Here’s every story that was chosen as No. 1 in our weekly Top 5 email.
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Chimayó
Esmé Weijun Wang discovers a new interpretation of faith while on two kindred pilgrimages: one to find an accurate medical diagnosis, one to a sacred site in New Mexico.
The Gymnast’s Position
Aimee Trepanier was proud to showcase the pose that started her 1993 gymnastics floor routine in a billboard ad off I-15 in Salt Lake City. But when Utahns looked up, that’s not what they saw.
Peter Thiel Makes Sure His Kids Are All Right
Why the libertarian billionaire keeps tabs on the magazine he founded at Stanford 30 years ago.
How Peter Thiel and the Stanford Review Built a Silicon Valley Empire
Some people never leave college behind; the philosophies you develop as an undergrad can stay with you a lifetime. For Peter Thiel, that means checking on periodically on his 30-year-old love child, The Stanford Review, to make sure the magazine he founded still has an independent streak of disrupting the status quo of campus ideologies.
The Return of the Face
Physiognomy is a discarded 19th-century pseudoscience. Why can’t we stop practicing it?
Versage
Following knock-off fashion’s flow from Lagos to Guangzhou (and back again).
Longreads Best of 2017: Local Reporting
We asked writers and editors to choose some of their favorite stories of the year in various categories. Here is the best in local reporting.
The Myth of Kevin Williamson
He’s not very good at his job.
Is Your Job Lynchian, or Is It More Kafkaesque?
David Graeber’s “Bullshit Jobs” and Alison Green’s “Ask a Manager” offer differing views — and some good advice.

