Losers’ Lunch By Ben Rothenberg Feature Dining out with courtsiders, a rogue, impish species in the tennis ecosystem. Friends: We Need Your Help to Fund More Stories
Lyrical Ladies, Writing Women, and the Legend of Lauryn Hill By Michael Gonzales Feature Joan Morgan’s “She Begat This” looks back at how Lauryn Hill crashed through hip-hop’s glass ceiling, while our critic looks at how the author and a cadre of black women writers did the same for hip-hop music journalism.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week By Longreads Weekly Top 5 This week, we’re sharing stories from Christine Kenneally, Desiree Stennett and Lisa Rowan, Andrea Long Chu, Victoria Blanco, and David Kushner.
Michael, Aretha, Beyoncé, and the Black Press By Danielle Jackson Commentary The Black press has always been where Black artists could have their work spoken about with integrity.
Pathologizing Black Communities: Chicago Violence Receives the Wrong Attention By Katie Kosma Highlight Homicide rates in Chicago’s black communities receive a disproportionate amount of media attention in an ongoing tendency to sensationalize and pathologize their residents.
Viagra: The Happiest of All Happy Accidents? By Krista Stevens Highlight How a happy accident has gone on to make men happy the world over.
Russian Malware Is Really Killin’ It Lately By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight When Russia attacked Ukraine with sophicated malware in 2017, it caused over $10 billion dollars worth of damage and revealed the whole world’s vulnerabilities.
When Arnold Schwarzenegger Was the Newest Member of the Gym By Ben Huberman Highlight From his earliest days in California, Arnold was a polarizing, impossible-to-ignore figure.
Breast Implants, Beyond Real and Fake By Ben Huberman Highlight Nell Boeschenstein reflects on the culturally fraught discourse around post-mastectomy reconstruction.
For Single Mothers Working as Train Conductors By Laura Esther Wolfson Feature My Soviet husband said we’d need 24-hour day care for any children we might have. Many years and the fall of an empire later, I finally realized why he said it.
Shooting For Truth By Adam Skolnick Feature Adam Skolnick visits director Chris Weitz on the set of his new film, Operation Finale.
History of American Protest Music: Which Side Are You On? By Tom Maxwell Feature Just as we were in the 1930s and ’60s, America is suffering a moral crisis. We have to decide which side we are on: hate and exclusion, or justice, inclusion, and democracy?
‘I was pain incarnate.’ By Krista Stevens Highlight As she lives with terminal cancer, Teva Harrison reflects reflects on how fentanyl is helping her make the most of the time she has left.
On Not Being Able to Read By Tajja Isen Feature In law school, they told me I wouldn’t be able to read anymore. That the pleasure of the text, like a lover in a non-law degree, would slowly grow opaque to me.
Why Do Men Fight?: An Interview with Thomas Page McBee By Cooper Lee Bombardier Feature “When I started asking myself questions about my own notions of masculinity. I just felt so limited, so suddenly afraid of becoming the kind of man I’d grown up in fear of.”
Happy, Healthy Economy By Livia Gershon Feature Growth is only worth something if it makes people feel good.
An Inquiry Into Abuse By Elon Green Feature Allegations that Richard Nixon beat his wife, Pat Nixon, have circulated for decades without serious examination by the journalists who covered his presidency. It’s time to look more closely at what’s been hiding in plain view.
The Difference Between Being Broke and Being Poor By Erynn Brook Feature It’s a recognition that comes in the aisle of a grocery store.
Finding True North By Amy Bracken Feature Thousands of Haitians who fled the United States on foot last summer have started very different lives in Canada.
Lyrical Ladies, Writing Women, and the Legend of Lauryn Hill By Michael Gonzales Feature Joan Morgan’s “She Begat This” looks back at how Lauryn Hill crashed through hip-hop’s glass ceiling, while our critic looks at how the author and a cadre of black women writers did the same for hip-hop music journalism.
For Single Mothers Working as Train Conductors By Laura Esther Wolfson Feature My Soviet husband said we’d need 24-hour day care for any children we might have. Many years and the fall of an empire later, I finally realized why he said it.
Not Quite Not White By Aaron Gilbreath Feature Sharmila Sen grew up understanding distinctions between castes and religions, between the educated and the illiterate. Race was a distinction she didn’t understand until she came to America.
Working Through the Apocalypse: An Interview with Ling Ma By Ryan Chapman Feature In Ling Ma’s “Severance” — a novel she began to write after getting laid off, while living partly on severance pay — the characters keep going to work, even though they know it’s the end of the world.
The Horse Was a Lie (The Horse Is Here With Us Now) By Levi Vonk Feature In Mario Chard’s “Land of Fire,” was it the truth or a lie that killed the migrants in the desert? And what if that’s the wrong question? What if we say it was a horse?
Michael, Aretha, Beyoncé, and the Black Press By Danielle Jackson Commentary The Black press has always been where Black artists could have their work spoken about with integrity.
Russian Malware Is Really Killin’ It Lately By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight When Russia attacked Ukraine with sophicated malware in 2017, it caused over $10 billion dollars worth of damage and revealed the whole world’s vulnerabilities.
The Scientist at the Center of a Heated Scientific Feud By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight When one female scientist’s thirty years of research contradicted the established theory of dinosaur extinction, people started calling her a bitch that should be burned at the stake.
Appropriation in the Land of Enchantment By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight In New Mexico, cultural appropriation by newcomers is fueling Indigenous activism over colonialism and property rights.
A New Citizen Leaves a Lost America By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight Journalist Rebecca Mead explains why she first left England for the United States, and why she’s now moving back to a country that isn’t necessarily home.
For Single Mothers Working as Train Conductors By Laura Esther Wolfson Feature My Soviet husband said we’d need 24-hour day care for any children we might have. Many years and the fall of an empire later, I finally realized why he said it.
To Be Clean By Natassja Schiel Feature A tender relationship with a fellow exotic dancer shows Natassja Schiel how to love her sister, a recovering addict.
The Horse Was a Lie (The Horse Is Here With Us Now) By Levi Vonk Feature In Mario Chard’s “Land of Fire,” was it the truth or a lie that killed the migrants in the desert? And what if that’s the wrong question? What if we say it was a horse?
Semi-Fluid States: The Rigid Line of Straightness By Minda Honey Feature Minda Honey interrogates her sexuality and questions the future of straight-by-default.