“Officially, I’m a Senior Admissions Specialist, employed by a behavioral health company, and my professional objective is to assess the mental health needs of prospective patients and connect them with appropriate forms of care. Unofficially, I’m an addict who stopped doing drugs and started taking these calls.” Oh hey, weekend, c’mon in! This week, we’ve […]
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Burgling the Rich, a Cat’s Life Lessons, and Our Top 5
“I learned to adore the way he sidled against me and to hate his momentary affection, just as he learned to detach from me in weariness and depend on me in hunger. Days with him were a quick education in a cat’s existence.” I once spent a year shadowing a musician I loved, whose body […]
What the Journey Brings, and Our Weekly Top 5
“I-95 is an artery of ambition, movement, and flight. A place where millions of people hurry toward love and loss, carrying their hope, their grief, their ordinary Tuesdays, all at 70 miles per hour.” A favorite program of mine is Race Across the World. The concept is simple: Teams must cross entire countries without flying, armed only […]
Hope in the Desert and the Week’s Top 5
“Talking with them I realized how many people, like me, had run away from hard conversations. How we did it on purpose, and sometimes without realizing. How people who needed to talk waited for invitations to spit out the hard stuff, and how good it felt when they did.” Happy Friday, y’all. Summer is drawing […]
Love Song to Costco
“In the great halls of Costco, two of our greatest fears are assuaged — that of not having enough, and that of not being enough.”
How to Fuel a Hike, What’s in a Name, and the Week’s Top 5
“What could it mean to give yourself the food you need to keep going? No punishing, no guilt, no withholding. Just nourishment.” Well hello, August! C’mon in and make yourself at home. This week, in addition to five stories chosen by the editors for our Top 5, we wanted to share two recent pieces with […]
How One Obscure Word Captures Urban China’s Unhappiness
“Anthropologist Xiang Biao explains why the academic concept of ‘involution’ became a social media buzzword.”
Map Room: A Radical Reading List on Cartographic Power, Perspective, and Possibility
Seven stories celebrating our fascination with maps.
Were They Lost Students or Inept Spies for China?
Two students from China, studying at the University of Michigan, travel to Florida during their winter break and find themselves in trouble after entering the Naval Air Station Key West, a major U.S. military facility.
99 Problems: The Ice Cream Truck’s Surprising History
From crime panics to TikTok, summer’s favorite vehicle has driven a bumpy road.

