How Rival Gardens of Eden in Iraq Survived ISIS, Dwindling Tourists, And Each Other
Against all odds, Iraq’s religious tourism infrastructure has endured.
Matthew Griffin: Notes from My Book Tour
The Bachelor’s Jake Pavelka, canine escape artists, William Faulkner, fire-safety tips — they’re all building blocks of one strange, beautiful book tour for Matthew Griffin, which he recounts with grace and humor. “[I]n Knoxville, we stay at a friend’s house, and when her coffee maker starts to drip with that mechanical click, the smell fills her kitchen in a way it never does at home, in my normal life, and I lean against the counter and talk to her and start to feel, really feel, like I’m in one of those Folger’s commercials where a brother in the military surprises his family by coming home at Christmas and awakening them to his presence with the smell of brewing coffee, and I am filled with goodwill and comfort and warm friendship and also a deep understanding that coffee is the most wonderful thing and a sign that maybe there might possibly be a God after all.”
The Day We Discovered Our Parents Were Russian Spies
Alex and Tim Foley, whose family’s story partly inspired The Americans, grapple with their broken identities and their parents’ lifetime of lies.
America, Pizza Hut, and Me
“Once dimly foreign, pizza had succeeded in convincing people it could be white. It was aspirational that way. I wanted to do the same thing.” Jaya Saxena reconciles her New Yorker-ness and Indian-ness with a childhood love of the doughy, pizza-like food of Pizza Hut, finding a way to hold on to her many identities simultaneously.
Is Britney Spears Ready to Stand on Her Own?
Pop singer Britney Spears has been controlled by a court-approved conservatorship for several years, which has divested her of most of her autonomy.
Six Stories for Mother’s Day
This week, I’ve collected stories about new moms, missing moms, dead moms and boomer moms, if only to demonstrate that there is no one way to have a mother or not have a mother.
‘You Want A Description Of Hell?’ Oxycontin’s 12-Hour Problem
An investigation into America’s bestselling painkiller, Oxycontin. Reporters look through a trove of documents showing how the drugmaker Purdue Pharma’s deceptive marketing of Oxycontin has contributed to the prescription drug epidemic.
I Was Prince’s Private Chef
“One time he decided to throw a late-night party for every A-list celebrity in town—and only gave me two days’ notice. Another time he asked for a birthday cake—at 11 PM (I bought it at the grocery store). He liked to eat healthfully but then he’d ask for quiche and a milkshake. Once he wanted a chocolate fountain but when I asked where to put it, he looked at me, waited a beat, and said, ‘I do the music.’”
The Imperfect Victim
Galen Baughman was an active spokesman for sex offender rights, and then he lost his credibility.
Cruising Through the End of the World
What happens when cruise ship tourism descends on the communities of the Northwest Passage?
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