"Can you believe that people ever aspired to things other than making a bunch of money on stuff or being the best they could possibly be? Well, they did. That was sort of the idea."
"My perception of wolves might have been different if I grew up on a ranch in Montana, but wolves were like dragons and unicorns. Seeing a wolf in the wild would be like catching a glimpse of Nessie in Scotland."
"That I prefer Roger Federer, all effortless elegance and Swiss-watch precision, perhaps suggests an aesthetic (even an aristocratic) prejudice against the grittier, sweatier, try-hard style that Djokovic brings to the game."
"This community of orcas, documented in the Strait of Gibraltar since the Roman Empire, consists of nearly 90 animals. Some scientists believe that all of them now ram sailing boats."
"The technicians came to check on us periodically, whispering, 'Doing OK?' For the first time in years, I got the sense there was someone in charge who cared about me, who was looking over me. It was not perfect, but it was more tender than the world outside." —Krista Diamond for Slate
In our latest @longreads feature, Emily Zebel goes on a weeklong solo motorcycle trip to find a way to cope after a breakup with the first man she loved following her divorce.
"I don’t tell him that I can’t go home until I learn something. What, I don’t know. Nevermind how."
"There is really no such thing as a big-city newspaper columnist anymore, but Breslin was big—he would literally call reporters on the phone to tell them, 'I’m big.'"
"Thirty years after the era-defining 'Got Milk?' campaign—itself a project of the California Milk Processor Board—the U.S. dairy industry’s PR machine appears to be getting a second wind."
"At best, it’s a veiled attempt to reinforce regressive views about the role of women, and in doing so, walk back decades of feminist progress. Some argue that the tradwife “movement” is also intrinsically rooted in white supremacy. And yet I cannot stop watching." —Amy McCarthy for Eater
"They would soon learn that the news was far worse. Elliot had perpetrated a horrific massacre, one that still stands apart in America’s epidemic of mass shootings." —Mark Follman for @motherjonesmag
"Most of the belongings, such as clothing, makeup and blankets, could be replaced in time. But she panicked when she realized that her dentures, acquired after months of dental appointments, were also gone."
"It’s an album of immense ambition and immense vision, and the artist with his name on the jacket is operating from a place that is not one of expertise, but it’s also not amateurish. It exists in this middle space, one defined by eagerness and seeking."
"For Sidney’s parents, the loss is all-consuming. They’ve spent more than three months piecing together the final minutes of her life." —Lori Culbert for The Vancouver Sun
"In our generation, there are so many people who have gone through trauma, especially at the hands of our postwar parents and a bigoted society. Each Rainbow Elder has their own story, but we all share a similar vulnerability." —Abby Tickel for Maclean's
"What a sweet romance: an esteemed Hopkins scientist, whose research took him away from home, writing love letters back to his wife in Baltimore. Or so it seemed."
"There has always been a certain feeling of euphoria that comes to Tony Pabón as he looks out at the dance floor from his D.J. table at Salsannati Dance Company." —Charley Locke for New York Times Magazine
"It was my first in-person chess competition, and I was full of optimism. I faced a severe-looking child who wore a food-stained sweatshirt emblazoned with a cartoon penguin." @robaeprice for Business Insider