Is the Cure for Cancer Locked in Shrunken Heads from the Amazon? By Seyward Darby Highlight Could shrunken heads from the Amazon hold the key to curing cancer?
How Does the Story End? By Krista Stevens Highlight “How other people live is pretty much all I think about. Curiosity is the rock upon which fiction is built.”
“Over a Glass of Wine and a Pint on a Quiet Friday Night” By Krista Stevens Highlight “Impending parenthood makes you reconsider the context of your own upbringing, and puts the work your parents did into a new light.”
The Grieving Landscape By Longreads Feature Upon discovering that her mother had been a member of the group Women Strike For Peace (WSP), Heidi Hutner becomes obsessed with feminist nuclear history.
The Consequences of Surviving By Carolyn Wells Highlight “As medicine advances, we have more survivors. But those survivors carry trauma to their graves.”
Elizabeth Wurtzel Made it Okay to Write ‘Ouch’ By Sari Botton Highlight Today’s memoirists and personal essay writers owe a debt of gratitude to the Prozac Nation author for rewriting an inhibiting rule.
A Beloved Art Critic Sings His Swan Song By Sari Botton Highlight “Drink was destroying my life. Tobacco only shortens it, with the best parts over anyway.”
What the World’s Most Controversial Herbicide Is Doing to Rural Argentina By Longreads Feature After enormous lobbying efforts, Monsanto’s GMO soybeans, treated with Roundup, became the country’s largest export, as cancer rates and other health issues skyrocketed.
Thumbing a Ride: What I Learned from Siskel and Ebert By Dipti S. Barot Feature Dipti S. Barot pays homage to the two irreplaceable voices who informed her love of good movies.
The Reality of Being Sick and Alone By Carolyn Wells Highlight Diagnosed with breast cancer, Anne Boyer discusses the treatment that is poisoning her body.
The Girl I Didn’t Save By Longreads Feature Cameron Dezen Hammon reflects on her frustrations as a Christian music minister for the terminally ill, unable to heal a cancer patient she cared for, and struggling to be compassionate at her belligerent Jewish father’s bedside.
Communiqué from an Exurban Satellite Clinic of a Cancer Pavilion Named after a Financier By Longreads Feature Anne Boyer encounters a familiar system — that grand and easy-to-mistake-for-everything system — at the cancer pavilion.
The Brazilian Healer and the Patron Saint of Impossible Causes By Leigh Hopkins Feature Leigh Hopkins faces the hidden truth about the world’s most famous spiritual surgeon and the irresistible desire to find ‘the cure.’
The Strongest Woman in the Room By Kitty Sheehan Feature A daughter recounts her family’s worst day, through her mother’s eyes.
Rob Delaney and His Son’s Cancer By Katie Kosma Highlight Actor and writer Rob Delaney shares his family’s experience with every parent’s nightmare: a very sick child.
Ten Translations of Care By Mary Wang Feature Mary Wang recalls the ways in which she and her family in China conspired to hide her grandmother’s cancer diagnosis from her.
Breast Implants, Beyond Real and Fake By Ben Huberman Highlight Nell Boeschenstein reflects on the culturally fraught discourse around post-mastectomy reconstruction.
‘I was pain incarnate.’ By Krista Stevens Highlight As she lives with terminal cancer, Teva Harrison reflects on how fentanyl is helping her make the most of the time she has left.
The Man Without a Nose By Krista Stevens Highlight Cancer may have claimed Steve Bean Levy’s nose, but not his sense of humor.
North Carolina’s Military Toxic Waste Negligence By Katie Kosma Highlight A reporter’s North Carolina hometown water supply contaminated millions of people, including her mother and two of her now-deceased brothers.
Hoffnung um jeden Preis By Lindsay Gellman Feature Privatkliniken in Deutschland verkaufen Krebspatienten Hoffnung zu Höchstpreisen — mit durchwachsenem Erfolg.
The Last Resort By Lindsay Gellman Feature Private clinics in Germany sell cancer patients hope — and mixed results — at exorbitant prices. Some, like the Hallwang Clinic, cater primarily to foreigners.
Grief is a Jumble Word By Ken Otterbourg Feature Ken Otterbourg contemplates love and loss and what we remember when we try to forget.
My Daughter Died, But I’m Still Mothering Her By Jacqueline Dooley Feature Jacqueline Dooley recalls her difficult transition from being a mother with earthly duties, to becoming one with more spiritual concerns for a teenage daughter with terminal cancer.
Cory Taylor Answers Your Questions About Dying By Krista Stevens Highlight To help demystify dying, Cory Taylor answers questions about what it’s like to have a terminal illness.
A Son’s Ambitious Plans to Give His Father Everlasting, Artificial Life By Mike Dang Highlight James Vlahos gave his father eternal life using a little bit of programming.
The Resilience of a Middle Distance Runner By Cheri Lucas Rowlands Highlight Gabriele Grunewald’s rare cancer has returned, but the athlete keeps fighting.
It Was Like Nothing Else in My Life Up to Now By Josh Roiland Feature In searching for meaning behind a random encounter and his mother’s death, Josh Roiland explores compassion.
Off-Time: Becoming a Widow at Age 36 By Krista Stevens Highlight Christina Frangou writes on the aftermath of being widowed at age 36.