevent the worst from happening again.
Responding With Weapons to Racism in Colorado Territory By Aaron Gilbreath Reexamining the motives of Felipe and Vivián Espinosa, two of the American West’s most brutal killers.
Naming the Psychological Effects of Climate Change: Solastalgia By Krista Stevens “The word he came up with was solastalgia, a portmanteau word of the Latin solus, which means ‘abandonment and loneliness,’ and nostalgia.”
‘The American People Have Been Constantly Lied To’ By Krista Stevens “U.S. officials constantly said they were making progress. They were not, and they knew it.”