Amia Srinivasan on language and pronouns: “Language is a public system of meaning. No individual can unilaterally decide what a word means, or whether any given word, according to standard usage, truly describes them. And yet the definitions of words – as any lexicographer will tell you – depend on patterns of actual human usage, […]
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Posted inArts & Culture, Highlight, Nonfiction, Quote Posts, Quotes
The Function and Language of Ancient Sexual Texts
A fascinating look at so-called obscenity, then and now.
Posted inUncategorized
The Plot Thickens (and the Week’s Top 5)
“Accommodating the dead, like accommodating the living, has always entailed a head-on collision with the awkward reality that we have a finite amount of physical space.” Okay, yes, sure, maybe you weren’t expecting a quote about dead bodies to kick off your Friday morning. But I assure you that our new feature, “Disneyland of the […]
Posted inTop 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week we have stories from Patrick Fealey, S.C. Cornell, Sterry Butcher, Robin Wall Kimmerer and Jenny Odell, and Francisco Garcia.
Posted inReading List
Suspended Falling: A Reading List on Walking
After seven million years of evolution, walking feels as natural as breathing. But as our environments evolve, so do our ways of walking through them.
Posted inReading List
Science Cheats: A Reading List on Unscrupulous Scientists
Six stories on the shady side of scholarship.
Posted inNewsletter
Walking on Faith and the Week’s Top 5
“Most people here were trying to find a way to live with events that could have broken their lives: absence, illness, loss, death. How could I fault them for something I also wanted, which was to wring meaning from things that have none?” “Why was I stumbling alongside this mass of the devout?” This is […]
Posted inReading List
‘Actually Really Sacred’: A George Saunders Reading List
Nine essays and interviews from literature’s favorite laureate of compassion.
Posted inReading List
Life on Display: A Reading List on Museums
A reading list on how museums reflect culture.
Posted inArts & Culture, Culture, Highlight, Profiles & Interviews, Quote Posts
“The Internet Is Inside Us”: Patricia Lockwood on the Portal, Twitter, and Her New Novel
In an interview at GQ, Patricia Lockwood talks about the perils of being extremely online.
