In the wake of a nationwide surge of anti-Asian hate crimes, writer Bonnie Tsui reflects on the resiliency of Chinatowns: Chinatown is a place of contradiction. It serves as scapegoat and sanctuary. The first Chinatowns were ghettos for male Chinese laborers, who were forced to live among, and yet apart from, whites; Chinese women were […]
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Posted inEditor's Pick
When Baking and Real Estate Collide
For The New Yorker, Anna Wiener explores the cuisine-real-estate business model and traces the rise of Tartine, the artisanal San Francisco bakery known for its delicious breads and pastries and hip, airy spaces. How did this beloved spot in the Mission become a world-renowned brand? And is this food empire really what it seems? Certain […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
Waymo Cars and Honey Bears
Gentrification has no shortage of first-order sins: displacement in the name of “progress” is bad enough. But after the displaced have been pushed to the margins, what’s left in their stead is a stunning homogeneity — not simply demographic, but dystopian. Anna Wiener’s latest “Letter From San Francisco” sums up the vague malaise that comes […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
I Was Given a House – But It Already Belonged to a Detroit Family
“Miraculously, Tomeka Langford is willing to talk to me.”
Posted inTop 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Recommending notable stories by Wyatt Williams, John Leland, Jonathan Weiner, Suzy Hansen, and Max Ufberg.
Posted inTop 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Featuring stories by Jenny Kleeman, Lucy Schiller, Michael Gardner, Emily Raboteau, and Angie Martoccio.
Posted inUncategorized
The (Un-)Happiest Place on Earth and the Week’s Top 5
“I left Trip House at 8:12 on Saturday morning, having not been murdered, and drove to the Magic Kingdom. The woman at the ticket window asked if I’d come to Disney World to celebrate anything special, and I laughed. If I answered that question truthfully — using unmagical words like ‘genital,’ ‘student loan,’ and ‘gentrification’ […]
Posted inTop 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week we have stories from Patrick Fealey, S.C. Cornell, Sterry Butcher, Robin Wall Kimmerer and Jenny Odell, and Francisco Garcia.
Posted inNewsletter
Sandlot Baseball as Social Glue (and More Top 5 Reads)
Finding community in sandlot ball (and our Top 5).
Posted inNewsletter
Walking on Faith and the Week’s Top 5
“Most people here were trying to find a way to live with events that could have broken their lives: absence, illness, loss, death. How could I fault them for something I also wanted, which was to wring meaning from things that have none?” “Why was I stumbling alongside this mass of the devout?” This is […]
