Gone Gray
In the first essay in Longreads’ new “Fine Lines” series on age and aging, Jessica Berger Gross reflects on what letting her roots grow in at age 45 has meant, in terms of feminism and resistance.
Letters from Trenton
While striving to become a travel writer in the years after Watergate, Thomas Swick discovered that although writing for a newspaper was educational, there was more to be learned through romance with a foreigner.
How to Be Single
In this personal essay, Shelly Oria shares a manual for life after you’ve left your husband and your girlfriend.
Making Peace with Selective Reduction
When risks arise in her partner’s pregnancy with triplets, Amber Leventry discovers that letting go of one life doesn’t have to mean losing faith, or love.
La Otra
In this personal essay, Jaquira Díaz recalls having her world suddenly turned upside down after a woman and her daughter moved in next door.
A Woman’s Work: Home Economics* (*I Took Woodworking Instead)
An illustrated personal essay in which New Yorker cartoonist Carolita Johnson tallies the costs and benefits of love and cohabitation as a woman artist living in a patriarchy.
The Power in Knowing: Black Women, HIV, and the Realities of Safe Sex
In the third installment of Minda Honey’s #Dating_While_Woke series, an invitation to appear in a PSA prompts her to reflect on the responsibilities of safe sex, and her imperfect past.
It Isn’t That Shocking
Popular culture likes to depict electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) as sinister and dangerous. Leslie Kendall Dye reflects on the myths surrounding the treatment that saved her life.
Sex Workers vs. The Internet
Since the dawn of the internet, online platforms have allowed clients to take advantage of sex workers. Now, they’re fighting back.