As a teenager, I met a stranger who changed the course of my life. Twenty years later, I went looking for him.
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The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Featuring standout reads from Ian Urbina, Hanif Abdurraqib, Sallie Tisdale, Brad Rassler, and Adam Reiner.
The Universe, T-Swift, and This Week’s Top 5
“Growing up it was drilled in me that no word should touch the ground. Words are to be revered no matter what those words might mean. Once my Nana insisted my entire room be reorganized because my bookshelf was stationed such that when I went to bed the backs of my feet faced the books […]
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Featuring stories from Josh Dzieza, Mark Krotov, Wendy Brenner, Paul Brown, and Andrew Normal Wilson.
Happy Birthday to Us, and the Week’s Top 5
“The anxiety of hunger settled under my ribs like the feeling you get when you’re about to burst into tears. The hum of the refrigerator alone was enough to make me want to bury my head in the backyard. I often dreamt of donuts, and once, of my sister-in-law’s mother, a tenacious Serbian woman, bringing […]
Around The Pit
Circling billions of gallons of toxic water at America’s largest Superfund site.
Best of 2025: All Our Number One Story Picks
Every story we selected for the number one slot in our weekly newsletter, all in one place.
We Got the Beat
How The Go-Go’s emerged from the Los Angeles punk scene in the late ’70s to become the first and only female band to have a number one album in Beauty and the Beat.
This Week in Books: (Terrified, aside to Cassilda.) No mask? No mask!
“Oh, all the one-way tickets! / I haven’t found anything / more sorrowful than you / in the pockets of the world.”
This Week in Books: Farewell Longreads! I’m Taking This Rodeo to Substack.
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