Reading lists dive into a range of topics, allowing our contributors from around the world to explore their obsessions and fall into rabbit holes. This post compiles our 10 most-read lists of the year.
Community
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Orca and the Spider: On Motherhood, Loss, and Community
“Try as I might, there is no material stronger than kinship.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
‘She Made Us Happy’: The All-Star Dreams of Uvalde’s Biggest José Altuve Fan
In this hard but necessary read, Roberto José Andrade Franco writes about one Uvalde family’s loss, and a small-town Texas community on the edge of the Nueces Strip that has changed forever. Franco beautifully honors the life of 10-year-old Tess Mata, a softball player and student murdered in the Robb Elementary School shooting, and traces […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
There are Trees in the Future, Or, A Case for Staying
“Why struggle to stay?” In an essay at Protean, Lupita Limón Corrales weaves her reflections about pandemic life, new ways of living, and leaving California, especially through the lens of the remote work revolution. Writing about the first year of the pandemic — and the collective show of solidarity during 2020’s summer of racial reckoning, […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
Breakfast with the Panthers
The Black Panther Party was founded in Oakland in 1966 as a way to address police brutality throughout the city, but its work expanded beyond the streets. In its early years, the Panthers did a lot of work in the community, with many women in leadership roles. At one point, writes Suzanne Cope, the author […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
Futures From Ruins
Bombay Beach was once a vibrant resort town on the Salton Sea until agricultural pollution, drought, and toxic air led to its demise. Today, an art movement and emerging community hope to bring it back. In this Noema essay, writer Johanna Hoffman and photographer Tao Ruspoli show how a town in ruins is experiencing a […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
Caught Between New Tech Money and a Growing Homelessness Crisis, Restaurants on One Street in Venice, California, Are Trying to Keep Its Identity Alive
“There were an estimated 1,900 unhoused people living in Venice, and Rose Avenue was the nexus of that community.”
Posted inQuotes
Leap of Faith
“The men call up to Sofiane, telling him that he and his brother have to jump. Guelord shouts that the younger boy needs to go first. Sofiane should throw him down.”
Posted inArts & Culture, Highlight, Quote Posts, Quotes
Photographing the Collective Experience of Self-Isolation
“The photographer hopes his brief visits…can help break the oppressive monotony of a seemingly endless day, stretching on without distractions from the outside world.”
Posted inFood, Highlight, Nonfiction, Quote Posts, Quotes
Some Inland California History Begins with an Orange
Even as California’s Inland Empire loses its citrus industry to urbanization, urbanites can still keep social ties by planting fruit trees in their yards.