Notable stories on chasing manhood, naming Gaza’s dead, searching the stacks for a rare book, leaving music behind, and opting out.
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The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
In this edition: Eschatolgy, Texas style; dancing like nobody’s watching; the men, they myths, the legends; monumental responses; and notes fit for a King.
Enduring Battles, a Musical Childhood, and Our Top 5
“I felt like a rat trapped in a maze with no finish, running into walls and getting electrocuted at every turn. I wanted out of the hellscape I’d created, but I had formed a whole identity around the latticework of visible bones and tendons; my days were structured around the denial of food. To give […]
New York City Paid McKinsey Millions to Stem Jail Violence. Instead, Violence Soared.
The corporate consulting firm reported bogus numbers and flailed in a project at Rikers Island. Today, assaults and other attacks there are up almost 50 percent.
What We Remember: A Reading List on Archives
Why do we keep what we keep — and who decides? An archivist digs and collects longreads on how objects and materials shape public memory.
How to Fuel a Hike, What’s in a Name, and the Week’s Top 5
“What could it mean to give yourself the food you need to keep going? No punishing, no guilt, no withholding. Just nourishment.” Well hello, August! C’mon in and make yourself at home. This week, in addition to five stories chosen by the editors for our Top 5, we wanted to share two recent pieces with […]
A Transit Worker’s Survival Story
“Driving a New York City bus during a pandemic and an uprising.”
Abdul Sharifu Was Buying Milk For A Neighbor’s Baby. A Snowstorm Killed Him.
“How the tragic death of one man during Buffalo’s historic snowstorm in December highlights both the city’s close-knit immigrant community and its systemic failures.”
I’ve Fled New York with My Wife, Kids and Dog – Just as my Ancestors Fled the 1918 Pandemic
After covering the plights of refugees around the world as a journalist, Bryan Mealer finds himself a refugee, fleeing New York City for his childhood home of west Texas — where his great-grandmother and her oldest daughter died in the influenza epidemic of 1918.
Around The Pit
Circling billions of gallons of toxic water at America’s largest Superfund site.


