The Social Responsibility of American Industrialists
In an effort to improve its reputation, Walmart recently ran an ad campaign in which…
Most Recent Articles
Chick Tracts and the Culture Wars
Jack Chick, the pop-culture-savvy cartoonist who died on October 23, has been called the “most…
Suggested Readings: Adolescence, the Middle Passage, and the Wonders of the Antarctic
Extra Credit: Our pick of stories from around the web that bridge the gap between…
How To Wrap Your Head Around Even The Most Complex Subjects
I love me a 2×2. A 2×2 matrix is a great way of mapping just…
Fear and Your Brain
It’s Halloween time, and fear is in the air. Fear can be paralyzing or exhilarating:…
Consumerism and The Wizard of Oz
What’s culture worth? The Smithsonian Institution is asking people to fork over $300,000 for a Kickstarter campaign…
El Día de los Muertos in Poetry and Word
El Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a longstanding and time-honored…
Long Reads
Is Audio Really the Future of the Book?
For many years, audiobooks—also known as talking books and, later, books on tape—struggled for literary…
How The Baby-Sitters Club Reflected Our Dreams of Safety
My first best friend was a near-identical version of me: We loved books, had wild…
Why James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time Still Matters
“Do I really want to be integrated into a burning house?” This is the question,…
Column: Lingua Obscura
Bad Language for Nasty Women (and Other Gendered Insults)
In an election defined by insults, invective and name-calling, Donald Trump has become known for…
The Nitty-Gritty on Reduplication: So Good, You Have to Say it Twice.
I was in Paris recently, where a friend of mine had tried wheedling an obdurate…
What the Folk? The Charming Yet Totally Malappropriate Story of Folk Etymology
Is it really true that the American idiom “say uncle” emerged from the bullying of…
Column: The Digital Voyage
Navigating Traumatic Events Online
A polarizing election result. A mass shooting. A high-profile sexual harassment case. These are the kinds…
How To Wrap Your Head Around Even The Most Complex Subjects
I love me a 2×2. A 2×2 matrix is a great way of mapping just…
Making Sense of Social Gaming
Ethyl. I have no idea what it means, but it earned me 42 points in…
Column: Re: Wild
The Glowing Mystery of Bioluminescence
Several years ago, I spent some time managing a lodge deep in the Ecuadorean cloud…
The Incredible Moving Forest
At the climax of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, an entire forest moves from from one location to…
Are There “Transgender” Proclivities in Animals?
I spent last week at a bird conference in North Carolina, a state where gender…