Early this summer I attended a disappointing writing workshop where a clearly unprepared instructor stressed the importance of creating air-tight sentences without bothering to suggest how. “Interrogate each one of your sentences,” she kept saying, then referring, over and over, to the first five lines of Lolita. While the overall experience was unsatisfying, it reminded me […]
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Posted inEssays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Story
How We Got There from Here
Anna Armstrong recalls a road trip to escape her grief-stricken home — dragging her 13-year-old brother to see R.E.M.
Essay
Between the Wolf in the Tall Grass and the Wolf in the Tall Story “It’s hard to escape the conclusion that the unconscious is laboring under a moral compulsion to educate us.” —Cormac McCarthy, “The Kekulé Problem,” Nautilus, April 20, 2017 I. The Smartest Person in the Room I often say that one of the […]
Posted inArts & Culture, Books, Essays & Criticism, Fiction, Quotes, Unapologetic Women
When ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Isn’t Fiction
Growing up in the fundamentalist Christian “Quiverfull” movement, Hännah Ettinger saw her own story in Atwood’s vision.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
The Responsibility of Being Both a Reporter and an Army Veteran
Veteran status cuts both ways. Because I’m an army veteran, other vets often tell me things they wouldn’t tell those who haven’t served. It is a privilege to be given this confidence, and yet I’m filled with an overwhelming obligation to get their stories right. Although I’m a longtime reporter, writing about veterans has been […]
Posted inNonfiction, Reading List, Top 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
The Top 5 Longreads of the week.
Posted inCurrent Events, Nonfiction, Profiles & Interviews
How Can Alt-Right Women Exist in a Misogynistic Movement?
An interview with Seyward Darby about her Harper’s cover story on gender dynamics within the alt-right.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes, Unapologetic Women
The Unsung Women of Rock and Roll
The sensitivity of male egos, the demands of motherhood, and the general disdain for female ambition made loneliness the likely lot of the chick singer. For the young, female rock-and-roll fan, the arm of a male musician might have seemed more welcoming. Girlfriends and wives appeared as fairy-tale heroines who held royal sway in the […]
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Story
Helping My Son Choose Between the Cub Scouts and His Beliefs about God
Kate Abbott thought the Cub Scouts would be a great place for her son to make friends. Then they came across the ‘Duty to God’ requirements.
Posted inEditor's Pick, Essays & Criticism, Nonfiction
Helping My Son Choose Between the Cub Scouts and His Beliefs about God
Kate Abbott thought the Cub Scouts would be a great place for her son to make friends. Then they came across the ‘Duty to God’ requirements.
