Car Trouble and Overheated Angst
All the driver says is “I’m on my way,” and I grin, not caring how long it takes. Cocky now, I open both windows all the way. Nobody should have to be scared. Yet humans have always had to be scared.
Dispatches
Public Orgasms, Corpsing, and the Giggles
Orgasm is a little more specific than laughter, which is definitely contagious. But both topple the boundaries, letting us inside the mind and body of another human being. As we listen, we, too, lose a little of our habitual control.
Fat-Sorrow and the Fever of Extravagance
Luxury matched its dictionary definition: “the state of great comfort and extravagant living.”Now, guided by social media, ads, fashion magazines, and influencers, we grab at the tiniest extravagance.
The Dubious Art of Death Cleaning
In the slog of cleaning out the most intimate possessions of someone you loved, you remember who they were, what habits anchored them, what delighted them, what mattered to them.
Bridging the Gap
The construction of two new bridges to replace an existing bridge joining Illinois and Missouri, on the north edge of St. Louis, is midwifed by expertise, daring, and trudging drudgery.
America’s Anxiety About Anxiety: a Q&A With Dr. Rebecca Lester
Spidery, creeping, impossible to ignore, anxiety spins uncertainties that cling no matter how frantically we brush them away.
The Doting Baby Book Kept by Robert Louis Stevenson’s Mom
A quirky kid, Robert Louis Stevenson had a mum who watched over him tenderly and noted each illness in his baby book
Home Is Where One Starts From
Lynette Ballard first read Eliot as a sophomore at a small rural high school in Dixon, Missouri. “Oh, my goodness,” she remembers thinking. Modern poetry went straight to the core of her. By the time T.S. Eliot died, she was a freshman at Mizzou, planning to become an English professor.
Jammed Keys and Snarled Ribbons
Why is it unthinkable to design a laptop with a glossy enameled black surround, brass edges, beautiful keys, an elegantly framed monitor? Because we want no friction, no weight, no reminders.
Guardians of the Galaxy’s Knowhere Citizen #65
Sixteen months ago I worked as an extra on the third installment of Guardians of the Galaxy movie. It has just been released, and we went to see it opening weekend.