“Tesfaye wan’t sure where the gunfire was coming from, and with service outages across Mekelle, he couldn’t look online for answers. He was certain something was very wrong. But what could he do? He got dressed and did what he did most mornings. He went to work.” Every month, we share an excerpt from our […]
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Odes to the Heart and the Week’s Top 5
“There is something about the heart. It beats until it doesn’t. I don’t give or withhold permission. To live my life is to accept—in this one, life-giving ongoingness that occurs right at the heart of me—that I am not the center of this story.” August is just around the corner, and as we fly through the year […]
How Literary Translation Can Shift the Tides of Power
“I am just one parent. What if more parents read translated books with their children?”
Fit to Be Tied (and the Week’s Top 5)
“When most of us build or buy a home, we carefully appraise the neighborhood. In Malibu the neighborhood is fire. Fire that revisits the coastal mountains several times a decade. In the past sixty years, ten of these frequent events have turned into all-consuming firestorms.” Welcome to 2025, friends. Peter here. As it does all too often, […]
Best of 2024: The Stories You Missed
It’s been a busy year: Here are some noteworthy pieces that may have passed you by.
The Worst Air Disaster You’ve Never Heard Of
In the early days of flight, airships were hailed as the future of war. Then disaster struck the USS Akron.
It Was a Secret Roadmap for Breaking the Law to Get An Abortion. Now, ‘The List’ and Its Tactics Are Resurfacing
Before Roe vs. Wade, a clandestine network guided thousands of Americans to safe abortions in the 1960s and ’70s. In their piece for The San Francisco Chronicle, Jason Fagone and Alexandria Bordas tell the story of Patricia Maginnis, the creator of “the List,” and the well-organized, underground health care system she and San Francisco women […]
How to Scam Like a Celebrity
“His alleged victims say he bribed New York Police Department officials, stole millions in diamonds, and persuaded Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Kim Kardashian to shill for a scam cryptocurrency. So why is Jona Rechnitz still free?”
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Recommending excellent stories from Lewis Hyde, Reeves Wiedeman, Sam Myers, Robin Wall Kimmerer, and David W. Brown.


