Top Stories
New stories you’ll love, handpicked for you by our team and updated daily.
New York, Higher Consciousness, and a Slice as Big as Your Head
She lowers her copy of 'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks' and sees I am daunted, lost, nervous, and facing the spiky shrew that is my own pride. She smiles at me. It is the direct look-you-in-the-eyes sort of smile, which, in a single moment says; I see you. I know you.
By Melanie Maure6 years ago in Humans
The Secret World that Exists Within Japanese Temples
Traveling Japan, it is easy to see that everything is well ordered. Even for a country that is so well known in terms of allowing nature and modern construction to co-exist, most of the natural experiences within Japan are curated, careful to avoid the look of decay, wild overgrowth, or chaos. In contrast, within the ground of temples and sacred areas, wildlife frolic, plant life grows unchecked, and the separation between nature and modern life is blurred. This is not to say that the most important areas of temples and shrines are not well kept, but that you can find a secret world where nature finds a way, even in a society that seeks to control it everywhere else.
By Jessica Riffle6 years ago in Wander
Finding Light in Darkness
I am an atheist. I hold to no gods, no faith, no religion. I don’t have a problem with people finding faith comforting, but I don’t believe in proselytizing and I think that “mission trips” are just a fancy way to say “colonialism.” However, a couple of years ago, I had a friend join The Satanic Temple, and because I try to take an active interest in the lives of my friends, I looked it up. And what I found there, was the Seven Tenets, that are the fundamental base to The Satanic Temple. They resonated with me, and I read more and wrote them out; and over the last two years, have applied them to my life, and my therapist and I agree for once that they have helped me. So without pretense or expectation, I present to you the Seven Tenets, and how I have applied them to my life to aid in my constant process of tweaking my outlook to improve my mental health.
By Paige Graffunder6 years ago in Psyche
Let That Sh*t Go: A Tribute to Toni Morrison
Today, Toni Morrison transitioned from living legend to ancestor. As a writer, a book nerd, a creative, and as a Black Woman, I am in mourning. The world is in mourning, and a simple social media scroll is proof of that. This woman, with her wits and words, captivated generations of us and made us laugh, cry, but most importantly, made us think.
By Whitney Alese6 years ago in Viva
Failure
I had failed, that’s all I could think. I was a failure as a parent, a foster parent and a decent human being. In training, they all but said that if we disrupted it was all our fault because we weren’t trying hard enough. (Disrupted means asking a child to be removed from your home before they are reunified, sent to live with relatives, or moved to their forever home). I had tried so hard, but I just couldn’t take it anymore and this child and our family was suffering because of it.
By Rebecca Bailey6 years ago in Families
El Paso: The Steps Toward Change
My parent's house in El Paso, Texas, the house I grew up in, is a few blocks away from the border between the United States and Mexico. From the rooftop of the house, you can see Ciudad Juárez, one of the largest and most populous cities in Mexico. In particular, you can see El Monumento a la Mexicanidad, a now iconic monument dedicated to Mexican nationals, our identities, culture and history, often referred to as "La X." From many rooftops of the houses closest to the border and many other rooftops in the vicinity, the borderlines between the two countries are blurred. They are juxtaposed with one another, often merging as one. They are separated merely by rock, water and metal — and political agendas.
By Jose Antonio Soto3 years ago in Humans
Fear and Fiction
When we discuss horror in literature, there are several things to keep in mind. What are the cultural currents of the time? What is its era? What characterizes the fear which might be felt by those special few who vie for terror? It is with the mind towards these questions that we should look at horror, viewing it with the strong views that Lovecraft did. He attached horror to several themes present within his own time—in particular eugenics, quantum mechanics, and theosophy. These different themes influenced the way he viewed horror and the way his society would receive his horror. The difficulty of modern times is analyzing how horror should go forwards. We have seen the H. P. Lovecrafts, and Edgar Allan Poes, and Stephen Kings.
By Ellen Howell6 years ago in Horror
GWNN Bash 2019
This weekend, I attended my first fetish convention and it was quite an eye-opener. For my part, I've been active in the fetish scene for about a year. During this time, I've been very much enjoying kink exploration with various experienced partners. I had private one-on-one adventures at first but then moved on to attending play parties (where the goal is to have sexual, sensual, or kink play with the person you came with and/or with people you meet there) at private homes and then eventually going to sex clubs with a partner, usually on the club's fetish night.
By Christopher Happenstance6 years ago in Filthy
Discussing the Importance of Respecting a Memorial (And How We Can Still Learn from the Yolocaust Project)
This June, before heading to a (blistering hot) Berlin, just a week earlier I found myself discussing the topic of respectful behaviour at memorials and sights of tragedy with friends. Our discussion was prompted by a recent tweet we had seen from the Auschwitz Concentration Camp. The tweet included pictures of visitors to the camp posing on the famous train tracks. The account (@AuschwitzMuseum) accompanied these photographs with the following caption:
By Georgi Kate6 years ago in The Swamp
Missing The Debates? Don't Feel Bad
It feels pretty bad to be interested in politics but not want to sit through these three-hour candidate debates that keep cropping up. Featuring ten candidates—three or four you actually have heard of—these events purport to be an honest examination of the issues facing the United States in the 2020 Presidential election.
By Steve Llano6 years ago in The Swamp
Geotagging Crisis - Keeping the Wilderness Wild
This photo may look wild and remote. But the truth is that we shared a path with hundreds, maybe even thousands of people with selfie sticks, hiking up the steep path to the iconic Storr. The road below was lined with the cars of these eager visitors, causing traffic jams.
By Grumble Bee6 years ago in Wander
The Last Person to Finish 'Stranger Things' Series 3 Speaks (Spoiler Review)
In an age where a new streaming service pops up out of nowhere sooner than you can fart twice, (nice, I just found a wild Disney+ up my arse!) it’s hard to find any media property that has enough cultural recognition, popularity, and pulling power—yeah, they’re basically all the same thing, but I was hoping you wouldn’t notice—to draw in enough people for a half decent "water cooler" conversation. However, the Duffer brothers’ smash hit Stranger Things has been a delight for me in that respect, even topping The Fantasy Show That Shall Not Be Named for viewership numbers and excitement levels amongst my little group of young adult peers. Nonetheless, the buzz for the Duffers’ show was not limited to just my friends. The official figures reveal that Stranger Things’ third series was Netflix’s most viewed "thing" ever within a four day time frame. This really begs the question: Why in the Upside-Down is this derivative, predictable, 80s nostalgia fest so Demodog-damn popular?
By Marco Cardoni6 years ago in Geeks
Attached
“I couldn’t be a Foster Parent, I worry I would get attached.” Foster parents hear this a lot, I mean A LOT. At least once a week, almost this exact phrase. We smile and nod, or just shrug our shoulders, because what can we say? It’s true, you do get attached. You love them, and when they go home, or to their forever family, your heart breaks and bleeds a little. It’s painful and hard.
By Rebecca Bailey6 years ago in Families
