“Nostalgic for a time before ubiquitous connectivity, a writer ditched his phone and relied instead on serendipity — and maps made by people he met along the way.”
Cheri Lucas Rowlands
Cheri has been an editor at Longreads since 2014. She's currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Fear as a Game
“What can the philosophy of games tell us about our odd impulse to scare ourselves?”
‘We’re Living in a Nightmare:’ Inside the Health Crisis of a Texas Bitcoin Town
“Ultimately, Granbury is just one canary of several in the proverbial mine.”
To Catch a Sunset
“Reflections on allergies, anxieties, and the limits of familial love.”
Rebuilding the Maze
“After a crucial section of a California freeway collapsed, this formidable construction boss pulled off one of the fastest, riskiest, most high-stakes reconstructions in U.S. history.”
“It’s Time to Play Ball, British Style”
“A hot dog, a Pimm’s cup and two national anthems: The cultural dissonance of watching America’s pastime in London.”
The Mysterious, Deep-Dwelling Microbes That Sculpt Our Planet
“Earth’s crust teems with subterranean life that we are only now beginning to understand.”
Pooping on the Moon Is a Messy Business
“If humans are to return to the moon, space agencies and governments need to figure out the legal, ethical, and practical dimensions of extraterrestrial waste management.”
Harvard, the Human Remains Trade, and Collectors Who Fuel the Market
“At some point in Cedric Lodge’s almost 30-year career in the Harvard Medical School morgue, working mostly alone and far from the eyes of his supervisors, he allegedly decided to get a piece of this trade.”
Inside Snapchat’s Teen Opioid Crisis
“Law-enforcement sources and grieving families allege that the social media giant Snapchat has helped fuel a teen-overdose epidemic across the country. Now, their parents are fighting back.”