essays
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Our Natural World
To Kill and To Eat
Farming chickens takes care and concentration, and a deal with the birds: We give you a life of safety and comfort, and you die for our food. Until a murdering predator arrives and gives lie to the vow.
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Personal History
Cicadian Rhythms
Should the cicadas arrive just in time for your wedding—biblical, unexpected, and yet, routine as clockwork—there’s nothing to do but carry on with the ceremony. Come hell or, in fact, high water.
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The Sports Page
Midfield
Your opponents have something to prove, certain wishes they want fulfilled. Also, they really hope their knees don’t blow out before halftime. Welcome to over-40s soccer.
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Personal Essays
The Real Me
The internet is an unrelenting enabler of our flaws and an unforgiving archive of them—so should you google your new love interest, or hold off? And what if they google you first?
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The National Desk
Bad Land
America is full of guns—one gun for every citizen—and Americans often use them to shoot one another. After this week’s failure of gun-control legislation to survive the Senate, it’s not enough anymore to say Americans love their guns. The question is: Why do we kill?
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In Plain Sight
Start of Darkness
The world of the myope is often a nicer place—faces lack wrinkles, and trees seem to be painted by Monet. Then, during a visit to Moscow, a black spot appears.
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Personal History
Night Vision
An unexpected pregnancy, tuna sandwiches consumed in darkness, and woman after woman of a certain age living by the ocean—eventually, all connections make sense when it comes to prescient grandparents.
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Personal Essays
Pause, Panic, Gringo
When your name prompts questions in several continents, how you answer—and whether or not you stick an accent above the “a”—says a lot about who you are.
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Man's Best Fiend
Games Kittens Play
How to play, how to win, and how to act like you won whether you did or not.
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Personal Essays
Hiss and Hers
When you fall for someone, you fall for everything that comes with them: their beliefs, their passions, and their growing collection of files and evidence surrounding the Alger Hiss case.
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Personal Essays
I Wish That We Could Both Be There
In central New Jersey, a car hits a seven-year-old boy. The boy dies. Almost 40 years later, an investigation into causes, effects, statistics, and consequences.
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Agony of the Feet
Shoegazing
As every man should know, of all our clothing purchases, shoes are the most important. Not only do they protect us from dangers underfoot, the right pair can soothe our weary souls.