We asked a few writers and editors to choose some of their favorite stories of the year in various categories. Here, the best in essays and criticism.
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Posted inFirst Chapters, Story
Wrestling With the Truth
A 1992 murder of a young boy unravels a journalist’s dark family secrets.
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Story
A Shot in the Arm
Why would a tenure-track professor find himself selling his plasma to make rent? A story about debt in the academic world.
Posted inNonfiction, Reading List
The Murky Importance of Giving: A Reading List
In reading for this list, I discovered people who give freely, their generosity intertwined with thoughtfulness at best; carelessness, illness or guilt at worst.
Posted inUncategorized
‘Let’s Suck This Week Less Than We Did Last Week’: An Oral History of The Stranger
Twenty-five years after its debut, here is the story of an independent newspaper in Seattle that spawned Dan Savage and won a Pulitzer Prize.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
How One Woman Left Her Abusive Husband
In Oregon Humanities magazine, Loretta Stinson writes about her moment of clarity, the night when she saw her fifteen-year relationship to an abusive alcoholic for what it was, and decided to walk out on him.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
The Life of a Teen Beauty Pageant Host
Has Zak Slemmer found his calling? He’s not sure.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
What’s Behind the Surging Popularity of Music Festivals?
In its growth, Governors Ball is benefitting from and contributing to the festival explosion of the past decade, a trend that a new Eventbrite study (on the “Top 2014 Music Festival Trends and Insights”) claims has resulted in one in every five millennials attending at least one festival per year. Though big, multi-day productions have thrived longer […]
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Nonfiction
Writing Our America
“Despite the headlines that came after the election calling this country ‘Trump’s America’—and there were many—I won’t call it that, or see it that way. And regardless of your politics I’ll ask you to join me. This is our America. It’s our America to write in, and our America to write.”
Posted inNonfiction, Story
Michael Joyce’s Second Act
In 1996, David Foster Wallace profiled tennis player Michael Joyce in one of the most celebrated pieces of sports writing ever published. Who has he become since?
