Fifty years ago, the Freedom of Information Act gave the public access to government secrets — all you had to do was ask. How a simple request became a bureaucratic nightmare.
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Posted inProfiles & Interviews
Putting Together the Pieces of Her Grandmother’s Mysterious Death
For her essay in the New Yorker, Kate Daloz relied on a precious set of letters to tell the story of her grandmother’s abortion.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
The Case for Dungeons & Dragons
I was never a Dungeons and Dragons person, but as a nerd, seems like they’ve always been nearby. I would not have expected a Venn diagram overlapping the D&D nerds I know — delightful, gentle weirdos who like elves and other imaginary creatures — with high security prisoners. Elisabeth de Cleer wrote about one such […]
Posted inEditor's Pick, Essays & Criticism, Nonfiction
You Are a Jigsaw Puzzle with Missing Food-Shaped Pieces
Fat, thin, over-eating, under-eating. Lindsay Hunter’s relationship with food, weight, and body image has been consistently complicated.
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Story, Unapologetic Women
Against Confession: On Intersectional Feminism, Radical Catholicism, and Redefining Remorse
Laura Goode investigates her Catholic identity—the radical, feminist, social-justice-oriented version she discovered upon encountering the mysteries of marriage and motherhood—years after her departure from the guilt-stricken, conservative Catholicism of her upbringing.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction
A High-End Mover Dishes on Truckstop Hierarchy, Rich People, and Moby Dick
On the beauty and burdens of the long haul.
Posted inNonfiction
Longreads Best of 2016: Under-Recognized Stories
We asked a few writers and editors to choose some of their favorite stories of the year in various categories. Here, the best in under-recognized stories.
Posted inBusiness & Tech, Current Events, Reading List
Popular Enough to Live: A Reading List About Crowdfunding Health Care
Sixty-three percent of Americans don’t have money to cover an emergency costing $500 or more. I’m one of them.
Posted inEditor's Pick, Essays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Unapologetic Women
Weighing Justice With a Jury of Her ‘Peers’
While serving as foreperson on a grand jury, Susana Morris confronts power and privilege in the criminal justice system.
Posted inBooks, First Chapters, Nonfiction, Story, Unapologetic Women
A Witness to Other People’s Lives, Not Living My Own
Unhappiness Cloak: An excerpt from “Weird in a World That’s Not,” by Jennifer Romolini.
