Novelist Mary Gordon used to bristle at the label "Catholic writer," but she's made peace with it now.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
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Ed Boyden, a researcher at MIT, is at the forefront of a new science that aims to map and even heal the brain with light. It’s called optogenetics, and the journal Science has called it one of the great insights of the 21st century. It’s in its early days, but the goal is to one day be able to take a disease like depression, PTSD, or epilepsy and, using bursts of light, just turn it off -- the same way you’d fix a software glitch in a computer.
Travel writer Tony Perrotet has spent his career traveling all over the globe, but he skipped the Mediterranean tour, choosing Tierra del Fuego or the Amazon over Rome. But the discovery of an ancient guide book launched him on his most exotic journey yet, in the footsteps of the Ancients.
Michael Benson is a film-maker who’s compiled an extraordinary book of still photographs. Lawrence Weschler wrote the book’s Afterward.
April is National Poetry Month and we’re celebrating with a collection of interviews with major American poets. Today, Charles Monroe-Kane talks with Pulitzer-prize winning poet Rae Armantrout.
Jimmy Palmieri talks with Anne Strainchamps about living with intractable pain. Palmieri describes his life and explains how he became a chef in spite of his illness.
What happens when you discover racial fear in yourself? Rachel Shadoan recently reached an uncomfortable conclusion: she was afraid of black men. Rachel was appalled and decided to do something about it. She tells her story in an article titled, "I am racist and so are you."
Would you prefer to die in your sleep? Turns out, more people who weighed in on our three deaths question chose that option. Many of the people who shared their choices also took the time to write about why they were making their choice. You can read a selection of their responses here, and get some analysis of who wrote and - perhaps - why.
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