Why some athletes seek the very limits of human capacity — even in the face of unimaginable risk.
P Rubin
Posted inFeature
Age, Sex, Location
Chatrooms taught me everything I needed to know about what real people were like before I had to grow up and become one of them.
Posted inReading List
Pawns, Puppet Heads, and Paranoia: An Eccentrics Reading List
“They’re a little eccentric” is a phrase I suspect most of us have heard used to describe a certain kind of memorable person. For me, it evokes my childhood dentist — an elderly man who favored colorful bow ties and humming loudly as he worked, and who once wagged his finger in my face and […]
Posted inReading List
More Than Just an Object: A Collector’s Reading List
The bowerbird, which lives on the east coast of Australia, has an abiding eye for anything blue. Solitary males travel great distances to bring back all manner of blue objects to decorate their nests. Shells, flowers, plastic bottles, and feathers are all fair game, and bowerbirds have even been known to grind up blue pigments […]
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The Sunset
There are plenty of reasons to see nursing homes as sad, neglectful places. There are also reasons to see them as something else entirely.
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How Wednesday Addams Birthed a Generation of Cynics
Nearly 30 years ago, Christina Ricci’s version of the character reinforced millennials’ suspicion that “the bright side” is an illusion.
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‘This Stuff is Alive’: A Global Folk Music Reading List
Six pieces that demonstrate the timelessness of ever-changing sonic traditions.
Posted inNonfiction
The Substance of Silence: A Reading List About Hermits
Humans are social creatures, and loneliness can be debilitating — yet, many have discovered solace in the solitary life.
Posted inNonfiction
More Than a Feeling: A Blues Reading List
A hundred years on from its birth, the music continues to speak to the heart — an art form that also serves as social commentary, communal history, and cathartic release.
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Final Girl, Terrible Place
I was expecting a handy theory. What I found was a way of seeing that would help me decode a script I’d been stuck in for much of my life.