“There’s something about the thrill of discovery that can make a person believe what they’ve found is theirs now—to claim, to guard, to name.”
Search results
The Free-Living Bureaucrat
“All over the world, tens of thousands of times a year, some doctor was trying to improve on some unsatisfying treatment for some deadly affliction. And no one was recording what had worked and what had not.”
The American Novel Has a Major Problem With Fat People
“Why does fiction do such a bad job of portraying fat characters?”
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
In this edition: Bear bones, outstanding Outkast, Brightline’s brutality, lasting lunches, ruin ruminations, and more.
Out on the Trail, Deep Online, and the Week’s Top 5
“Eating, even eating junk food—sometimes especially eating junk food—is not just a good idea but potentially the difference between life and death, or at the very least the difference between an enjoyable experience and a grueling one. No one has ever opened up a packet of Oreos on a mountaintop and said, ‘I’m being so bad.’” […]
Women in Afghanistan Are Prisoners In Their Own Homes. This is the Story of Marjan, Married at 12 to a Taliban Fighter
“Women in Afghanistan are prisoners in their own homes. This is the story of Marjan, married at 12 to a Taliban fighter.”
What Harm Reduction Really Looks Like
“Harm reduction advocates are implementing solidarity-based strategies for curbing drug overdoses in Minneapolis.”
Why the West Needs Prairie Dogs
“They’re among the region’s most despised species, but some tribes, researchers and landowners are racing to save them.”
Of Tacos y Heartbreak
“The tacos I eat here in the U.S. are not the tacos my family eats in Mexico. They come close but there’s something missing. Maybe it’s the salt.”


