A New Citizen Leaves a Lost America By Aaron Gilbreath Journalist Rebecca Mead explains why she first left England for the United States, and why she’s now moving back to a country that isn’t necessarily home.
Finding Time to Write Even During the Busiest of Times By Sari Botton How Jami Attenberg helped form a supportive online literary community with #1000WordsofSummer.
Twelve Longreads for Aretha Franklin By Danielle Jackson Aretha Franklin was born March 25, 1942 and died Thursday, August 16, 2018.
Style Ain’t Cheap, aka That Stuffed Coyote Costs Extra By Michelle Weber Going to a hotel to have a place to sleep is for suckers: it’s influencing or bust.
The Future of Decisions By Catherine Cusick If humans can’t decide, “the future of life will be decided at random.”
This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things By Michelle Weber Scientists knew how serious climate change is. Politicians knew. Energy companies knew. The U.S. was ready to act, and then we… didn’t.
The Life-Changing Magic of Getting In Line at 5AM By Michelle Weber Japan is committed to waiting: its language includes the phrase gyouretsu no dekiru mise: “restaurants that have very long lines.”
War, What is It Good For? Absolutely Nothing By Krista Stevens “Across these years, hundreds of thousands of young men and women signed on in good faith and served in the lower and middle ranks. They did not make policy. They lived within it.”
Dog Cloning: Controversial and Downright Creepy By Krista Stevens A clone is not a clone, it’s a twin born at a different time — one that is only ever about 85 percent the same as the original.
Sh*t or Get Off the Composter By Michelle Weber Maybe pooping into porcelain bowls of potable water wasn’t the best idea we ever had.
So Long, and Thanks for All the Value Meals By Michelle Weber Sorry you never won a million dollars; hope you at least got a fresh batch of fries.
Long Live the Oddly Charming Poetry of the Mail-Order Catalog By Ben Huberman Hammacher Schlemmer, which publishes America’s longest-running catalog, still takes its product descriptions seriously.
The Slow Regard of a Difficult Past By Krista Stevens “In my family, love was the slow accumulation of moments in which I was not subjected to great harm.”
Go, L’il Birb! The First Plover in Los Angeles in 70 Years By Krista Stevens Can humans coexist on the beaches of Santa Monica along with wildlife? A beach “rewilding” project aims to find out.
Queer Eye Is an Upbeat Documentary of a Failing Social Order By Ben Huberman How a hard-not-to-love show glosses over the powers that produced its makeover subjects.
The Unbearable Blandness of Water By Michelle Weber Water companies go to impressive lengths to distinguish their tasteless product from their competitors’ tasteless product.
The Toxic Legacy of Building 606 By Aaron Gilbreath The San Francisco police officers stationed on the Hunters Point Superfund site worked atop the literal and figurative fallout of the US Military’s WWII-era atomic testing.
The Sexist Trials of Female Attorneys By Katie Kosma Women trial lawyers share their experiences of destructive sexism in the courtroom.
She’ll Be Everything He Isn’t By Michelle Weber An MRI sparked gymnast Selena Brennan’s interest in sports medicine, and Larry Nassar isn’t going to take that away from her.
Sliding Toward Disaster By Michelle Weber Water parks — competing to have the tallest, fastest, scariest slides — invent their own attractions and monitor their own safety, creating a deadly conflict of interest.
His Name Was Otto, and He Just Wanted a Little Adventure By Michelle Weber Otto Warmbier got arrested in North Korea, sentenced to hard labor, and was eventually sent back to the U.S. — comatose. As with many things North Korean, the why and how is speculative at best.
Home Is a Mixed Bag, Like America By Aaron Gilbreath Why would a successful black woman move from the Bay Area back to Mississippi?
On the Origins of the Word ハーフ, or Hafu (Half): Belonging and Not Belonging at Once By Danielle Jackson Nina Coomes unpacks the origins and legacies of the Japanese word hafu, or half.
An Igbo Slaver’s Descendants Reckon With History By Danielle Jackson Adaobi Tricia Nwaumbani reveals her Igbo great-grandfather’s history with the transatlantic slave trade.
Earth to Gwyneth Paltrow By Krista Stevens Goop, Gwyneth Paltrow’s health and wellness empire, is being forced to address accusations of deceptive advertising.
Powerful On the Beam or Off By Michelle Weber Aly Raisman is a six-time Olympic medalist. She’s a survivor of abuse at the hands of Larry Nassar. And now, she’s an activist.
She’s Not Just a Girl in the World By Michelle Weber She’s a rock star, and a mom, and a tomboy, and a wife, and a study in contradictions.
Redlining in the Lap Lane By Catherine Cusick An incident of police brutality in Texas highlights the ties between private pools, homeowners’ associations, and racist housing policies.
How Japan Deals with the Remains of Your Days By Krista Stevens In Japan, business is booming for those who clean out apartments after people die.