Kavita Das recalls learning to self-advocate as a patient with a cleft palate — and as a child in a family full of doctors.
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Decolonizing Knowledge: Stefan Bradley on the Fight for Civil Rights in the Ivy League
In the 1960s, black students at the Ivies organized and protested for fair treatment, their personal safety, to create black studies programs, and to stop their universities from harming local black communities through expansion and urban renewal.
Dancing Backup: Puerto Ricans in the American Muchedumbre
Carina del Valle Schorske traces a lineage of Puerto Rican backup dancers in American entertainment from Rita Moreno to JLo.
Into the Woods: Three Personal Essays on ‘Twin Peaks’
The cult show returned this week. Here, three writers reflect on David Lynch’s effect on their lives.
Taking Up Smoking at the End of the World
In his late twenties, John Sherman finds a new fondness for cigarettes, despite everything he was ever taught about them.
This Is How a Woman Is Erased From Her Job
After taking over from George Plimpton, Brigid Hughes was pushed out as the editor of The Paris Review and omitted from the magazine’s history.
An Inquiry Into Abuse
Allegations that Richard Nixon beat his wife, Pat Nixon, have circulated for decades without serious examination by the journalists who covered his presidency. It’s time to look more closely at what’s been hiding in plain view.
Behind The Writing: On Interviewing
In her first column on craft, Sarah Menkedick speaks with Sarah Smarsh, Lauren Markham, and Jennifer Percy on the art of the interview.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Below, our favorite stories of the week. Sign up to receive this list free every Friday in your inbox. * * * 1. The Great A.I. Awakening Gideon Lewis-Kraus | New York Times | Dec. 14, 2016 | 60 minutes (15,174 words) The story of how Google developed artificial intelligence to vastly improve its translation service, […]
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Our top stories of the week, as chosen by the editors at Longreads.

