There must be few journalistic feats more difficult than getting inside the head of a teenager. But with “13, Right Now,” Washington Post staff writer Jessica Contrera joins the ranks of reporters who have skillfully chronicled the lives of children and teens, including Susan Orlean (read her classic Esquire piece, “The American Man, Age 10”) and more […]
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Posted inEditor's Pick
How New Orleans Became Ground Zero for HIV
Science writer Jessica Wapner on the “second hurricane” battering New Orleans, where HIV infections are reaching epidemic proportions, propelled by prejudice and poverty.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction
When the Messiah Came to America, She Was a Woman
On the rise and fall of American utopia.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Story
When the Messiah Came to America, She Was a Woman
On the rise and fall of American utopia.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
What Trains Can Teach Us About Public Space
The long-distance train is one of America’s greatest and least heralded public spaces. Perhaps without intending to, the train encapsulates many qualities of public spaces that planners and designers try so hard to create. It is democratic in that it serves people across many different communities, geographies and interest groups. It is diverse in that it appeals to a broad spectrum of people across ages, ethnicities, races, nationalities and genders, and critically, it facilitates connections between these different people. (While traveling from New Orleans to Los Angeles, I met a gay couple going to Houston, a Latino family headed to Albuquerque, an indie rock-loving pizza-maker from Austin, a minister going to Tucson and an L.A.-bound retired merchant marine who taught me how to play dominoes.) Unlike planes, trains foster a sense of appreciation and curiosity about the landscapes through which they pass, which in turn help passengers develop a deeper connection to place.
Posted inNonfiction
Longreads Best of 2015: Under-Recognized Stories
Stories that deserved more attention in 2015.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction
Tennessee Williams on His Women, His Writer’s Block, and Whether It All Mattered
Tennessee Williams tasked James Grissom with seeking out each of the women (and few men) who had inspired his work—Maureen Stapleton, Lillian Gish, Marlon Brando and others—so that he could ask them a question: had Tennessee Williams, or his work, ever mattered?
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Story
Tennessee Williams on His Women, His Writer’s Block, and Whether It All Mattered
Tennessee Williams tasked James Grissom with seeking out each of the women (and few men) who had inspired his work—Maureen Stapleton, Lillian Gish, Marlon Brando and others—so that he could ask them a question: had Tennessee Williams, or his work, ever mattered?
Posted inNonfiction, Reading List
Examining the Religious, Economic, Architectural, and Cultural Facets of Gentrification: A Reading List
Gif via Justin Blinder’s ‘Vacated’ project. 1. “Urban Church Planting Plantations.” (Christena Cleveland, March 2014) White suburban churches invade urban spaces with no regard for the churches already in place. 2. “Gentrification Sparks Surge In Landlord Sabotage.” (Lauren Evans, Gothamist, Feb. 2014) Setting fires, locking tenants out and willfully destroying a building’s infrastructure–evil landlords will go to […]
Posted inNonfiction
‘We Value Experience’: Can a Secret Society Become a Business?
Jeff Hull’s Latitude Society explores the possibilities of art, intimacy, experience, and membership.
