Today in History - December 28 https://t.co/EIKEP7hnWF Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born on December 28, 1856, in Staunton, Virginia. Continue reading. Click here to search Today in History for other historic moments.
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Dec 28, 2021
Since we started the #longreads hashtag in 2009 to share great reads on Twitter, curation has been the beating heart of Longreads. We highlight our favorite stories in our weekly Longreads Top 5, and at year’s end — in what is now a decade-long tradition — we revisit and reflect on the pieces we loved most. Today, though, we’re celebrating some of the best stories we missed. It happens — there’s a lot out there to read, and only a few editors here combing through as much as we can. Thankfully, we’ve got our community of readers (that’s you!) and the authors honored in our Best of 2021 lists to fill in the gaps.
Exceptional essays often form around the connections a writer can make from their particular place in the world. In “Nuclear Cats,“ Vivian Blaxell connects life experience in legal and health systems with wild and domestic animals, the function of language, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, the nature of consciousness…. And it’s funny. Blaxell’s voice is addictive!
—Author Briohny Doyle, honored in Best of 2021: Personal Essays
Nobody writes more beautifully about the horrors of our world than my New York colleague Kerry Howley. Her story on drone war whistleblower Daniel Hale is the piece I’ll remember most from this year.
—Author Reeves Wiedeman, honored in Best of 2021: Investigative Reporting
From the piece: “When cats fall out the windows of tall buildings, the worst injuries result from falling out the first to the sixth stories. Cats that fall from higher stories (i.e. the tenth or twentieth floors) sustain less serious injuries. In other words, the closer you are to the ground, the more you reckon with your death, the less time you have to bend your body against the terminal velocity. This is called high-rise syndrome. It is science, not metaphor.“
—Recommended by author Vanessa Angelica Villarreal, honored in Best of 2021: Profiles
I generally defer to the expertise of physicians, especially when it comes to the medical decisions made by my elderly parents. Reading this story, I could imagine myself as the protagonist, Marian Simmons, going along, trusting, believing my life was at risk. This story changed my mind by showing me how vulnerable we all are to unnecessary medical procedures in the U.S. health-care system.
—Reader Mya Frazier
From the piece: “Maybe it’s not a universal Capital-A-Apocalypse I want to excavate language for, but a lowercase-a-apocalypse that colonialism has imposed on Indigenous and dispossessed peoples since the beginning of the settler project. The tired apocalypse. The assumed apocalypse. An apocalypse that keeps (a notion of) their world alive, at the expense of (a notion of) our own.“
—Recommended by reader Vesna Jaksic Lowe
Explore our Best of 2021 collection
Quote of the Day: "The less you talk, the more you're listened to." - Pauline Phillips
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Dec 28, 2021
This 1768 map of the Acadia region of Canada features beautifully rendered landscape illustrations and coastal details that deserve a close look! Take a closer look here: https://t.co/j0aPGLbZCO https://t.co/6hfXPNLsCI This 1768 map of the Acadia region of Canada features bea…
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Dec 27, 2021
https://t.co/dgwAJFnmqT
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Dec 27, 2021
Check out what I just listed on Mercari. Tap the link to sign up and get up to $30 off. https://t.co/T799As2l58
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Dec 27, 2021
Matchbook covers from a restaurant that was once located at 910 8th Street SE, at the south end of Barracks Row: the Alvie Tavern in the 1930s, then the Fleets Inn, and later a Wagon Wheel restaurant. The 900 block was obliterated to make way for the I-295 freeway in the 196…
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Dec 27, 2021