Reading List

The most recent articles from a list of feeds I subscribe to.

The secret to successful conversations with strangers

You may generally disregard unfamiliar faces as background characters in the movie that is your life, but almost everyone you care about was once a stranger. Aside from the people who have been in your life since you were born, every relationship has a getting-to-know you process where you transition from unknowns to knowns.  Strangers […]

How ICE has changed American life

When candidate Donald Trump promised mass deportations on the 2024 campaign trail, it was hard to imagine exactly what that might turn into.  Though he boasted about implementing the “largest domestic deportation operation” in history, you could be forgiven for believing he meant something more limited — a “sequential” approach (as JD Vance suggested), starting […]

Welcome to the April issue of The Highlight

Crafting as protest has a long history in America, dating back to before the American Revolution when colonists would boycott British textiles, choosing to spin their own instead. More than 250 years later, the medium is alive and well: A knitting pattern for a “Melt the ICE” hat, for example, has raised more than $700,000 […]

The larger stakes of Trump’s redesign of Washington, DC

While President Donald Trump has been flexing America’s might overseas, he’s also working to impose his will on the nation’s capital. Trump’s urban interventions in DC’s built environment have raised eyebrows and sparked lawsuits. The changes to DC are already underway, from the bulldozing of the East Wing of the White House to make way […]

Why people are having such strong reactions to Lindy West’s new memoir

You might remember feminist writer Lindy West from her days on X (né Twitter) yelling at sexist, anti-fat trolls. Or from her book Shrill. Now, West is back with Adult Braces, a memoir detailing her journey, a literal road trip, to accepting her husband’s request to open up their marriage. Except it wasn’t really a […]