For most of her life, Alice Collins Plebuch believed she was the daughter of Irish Americans. A DNA test upended everything she thought she knew about her family history.
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Posted inNonfiction
A Beautiful, Rugged Place: Erosion of the Body
The life-long writer, teacher, and activist believed she could save a piece of land or a species, but after her brother took his life, she questioned her optimism and how to grieve for him and the planet.
Posted inNonfiction
It’s Like That: The Makings of a Hip-Hop Writer
Hip-hop was a different kind of music that needed a different kind of writer to cover it. This is how Michael A. Gonzales came of age in a time when Black writers began breaking the white ceiling.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Story
Wonder Woman
Of all the genes parents pass down and values they instill, how does one take hold so much stronger than the others?
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Profiles & Interviews, Science & Nature, Story
‘I Cannot Name Any Emotion That Is Uniquely Human.’
According to primatologist Frans de Waal, we don’t like to admit that animals, especially apes, have emotions just like ours, and science has become better at studying apes’ behaviors than human ones.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes, Science & Nature
The Uncomfortable Discoveries That Come with Home DNA Testing Kits
Home DNA testing kits are making it easier for people to learn more about who they are, but they often come with surprising results.
Posted inNonfiction, Top 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, we’re sharing stories from Sloane Crosley, Jason Fagone, Bronwen Dickey, Heather Radke, and Kelly Conaboy.
Posted inStory
Notes on Citizenship
Nina Li Coomes reckons with the quandary of citizenship and the meaning of home.
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Feature, Story
Mama Looks for Melanin
Harmony Holiday remembers her mother’s years of trauma-bonding in search of new love, after the death of her mercurial yet brilliant father.
Posted inNonfiction
The Curious Tale of the Salish Sea Feet
To date, 21 disembodied feet have washed up on the shores of Seattle’s Salish Sea. What at first looked like the work of a serial killer turned out to be something even more unsettling: A message from the ocean about who we are.
