Longreads

On Falling in Love with David

Is it possible to decolonize and police a thing as subconscious and primal as desire?

The Legion Lonely

Over the past few decades, loneliness has reached almost epidemic levels, with men uniquely suffering its effects. How and why has isolation become such a threat?

What I Learned at Personal Branding School

What does it take to evolve from human being to human brand? If you're enrolled in the right free online introductory-level course, about five weeks.

Anger is an Ally

After I was run over by a car, getting mad helped me find my way back to myself.

The Eternal Becoming of Sofia Coppola

Like so many of her heroines, the director seduces to control.

Anxiety at the Gates

Why did I go to work for the TSA? To try to connect with my father? To soothe various concerns as a new father myself? Was I researching a book? Having a midlife crisis? All of the above?

Mourning My Dad, the Identical Twin

The fact that I’ve always had an exact replica of my father, with a startlingly similar voice, mannerisms and, well, face, never really struck me as exceptional until he passed away.

The McSorley Poet

My father's stories come from a career behind the bar of New York's oldest pub, among the alcoholics and loners and deviants who became his people and helped him find his voice as a writer.

Airbrushing Shittown

The new podcast from This American Life has been lauded for telling an empathetic, accurate story about the South. But S-Town is very much a story, and mere accuracy doesn't make it journalism.

Free the Roses

On the bloom of spectacular decline.