The longtime writer at Denver’s 5280 magazine talks about City Reads, the stellar work published by fellow journalists, and the intimate experience of reading thousands of solidarity letters mailed from across the country, demanding justice for Elijah McClain.
cities
Posted inEditor's Pick
‘A Profound Betrayal of Trust’: Why Jackson’s Water System Is Broken
“How a shrinking city, aging infrastructure and racism left thousands of Jacksonians without water for weeks.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Death and Life of the Greatest American City
“The city feels simultaneously attacked, abandoned, and bereft of competent leadership. It also feels very, very alive.” In an essay at GEN, Glynnis MacNicol explores New York City’s #NoFilter era.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Home Body
On the visible and invisible systems that connect our homes to the outside world — and that bring injustice, power imbalances, and the labor of others into our private spheres.
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Highlight, Nonfiction, Quote Posts, Quotes
‘You Could Literally See Our Shit From Space’: The Broken Bowels of Beirut
Beirut’s disintegrating sewage system and corrupt politics have put its residents in a shitty situation.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Waste Away
“To say that we’re drowning in our shit—the shit we all made together—is no longer a figure of speech in Lebanon today.” Lina Mounzer writes about Beirut’s broken sewage system and the political and economic factors that have drowned the city in its own waste.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Where Water Used to Be
A look at another crisis the world is facing: water scarcity. Rosa Lyster examines the water-stressed cities of Cape Town and Mexico City — cities grappling with issues related to climate change, infrastructure, and inequality.
Posted inBooks, Design, Nonfiction, Science & Nature, Story
The Ancient Waterways of Phoenix, Arizona
To understand this sprawling desert city, you have to understand its canals, whose routes Indigenous people dug as far back as A.D. 200.
Posted inArts & Culture, Highlight, Quote Posts, Quotes
Why Amanda Fortini Won’t Soon Be Leaving Las Vegas
“Las Vegas is a place about which people have ideas. They have thoughts and generalizations, takes and counter-takes, most of them detached from any genuine experience and uninformed by any concrete reality.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
How a Booming City Can Be More Equitable
At a time when many U.S. cities are being revitalized — and rapidly gentrified — Barry Yeoman spotlights Durham, North Carolina, his home of 30 years, where activism, diversity- and egalitarianism-minded non-profits, and a community land trust are helping to keep the city inclusive and affordable for those who often get marginalized and pushed out instead.