This week, our editors recommend stories by Seth Harp, Alanna Mitchell, Cezary Podkul, Alex Vuocolo, and Loren Grush.
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The ‘Race Realist’ on Campus
“Why was Professor Gregory Christainsen allowed to teach Black and Latino students at Cal State East Bay that they were inherently less smart?”
Detectives at Work and the Week’s Top 5
“Ronald was my mother’s uncle, a fashion designer who fled Texas for New York at 19. I met him only once. In my memory, we are sitting on the front porch, the hairs standing up on my arms as the sun wanes. His head is bent over a piece of paper, sketching my 7-year-old face. […]
The Grassroots Activists Who Protected San Francisco’s Most Vulnerable—and the City—From COVID
“Unidos en Salud ‘made the pain undeniable.’ And then got to work.”
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Recommending notable stories by J.K. Nickell, Conor Niland, Wendell Brock and Paul Kwilecki, Ally Jarmanning, and Drew Magary.
‘What Kind of Man Would Abandon His Family By Pretending To Be Dead?’
A father’s disappearance, dark family secrets, and the hunt for Bigfoot.
Burgling the Rich, a Cat’s Life Lessons, and Our Top 5
“I learned to adore the way he sidled against me and to hate his momentary affection, just as he learned to detach from me in weariness and depend on me in hunger. Days with him were a quick education in a cat’s existence.” I once spent a year shadowing a musician I loved, whose body […]
This ‘Treasure’ Rewrote California History. It Was An Elaborate Hoax.
“There were whispers, though, that something wasn’t right. It was all very strange, almost too serendipitous.”
10 Short Stories, The Power of Music, and Our Top 5
“I always admired how my father could play so delicately with such brutal hands. They were rough, mired with patches of psoriasis, calloused from playing the charango and the guitar, and scarred, scarred all over.” I have fond memories of playing the violin when I was a child, and over the years I’ve considered returning […]
Our Biggest Hits, Near Misses, and Top 5 Stories
For many of us, the weeks ahead offer a little more time and space for reading. Our year-end lists are filled with stories that will meet you wherever you are.


