“When the very presence of unhoused people on the Chicago Transit Authority is considered a public safety concern, who is the public, and what are we keeping them safe from?”
racism
Where the Sidewalk Ends
“Meet the rednecks running a mutual aid auto repair shop in Alabama.”
Abdul Sharifu Was Buying Milk For A Neighbor’s Baby. A Snowstorm Killed Him.
“How the tragic death of one man during Buffalo’s historic snowstorm in December highlights both the city’s close-knit immigrant community and its systemic failures.”
The Dystopian Underworld of South Africa’s Illegal Gold Mines
“When the country’s mining industry collapsed, a criminal economy grew in its place, with thousands of men climbing into some of the deepest shafts in the world, searching for leftover gold.”
Edifice Complex
“Restoring the term “burnout” to its roots in landlord arson puts the dispossession of poor city dwellers at its center.”
CU Boulder Enrolled Alleged White Supremacist with Knowledge of His Past
“University officials were notified of Durham’s connection to Patriot Front and his violent social media posts before he stepped on campus as a student in August of 2022.”
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 […]
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 […]
Best of 2022: Reader Favorites
You’ve heard from the Longreads’ editors, now it’s the turn of our readers.
“I Am In Between”: A Q&A with Sorayya Khan
Author Sorayya Khan on what it means to grow up between two cultures, and on mothering and being mothered in a global world.
