From bull rides to military parades, the world transforms us in surprising ways. The best stories get close enough to document our transformation.
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AI Is Coming for Music, Too
“New diffusion AI models that make songs from scratch are complicating our definitions of authorship and human creativity.”
St. John the Wondermaker
“Since April, on the past five fourth Wednesdays of the month I have driven to St. John the Wondermaker Orthodox Church, in Atlanta’s Grant Park neighborhood, to wash and trim and file the feet of a handful of the city’s 2,200 unhoused men.”
The End of Books
“What happened when a dumpster arrived behind my university’s library.”
A Total Breakdown of All the Easter Eggs
“Major film studios embracing AI, newspapers announcing the death of moviegoing, critics devoid of values: all of this can instill a great sense of defeat. We have to write against it.”
The Cat’s Meat Man
“As cats evolved from feral ratters into beloved Victorian companions, a nascent pet-food economy arose on the carts of so-called ‘cat’s meat men.’
The Hardy Men
“Why is a right-wing press reissuing century-old adolescent mystery novels?”
The Hobo Handbook
“You can’t buy such a book, can’t download it, can’t trace its often multiple authors. But if you run in the right circles, all you have to do is ask.”
The Man in the New Boots
“Maybe it’s that it’s goddamned insane to ride a bull, and America is full of crazy people who for no earthly reason see that sort of thing and want to try it themselves.”
