The Case Against Deli MeatThey’re consistent, convenient, and tasty. And at a time of food recalls and outbreaks, they’re one of the riskiest things you could possibly eat.
Finding Jordan NeelyHe had places he belonged and people looking out for him. How did he end up dying, alone, at the hands of a stranger on the subway?
Big Tits, Trim Ankles, and a PeabodyBridget Everett reflects on the life and death of her TV masterpiece Somebody Somewhere: “I can’t imagine anything else being this good.”
What Is Usha Vance Thinking?The veep candidate’s wife is the child of immigrants, a former Democrat, a highly skilled lawyer — and a total mystery.
ByIrin Carmon
sex diaries
The 69 Best Sex Diaries of All TimeThese are the diaries that blew up our group texts, inspired an internet conspiracy or two, and still make us blush all these years later.
Bythe Cut
politics
In Praise of Bad ReadersIn a time of war, there is a danger in surveying the world as if it were a novel.
The Accidental Day Care in My Living RoomWhen our sons’ Brooklyn nursery lost its license, we decided to play host until the problem was resolved. How long could it take?
The Love MachineLove Is Blind creator Chris Coelen drops a new group of singles into his strange experiment — and wrestles with all the lawsuits against the series.
ByKathryn VanArendonk
social studies
The Return of Ta-Nehisi CoatesA decade after “The Case for Reparations,” he is ready to take on Israel, Palestine, and the American media.
‘Mommy, Can We Go to Paris?’You try explaining to my kid why he can’t do the wildly expensive things some of his Brownstone Brooklyn classmates take for granted.
Planet GrokMy son and I spent a week playing with an artificially intelligent stuffed rocket ship — and glimpsed the eerie and irritating future of play.