Naked in Japan
When one woman visits a Japanese bathhouse, she confronts the way childhood surgery shaped her perceptions of nudity, her beauty, and herself as a woman.
Your Real Biological Clock Is You’re Going to Die
At 47, Tom Scocca realizes most of us are living under the illusion that we have unlimited time, and are free plot out the different phases of our lives to our liking. He crunches some numbers and comes to the conclusion that sooner or later — and who knows which it will be — every one of us is a goner.
A Woman Becomes a Nightingale
An illustrated essay in which Carolita Johnson reviews the ugly history of rape being weaponized — and politicized — as a means of silencing women.
How a Booming City Can Be More Equitable
At a time when many U.S. cities are being revitalized — and rapidly gentrified — Barry Yeoman spotlights Durham, North Carolina, his home of 30 years, where activism, diversity- and egalitarianism-minded non-profits, and a community land trust are helping to keep the city inclusive and affordable for those who often get marginalized and pushed out instead.
Inside the Mind of a Voyeur
“Pete Forde was a good landlord and a great friend, or so his tenants thought. Then they discovered he was filming them in their most private moments.”
The Great Rikers Island Art Heist
Stained, neglected, nearly thrown away, a million-dollar Salvador Dalí painting spent forty years hanging around the Riker’s jail complex until someone decided to steal it.
Animal Attraction: The Ridiculous Realism of Bachelor in Paradise
To the ever-growing list of “reality TV tropes,” we can now add “confessing feelings to disinterested animals who happen to wander on-camera.”
Sex, Drugs and Mojitos: The Coffee Shop Story
Pot brownies, sex in the bathroom, celebrities in the VIP section, rapping wait staff — Coffee Shop had it all, and it was actually more of a bar-diner than coffee shop. It was also a family. As famous for its employees’ beautiful faces as for its food, this New York institution is closing this month, and people are ready to tell its inside story.
The Love Story that Upended the Texas Prison System
How Frances Jalet, one of the first women to graduate from Columbia Law School, and Fred Cruz, the first inmate to write a lawsuit on toilet paper that went all the way to the Supreme Court, teamed up to take on the Texas Department of Corrections for unconstitutional punishments and brutality.
The FBI of the National Park Service
“There’s a pervasive idea that crime doesn’t happen in our national parks, that these bucolic monuments to nature inspire visitors to be more noble, law-abiding versions of themselves. But parks are filled with people, and people commit crimes.” Enter the little-known Investigative Services Branch (ISB).
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