Writing in Someone Else’s World
I stumbled on a high-pay, low-prestige way to enter the publishing world—and overcame my reservations to make the most of the opportunity. My first book was not what I dreamed…
A Chat With Mimi Pond on the Service Industry, Cocaine, and Writing the First Episode of The Simpsons
In the early 1980s, Mimi Pond’s work was everywhere. The cartoonist and illustrator was regularly published in The National Lampoon, The Village Voice, The New York Times, and Seventeen magazines;…
Rich SF residents get a shock: Someone bought their street
Thanks to a little-noticed auction sale, a South Bay couple are the proud owners of one of the most exclusive streets in San Francisco - and they're looking for ways…
Women Writers on Reading Literature’s “Midcentury Misogynists”
For many of these women, the reading experience begins from a place of seething rage. Take Sara Marcus’ initial impression of Jack Kerouac: “I remember putting On the Road down…
Mary Beard abused on Twitter over Roman Britain’s ethnic diversity
Classicist says her assertion that there was at least some diversity under Roman rule led to ‘torrent of aggressive insults’
Medicine Is Getting More Precise … For White People
In the past, many of humanity’s individual variations were invisible to us, but today, new technology offers us a way to peer into each person’s genome, allowing doctors to personalize…
Researcher reveals how “Computer Geeks” replaced “Computer Girls”
as late as the 1960s many people perceived computer programming as a natural career choice for savvy young women.
The Beginning or the End of America
During Black History Month we share a letter written by James Baldwin, one of the foremost novelists and public intellectuals of the 20th century. In 1970 Baldwin wrote an open letter to…
The Lost Cause Rides Again
HBO’s Confederate takes as its premise an ugly truth that black Americans are forced to live every day: What if the Confederacy wasn’t wholly defeated? By Ta-Nehisi Coates HBO’s prospective…
The unexpected side effect of Trump’s war on science
There’s something different about the crop of Democrats running for Congress in 2018. As in previous years, the party has recruited a small army of veterans in high-profile races and…