Searching for ritual during a season of mystery.
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The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, we’re sharing stories from bell hooks, Christopher Curtis, Kate Connolly, David Ramsey, and Henry Grabar.
What We Remember: A Reading List on Archives
Why do we keep what we keep — and who decides? An archivist digs and collects longreads on how objects and materials shape public memory.
Messy, Messy Love: A Reading List for Star-Crossed Lovers
It’s complicated: A tribute to real love stories, in all their weird and chaotic glory.
Yo-Yo Ma and the Meaning of Life
David Marchese interviews cellist Yo-Yo Ma on music, politics, culture, the pandemic, stereotypes, and the meaning of life.
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.”
If You Love the Music of the Carter Family, Thank Leslie Riddle
“First, you exclude black people from the festivals. Then write them out by not recording them. And pretty soon, ‘you have this manufactured image of country music being white and being poor.'”
Momo’s Deadline
Linda Button on her toughest writing assignment yet: her business partner’s epitaph.
What Do We Do Without Live Music?
Those of us who live for musical performances must find other ways to temporarily live without them.
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.”

