This week, we’re sharing stories from Caity Weaver, Marisa Meltzer, Jiayang Fan, Taffy Brodesser-Akner, and Jeff Maysh.
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Diary of a Do-Gooder
After years of trying to distinguish herself, Sara Eckel considers the value of door-to-door canvassing, phone-banking, and other anonymous tasks of everyday activism.
Judging Books By Their Covers
Jason Diamond analyzes his obsession with Vintage Contemporaries paperbacks from the 80s.
How to Get Away with Spying for the Enemy
How does someone get away with helping a foreign adversary? Writer Sarah Laskow digs into the gonzo story of an American acquitted of spying for the Soviets—even after he confessed to it.
Olive Oil Trouble
Olive-oil fraud was already common in antiquity. Galen tells of unscrupulous oil merchants who mixed high-quality olive oil with cheaper substances like lard, and Apicius provides a recipe for turning cheap Spanish oil into prized oil from Istria using minced herbs and roots. The Greeks and the Romans used olive oil as food, soap, lotion, […]
Working Class Jilts America’s Sweetheart Deal
The working class is walking away from America’s favorite business transaction — traditional marriage — as good jobs disappear.
The Gossip Columnist Who Became the News
Liz Smith looks back at her role in the Trump divorce.
The Oldest Restaurant in Kabul: Where Tradition Trumps Rockets
For over 70 years, Bacha Broot, located in the center of the Old City of Kabul, has been serving chainaki — savory lamb stew — despite Soviet occupation, civil war, and the Taliban.
Inside the Canadian Credit Bubble, Where Too Many Canadians Live Beyond their Means
Canada’s new middle class lives paycheck to paycheck, unwilling to give up certain lifestyle choices.
Nina Simone’s Three Years of Freedom
At Guernica, Katherina Grace Thomas turns a lens on the years Nina Simone spent in Liberia in the mid-1970s.

