Essayist Leslie Jamison visits Zagreb’s Museum of Broken Relationships.
Virginia Quarterly Review
The Breakup Museum: Archiving the Way We Were
Essayist Leslie Jamison visits the Breakup Museum in Zagreb, Croatia — created in 2003 after founders Olinka Vištica and Dražen Grubišić ended their relationship — and considers what stories are told by the objects we shared with former loved ones.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, we’re sharing stories from C.J. Chivers, Sheelah Kolhatkar, Libby Copeland, Amanda Petrusich, and Bryan Menegus.
Albania’s Blood Feuds
In northern Albania, vengeance is justice, but does it get people something besides more pain?
In Service of the Slender Man: When Teen Girls Become Murderous
Alex Mar on how and why teen-girl duos become murderous.
Plasma For Sale (Used) — $20 a Pop
Sarah Smarsh’s brother has sold his plasma for the last decade to make ends meet under mounting credit card debt and student loans.
Blood Brother
Sarah Smarsh writes about how rich drug companies buy plasma from the poor and working poor — literally feeding their wealth with one of the few renewable resources the poor have to sell — their blood.
‘This Place, This Moment, Unplanned’: On Surviving a Heart Attack
Jeff Sharlet on how recovering from a life-threatening event takes place moment by moment.
The Re-Kazakhification of Kazakhstan, On Horseback
After years of Soviet control, the country looks to the cultural foundations of its nomadic past.
The Birth of a City, In Fits and Starts
Communities in Haiti are building their own post-earthquake infrastructure without the help of the government.
