Cities were vibrant, culturally rich places to live before the pandemic. We can only speculate about how cities will be after.
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‘I Believe in Love’: Elizabeth Wurtzel’s Final Year, In Her Own Words
Memoirist Elizabeth Wurtzel was working on this, her final personal essay, when she passed away on January 7th, 2020 from metastatic breast cancer. In the piece she reveals that as her health was declining, her marriage was unraveling, and that she was still wrestling with new information her mother finally revealed a couple of years […]
My Semester With the Snowflakes
A 52-year-old former Naval officer enrolls as an undergraduate at Yale, alongside a primarily 18- to 22-year-old student body. Contrary to what his contemporaries expect, in the midst of tackling complicated ideas with his classmates, despite their differences, he finds he has great respect for his them — and they have great respect for him.
Sold Back Into Slavery, She Sued for Restitution — and Won
Morgan Jerkins tells the story of Henrietta Wood — a woman sold back into slavery after being freed — who in 1878 was awarded $2,500, the largest known sum of restitution for enslavement by a United States court.
The Optics of Opportunity
Hafizah Geter sets the record straight on outrageous displays of racism and white privilege in a literary fellowship she took part in, after The New Yorker frames the story “as a quirky tale of wealth and nepotism.”
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, we’re sharing stories from Jonah Engel Bromwich, Ryan Goldberg, Meghan Daum, Alison Osius, and Joel Mowdy.
Species of Grief
In the wake of losing both her father and her dog in the space of six months, Meghan Daum muses on different experiences of loss, grief, time and aging.
Hysterical! The Body that Bleeds
As she gleefully prepares to undergo a much-needed hysterectomy, Samantha Irby recalls the mess and agony of her menstrual cycle.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, we’re sharing stories from Molly Redden, Sarah Schweitzer, Andrew Dickson, Namwali Serpell, and Lukas Hermsmeier.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, we’re sharing stories from Angella d’Avignon, Katie Englehart, Caitlin Dewey, Eric Benson, Roxane Gay and Tressie McMillan Cottom.