This week we have stories from Christopher Johnston and Erin Quinlan, Dan McQuade, Crystal Wilkinson, Simon Akam, and Nicholson Baker.
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Shifting Identity, Shamans, and the Week’s Top 5
“So long as there are nations, there will be people trying to get out of them, tracking ceaselessly from one to the other while maybe wishing they could belong to the world instead.” In making a cross-country move recently, I realized that I can be a different person in a new place. There’s a certain […]
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, we’re sharing stories from Gus Garcia-Roberts and David Heath, Melissa Gira Grant, David Owen, Geoffrey Himes, and Traci Brimhall.
Best of 2024: All Our Number One Story Picks
Every story that appeared in the number one slot in our Weekly Top 5, all in one place.
A Young Cartographer’s Mission to Map the Catholic Church — and Fight Climate Change
“The role of the cartographer isn’t just data analytics,” says Molly Burhans, an activist mapping the land assets of the Catholic Church. “It’s also storytelling.”
Cooking for One, Dangerous Jobs, and our Weekly Top 5
“When I cooked Indian food, the smallest number I cooked for was four. But the book suggested that I could cook for myself. Meals for one. It advocated gentle ease as a way of making myself a meal.” Is that the weekend knocking at the door? C’mon in! This week we’ve got a thoughtful new […]
How to Fuel a Hike, What’s in a Name, and the Week’s Top 5
“What could it mean to give yourself the food you need to keep going? No punishing, no guilt, no withholding. Just nourishment.” Well hello, August! C’mon in and make yourself at home. This week, in addition to five stories chosen by the editors for our Top 5, we wanted to share two recent pieces with […]
The Universe, T-Swift, and This Week’s Top 5
“Growing up it was drilled in me that no word should touch the ground. Words are to be revered no matter what those words might mean. Once my Nana insisted my entire room be reorganized because my bookshelf was stationed such that when I went to bed the backs of my feet faced the books […]
How Silence Protects and Harms Us (plus the Week’s Top 5)
“We still fight with the same Vietnamese stubbornness that is in our blood. I struggle with knowing far more English than Vietnamese. As you age, I fret about the ultimate silence of losing you. Although this dynamic will never go away, there have been new rhetorical tools to soften our challenges. Phrases like ‘I’m sorry’ […]
Iconic Comics of a Cuban Cartoonist and the Week’s Top 5
“If an image is the idea of an idea, then a franchise is that second idea in perpetuity, because the image is the thing you can sand down and actually sell. You can’t profit off of history unless you rewrite it.” Welcome to the weekend! Our newest Longreads feature, by writer and culture critic Gyasi […]


