Tag: the toast

Five stories about plants and gardens and the humans that tend them.

Eight must-read essays on how we cook and how we eat.

Seven stories about the modern rituals of witchcraft and how they inform our past.

Below are seven stories about the outdoors, outdoor apparel, hiking buddies, bodily transformation, body image, abuse and sufferfests.

A raw look at the discomfort, confusion, and anger of being diagnosed and dealing with endometriosis, a painful reproductive disorder with mysterious origins, and no cure.

This Pride series continues with stories and interviews surrounding LGBTQ history in the United States.

Six stories about our relationships with our hair.

Revel in all the feels with these 14 (get it?) essays and interviews.

Six stories about bets, luck, and playing the odds.

The social pressure on people of color to keep the peace, not get mad, just make sure everyone keeps having a nice time — even when we hear these remarks in public, at our workplaces and schools, in our own homes and from our friends’ mouths — can be overwhelming, bearing down on us in […]

My boyfriend and I share a love of cryptozoology and hidden places. For Valentine’s Day, he bought us matching “explorer” jackets with Nessie and Mothman patches affixed to the sleeves. We have standard hobbies, too—reading, writing, listening to music—but podcasts about Bigfoot and poring over Atlas Obscura is where things get a little weird. In this collection, you’ll meet folks who look at planes, at compasses, at building blocks and at each other (in full Civil War uniform, no less).

Ezekiel Kweku wrote this profound essay in August after a police officer named Darren Wilson killed an unarmed teenager named Michael Brown. After last night’s verdict, it resonates.

I went to the kind of college that really does say, “Here is the Western canon, read it.” Which is definitely not the only thing you want to do with your English major, you definitely want to reach beyond that, but it was pretty traditional in that sense. So I read the Western canon and […]

Mallory Ortberg, at the Toast, responding to Elizabeth Ellen about consent and saying “no.”

In the two years since my graduation from my conservative Christian college, approximately half of my friends have reaffirmed their faith: they’ve joined churches, volunteered in youth groups, and read the Bible in its entirety. Other friends have left their faith for something different: agnosticism or atheism. I find myself between the two camps, mostly intrigued by the latter. This is explored in the following four pieces.

What are the stories behind our storytelling tools?

The following writers straddle the line between explanation and expression. Here is my piece. It is personal. Lauren Morelli’s piece especially touched me. An ex-boyfriend once told me he consulted with his pastor and his wife to see if he should be concerned; would my “healthy fascination with bisexuality” (his words, which I don’t necessarily […]

This brief list is but a glimpse of the complex, crucial and ongoing discussion about the importance of inclusivity and the problems with privilege in the literary canon. Please share your recommendations: essays and articles in this vein, books you wish the canon could accept, etc. 1. “On ‘The John Green Effect,’ Contemporary Realism, and […]

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. 1. “Love Me Tinder.” (Emily Witt, GQ, January 2014) The denizens of Tinder in all their weird, wild, witty glory. 2. “Dating While Trans: The Doldrums.” (Audrey Arndt, The Toast, May 2014) For a long time, Audrey openly described herself as transgender in her OKCupid profile. 3. “Forever Single: DATING […]

Below, our favorite stories of the week. Kindle users, you can also get them as a Readlist. Sign up to receive this list free every Friday in your inbox. ***

An elephant mysteriously vanishes. A giant frog is waiting in your apartment. Your cat mysteriously vanishes. Two moons hang in the sky. Your wife mysteriously vanishes. A strange man comes to you and asks you to find a sheep, or a woman calls and asks for ten minutes of your time. You might be the […]