What it Means to be Korean in the West By Krista Stevens While searching for a Korean radish to make her grandmother’s soup, Vivien Lee meditates on family and food.
Amazon’s New Stores Aren’t Happy to See You Either By Michelle Legro As the company begins its bookstore expansion, a joyless retail experience awaits.
Is That a Pillowcase Full of Human Hair, or Are You Just Happy to See Me? By Michelle Weber Annie Correal’s story on the last New York wigmakers has a little bit of everything: celebrity gossip, religious scandals, and of course, wigs.
Arkansas’ Capital Punishment Spree: ‘It Ain’t Gonna Work on Some of Them’ By Michelle Weber The state prepares to kill seven men this month with a soon-to-expire supply of lethal injection drugs.
Curiosity, Unfettered: Margaret Atwood as the Prophet of Dystopia By Krista Stevens Rebecca Mead’s profile in The New Yorker covers the resonance of The Handmaid’s Tale in Donald Trump’s America.
When Does a Company Decide You Are Human? By Mark Armstrong We have surrendered logic and empathy in favor of the distance and simplicity of corporate rule-making.
In the Shadow of a Fairy Tale: Overcoming the Evil Stepmother Stereotype By Krista Stevens Leslie Jamison explores the fraught role of stand-in parent as she considers her new life as a stepmother to a six-year-old.
Choosing Mother India By Pam Mandel “People insist that only an idiot would move from the land of the dollar to the 68-times-weaker rupee.”
How Ayana Mathis Came to Own Her Ambition By Sari Botton After a phone call from Oprah, the author looks at the long line of women in her life who taught her about achieving her dreams.
Winnipeg’s Indigenous Bear Clan Patrol Protects the Vulnerable By Krista Stevens Vice’s Geraldine Malone walks the streets with group of volunteers dedicated to fighting overdoses.
Yevgeny Yevtushenko: The Siberian Cowboy Poet By Pam Mandel “It makes sense that a person would come from another culture and do their poems, because everybody at Elko thinks they’re from another culture.”
‘I Knew From the Get-Go it Should be Shirley MacLaine’: George Hodgman on Casting ‘Bettyville’ for TV By Sari Botton Paramount TV will bring “Bettyville,” George Hodgman’s memoir about caring for his dying mother, to the small screen.
How Should a German Be? By Aaron Gilbreath In Harper’s, Yascha Mounk examines how recent Islamic immigration challenges many Germans’ core idea of their national identity.
‘BRB, Killing ISIS Guys’: An American Bro in Syria By Sari Botton When Brace Belden left his job in San Francisco to fight ISIS, he had no idea he’d become a prominent figure in the Syrian Civil War.
Decolonizing Education in South Africa By Aaron Gilbreath South African students of color are working to improve the conditions of education in a country that, twenty years after apartheid, is still rigged for the white minority.
Who Says Healthy Food Can’t Be Accessible and Affordable? By Aaron Gilbreath Daniel Patterson, and the challenges of bringing fast healthy food to the impoverished neighborhoods trapped in food deserts.
The Swan (Mascot) that Would Not Be Tamed By Ben Huberman The story of a football team’s mascot, the man inside the costume, and the town that rallied around its local hero.
The Surgeon Who Helped Revolutionize Hand Transplants By Mike Dang Dr. Kodi Azari dreamed that one day he’d perform a hand transplant on a patient who would wake up from surgery and start moving their fingers right away.
The Current Hot Chicken Craze Is Also about Race and Gentrification By Ben Huberman In Nashville, an exploration of the current obsession with the city’s signature dish: hot chicken.
‘I Thought, Well, We’ll See What Happens!’: Iconic Editor Nan Talese on Her Marriage and Career By Sari Botton “Her infidelity was taking other authors’ books into bed with her,” says Nan and Gay Talese’s daughter, Pamela.
‘Turn Off Your Brain and Just Trust Instinct’: Q-Tip on the Evolving Sound of Hip-Hop By Cheri Lucas Rowlands Kyle Kramer, editor at Noisey, talks with A Tribe Called Quest’s Q-Tip about staying true to himself while evolving with the sound of hip-hop.
‘Alexa Is Not Just the Perfect Companion, But the Perfect Spouse’ By Cheri Lucas Rowlands Can Amazon’s Alexa be your friend—or something more? At Digg, Aaron Paul Calvin examines the recent spike in digital assistants.
Why ESPN Still Can’t Quit Cable By Mark Armstrong Bloomberg Businessweek‘s latest cover story highlights the tricky economics of licensing live sports.
How an ER Doctor Got Hooked on Fentanyl and Lost It All By Cheri Lucas Rowlands At Toronto Life, Katherine Laidlaw tells the story of Darryl Gebein, who got hooked one of the most dangerous opioids on the market.
‘London Was, But Is No More’ By Michelle Weber A loving, fascinating, melancholy, rollicking look at how technology and globalization are transforming urban spaces.
This Is God’s Property By Michelle Weber Kelsey Munger shares the story of a childhood spent being vigilant against the demons, witches, and werewolves her parents believed were stalking their family.
‘Dance Me to the End of Love’: Joan Juliet Buck on Her Platonic Friendship with Almost-Lover Leonard Cohen By Sari Botton “Under the influence of Leonard Cohen’s words, Germaine Greer’s polemic, and [Anais] Nin’s lies, I believed that sexual rapture was the key to connection through chaos.”
Why Should a Website Decide Where You’re From? By Michelle Weber In Real Life Mag, information accessibility and data-use expert Zara Rahman explores the coercive power of the location drop-down menu.
‘Because California Moves Through You’ By Cheri Lucas Rowlands Essayist Lynell George muses on California and the two cities—Los Angeles and San Francisco—that own a part of her heart.
How Tiny, Yet Über-Efficient Spider Brains Can Improve Computer Technology By Krista Stevens Big brains offer no advantage in the animal kingdom.