All the stories we’ve selected as number five in our weekly Top 5 newsletter.
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The State We Are In: Neither Here, There, nor in Heaven
On vaccine privilege in America and COVID-19 inequities in India.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, we’re sharing stories from Taffy Brodesser-Akner, Anna Merlan, Sara Tatyana Bernstein, Connie Pertuz-Meza, and Emma Beddington.
The State of Waiting
Separated by war, boundaries, and immigration policies they cannot control, one young Yemeni couple refuses to give up on love.
Japan: A Longform Reading List of Longform Writing
Armchair travel is more important than ever, now that pandemic has forced us to stay indoors. Reading can take you across the ocean.
The Price of Dominionist Theology
After leaving fundamentalism, Eve Ettinger grapples with the loaded theological heritage of evangelical personal finance teachings.
“The Anger of Women is an Earth-shattering Thing”: Lidia Yuknavitch on Resisting the Hero Narrative and the Body as a Generator of Stories.
“I’m going to say a blasphemous thing, which is we are so fucking done with the hero’s journey. It has been to our peril.”
On Watching Boys Play Music
“With a drink in my hand and earplugs responsibly in place, I’m very aware that I’ve spent more than half my life essentially standing in the same spot: off to one side of the stage (close but not too close), eyes forward, shifting weight from foot to foot.”
The Emptying
“I’m amazed at our human capacity to adapt to the unbearable. Almost anything can seem normal if it’s inflicted on us long enough.”

