Showcasing stories from Jelani Cobb, Taylor Lorenz, Jack Shafer, and Max Tani; Nylah Iqbal Muhammad; Irina Dumitrescu; Leo Robson; and Caitlin Moran.
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The Bullet and the Ballplayer
In 2019, beloved baseball player David Ortiz was shot at a bar in the Dominican Republic. The shooting swiftly unraveled the two very different lives the Boston Red Sox star had been living, in Boston and in his home country. Mike Damiano masterfully tells Ortiz’s story for Boston magazine. That frenzied quest for answers has […]
Musical Rivalries and our Weekly Top 5
“Before hip-hop brought the concept of ‘beef’ into the mainstream, rock and roll’s aggression and excess resulted in many an unfriendly rivalry; decades earlier, the hard life of the traveling jazz musician led to some heady and memorable fallouts. Whether it’s pop stars, country singers, dancehall artists, or Kendrick Lamar and Drake’s recent multi-song war, […]
Homegrown and Homeless in Oakland
“Leonard ‘Pumpkin’ Ambrose lives just down the street from the house where he grew up. Derrick Soo lives 2 miles from his former family home, Delbra Taylor is a mile from hers and Gwyn Teninty can walk the distance in 15 minutes. All four grew up here, in Oakland. And they succeeded in their own […]
What Iowa Is Losing as My Hometown Newspaper Crumbles
“Readers noticed the paper’s sloppiness first—how there seemed to be twice as many typos as before, and how sometimes the articles would end mid-sentence instead of continuing after the jump. The newspaper’s remaining reporters are overworked; there are local stories they’d like to tell but don’t have the bandwidth to cover. The Hawk Eye’s current […]
Writing from Home: Lessons from a Novelist-Slash-Small-Town Newspaper Columnist
“Small towns around Wisconsin are depopulating, the main streets emptying and shuttering. An American way of life is disappearing, and with it, an exchange is made. If there is no future for small-towns, what about local media like the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram? Who will report on the illegal acts of multinational corporations polluting the countryside? […]
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week we’re highlighting stories from Bryan Burrough, Josh Dzieza, Gabriella Paiella, Martha Lundin, and Patricia Marx.
‘Dying Inside’: Chaos and Cruelty in Louisiana Juvenile Detention
Repeated abuse, prolonged lockdowns, overlooked complaints, and a surge in suicide attempts at a juvenile detention center.
A Q&A with Julian Brave NoiseCat, a Journey Into a Fabled Forest, and Our Top 5
We learn a lot as we move along; if we’re lucky, we might shed some old wisdom for better understanding.
Strong Mothers, Boundless Lives, and the Week’s Top 5
We connect in such curious ways; thus are we transformed.


