Other
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There Are Liars, And Then There Are Fabulists
Len had led a grand life—dual citizenship in Israel and the United States, a stint in the IDF followed by apparent conscientious objection, elite schooling in Rome and Moscow, and the cultivation of a seemingly thorough knowledge in almost any…
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Next Letter in the Mail: Zoe Ruiz
Put on your party hats! The next Letter in the Mail, going out July 31, is from our Saturday editor Zoë Ruiz! In addition to putting together fabulous comics, interviews, essays, and link roundups every weekend here at the Rumpus,…
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The Faces of Immigration 100 Years Ago
To celebrate the Senate’s approval of immigration-reform legislation, Buzzfeed has a collection of photos of immigrants who came through Ellis Island near the turn of the last century. From a Romanian shepherd with an extremely intense hundred-yard stare to a group…
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A Non-Inclusive Feminism
Last week, we linked to Meghan Murphy’s essay detailing why she believes that marriage is an anti-feminist choice. But Ona Anosike has a different view. I feel as marginalized in the dominant patriarchal society as I am in the feminist…
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Dan Weiss’s Morning Coffee
Dan Weiss is on tour with his band for the next three plus weeks, but fear not: We’ll still be serving up your morning coffee. Quick! Save the lizard with blood shooting out of it’s eyes! This exhibit looks a little…
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Have Critics Lost Their Authority?
In an essay written for Pacific Standard, psychologist Adam Waytz meditates on the dramatic influence the Internet has had on the role of cultural criticism. Arguing that the Internet (with its “leaking” and torrenting and general filesharing debauchery) has effectively…
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The Ancient Art of the Book Blurb
Book blurbs—and the controversies surrounding them—go back as far as Thomas More, who gathered a bouquet of them for Utopia. Ben Jonson blurbed Shakespeare. Ralph Waldo Emerson blurbed Walt Whitman. But do they really mean anything anymore? Click through to find…
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Don’t You Know White Folks Don’t Care If You Die?
In what ways are we responsible to each other, and what happens when we don’t accept that responsibility? What happens when we do not recognize each other as being worthy? This Gawker essay may be called “The Worst of White…
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Three Breaths
On some of my lowest days, she lets me into her office, and I submerge myself in the world of her wild past and how she overcame it
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It’s All In Your Head…And the Rest of Your Body
You’re probably aware of the placebo effect—because you think it’s real medication, a sugar pill, for example, relieves your pain—but have you heard of its evil twin, the nocebo effect? Through different biological mechanisms, it achieves something very similar to…
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LARB vs. NYRB
The East Coast and the West Coast have had their spats, but in the end, our respective lit scenes form one big, happy, bicoastal family, right? Right?! That might not seem like the case if you’re following the events outlined…
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Saying “The G-Word” Out Loud
Gentrification is a thorny subject in San Francisco these days, as it is in many American cities. A roundup post at SF Weekly blog The Snitch collects some of the best writing that’s sprung up around the issue, including George Packer’s puzzled look at…