In this Smart Set piece, Stefany Anne Golberg contemplates the “public commodification of privacy,” finding a precursor to our own tendencies in the poet Charles Baudelaire’s navigation of 19th century…
Over the summer, NPR solicited listener nominations and votes to compile a giant list of the Top 100 Science-Fiction, Fantasy Books. Then SF signal took it a step further by…
How do we know what we know ’til we learn what we’ve learned? Once upon a time I fashioned myself to be one of those thinkers who, as I sophomorically…
In anticipation of the 2011 Poets Forum (which kicks off today in NYC), the Academy of American Poets has been conducting a “6 Poets, 6 Questions” interview series over at…
Those of us with life-long bridge phobias probably wish we could un-see this news. According to yesterday’s “Transportation for America” report, one in nine bridges in the U.S. are “structurally…
This Ta-Nehesi Coates Atlantic piece takes a closer look at what caused the rift between abolitionists and suffragists, despite their many shared values. “I think one way of looking at…
In celebration of The Rum Diary hitting theaters at the end of this month, Playboy has created a new channel devoted to Hunter S. Thompson. “The Rum Diary Gonzo Channel”…
Naomi Wolf tells her story of her arrest at Occupy Wall Street. If you work for NPR, don’t speak publicly about your politics, or you’ll lose your job. So much…
Longreads.com, which links to “the best long-form stories on the web,” has picked Rebecca K. O’Connor’s beautiful essay “What We Lost When We Lost Barbara Jean” as one of their…
Here are some very sad toys. This old map of Australia is pretty dang great. Understanding the mysteries of vampire stars. Art of the British General Post Office. And now…