Music has been a salve this year, helping us cope with the myriad challenges that 2020 brought. Here are some favorite pieces of music writing we picked in 2020.
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Posted inNonfiction
The Curious Tale of the Salish Sea Feet
To date, 21 disembodied feet have washed up on the shores of Seattle’s Salish Sea. What at first looked like the work of a serial killer turned out to be something even more unsettling: A message from the ocean about who we are.
Posted inArts & Culture, Science & Nature, Story
Critics: Endgame
If there’s no earth, there’s no art. How do you engage in cultural criticism at the end of the world?
Posted inNonfiction
Mountains, Transcending
“Ever since I was five years old,” wrote opera singer–turned–Buddhist lama Alexandra David-Néel, “I craved to go beyond the garden gate, to follow the road that passed it by, and to set out for the Unknown.”
Posted inNonfiction
My Body Is Not a Temple
All the good habits and self-optimization in the world don’t give you real control over your body. Back away from the bread starter.
Posted inNonfiction
Total Depravity: The Origins of the Drug Epidemic in Appalachia Laid Bare
In an excerpt from his essay collection, Australian journalist Richard Cooke reports on the American opioid crisis through the astonished eyes of a foreigner visiting steel and coal country.
Posted inHighlight, Quote Posts, Quotes, Science & Nature
‘Someone Took Care to Get it Right’: The Birds of the Seven Kingdoms
On the delightfully nerdy role of birds and bird calls in Game of Thrones.
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Crane Wife
Days after calling off her wedding, a writer travels to Texas to study the endangered whooping crane, and learns about the nature of need.
Posted inStory
Shelved: Yoko Ono
On Yoko Ono’s 1974 album “A Story,” and stepping out from behind the ever-present shadow of John Lennon.
Posted inCurrent Events, Nonfiction, Science & Nature
What the Death of a Glacier Means for Us
The death of an iconic California glacier signals the loss of one scientist’s work, the end of an epoch, and possibly the beginning of a new era of mass extinction.
