A Tender New Biography Emphasizes James Baldwin’s Romantic Side
In “Baldwin: A Love Story,” Nicholas Boggs goes far beyond other scholars in tracing Baldwin’s relationships and their role in his work.
https://nytimes.com/2025/08/19/book…
Alexis Madrigal on Oakland’s port, gentrification, and the importance of renters
The “Pacific Circuit” author and host of KQED’s Forum is preoccupied with inequity in Oakland. And he’s about to launch a community space that he hopes will become a beacon of resilience.
https://oaklandside.org/2025/08/20/…
Jeffrey Epstein and the Movement of the Planets
A piece by our pal Noah Kennedy.
https://thehumanist.com/commentary/…
The Lives and Loves of James Baldwin
An older generation dismissed him as passé; a newer one has recast him as a secular saint. But Baldwin’s true message remains more unsettling than either camp recognizes.
https://newyorker.com/magazine/2025…
How the Poet James Schuyler Wrung Sense from Sensibility
Schuyler once told a friend that “life had been after him with a sledgehammer.” But the poet’s work was sharp and humane, a marvel of twentieth-century literature.
https://newyorker.com/magazine/2025…
Michael Shaikh: The Last Sweet Bite
Michael Shaikh, author of The Last Sweet Bite, on how food is weaponized in conflict zones to starve bodies and cultures, as erasure becomes policy and preservation a form of resistance.
https://guernicamag.com/michael-sha…
Framing Choice
Our pal Rocky writes about material choice for Arcade.
https://arcadenw.org/print-magazine…
What Happened When Their Art Was Banned
Nine artists on how American censorship changed their work and their lives.
https://nytimes.com/2025/07/31/t-ma…
Life Inside a Singular Artists’ Enclave in Brooklyn, in “The Candy Factory”
Cory Jacobs and Jason Schmidt’s documentary short follows a creative community held together by collaboration and the efforts of a woman who is part landlady, part fairy godmother.
https://newyorker.com/culture/the-n…
A Sensualist’s History of Gay Marriage and Immigration
In a new book, “Deep House,” the author Jeremy Atherton Lin combines memoir and cultural history to expose the varied border crossings involved in same-sex love past and present.
https://newyorker.com/culture/criti…
Designing for Humanity in a Car-Centric City
Architect Ana Lasala shares what has worked (and almost worked) in six LA urban design projects.
https://getty.edu/news/ana-lasala-s…
Private Worlds
Public goods underpin democracy. The billionaires and technofascists ruling our new gilded age threaten to rob us of the things we hold in common.
https://placesjournal.org/article/p…
Zohran Mamdani and Mahmoud Khalil Are in on the Joke
What it feels like to laugh when the world expects you to disappear.
https://newyorker.com/news/essay/zo…
Dateline January 2026: Mayor Mamdani Unveils His Affordable Housing Plan!
For reasons that defy credibility, New York State continues to pass on collecting the Stock Transfer Tax that would, if collected, reap over $14 billion a year in new tax revenue. Because of heavy lobbying by Wall Street, the tax has not been collected since 1981.
https://commonedge.org/dateline-jan…
His Modernist Ideas for L.A. Living Were Dismissed. Now, They Could Be a Blueprint for Rebuilding
If Gregory Ain’s vision for a city filled with housing like his Avenel Cooperative had won out, “we would be in a radically different place.”
https://dwell.com/article/gregory-a…
How ‘Gay’ Became an Identity in Art
Two groundbreaking exhibitions in Chicago explore the shift in portrayals of same-sex attraction. They are being staged at a fraught moment.
https://nytimes.com/2025/07/12/arts…
Zohran Mamdani Is Making History. When Will Top Democrats Catch On?
Mamdani won a record-setting primary victory, and unions, grassroots Democratic groups, and savvy elected officials are rushing to back him. Now it’s the establishment’s turn.
https://thenation.com/article/polit…
Susan Weil: About Time
The title of the Susan Weil retrospective at the Shirley Fiterman Art Center at Borough of Manhattan Community College not only suggests the belated recognition of the ninety-five-year-old’s work, but also speaks to the question of “aboutness.”
https://brooklynrail.org/2025/07/ar…
The Work of Caring for My Daughter Will Never Be ‘Efficient’
Moving words from a pal in New York.
https://theatlantic.com/family/arch…
Radburn, New Jersey and the Utopian Origins of the American Suburbs
An introduction to Radburn.
https://architizer.com/blog/inspira…
Finding a Family of Boys
Leaving Brooklyn for a new life as a college student in Manhattan was in itself an act of becoming.
https://newyorker.com/magazine/2025…
“Giving Up Is a Great Source of Happiness”: 30 minutes with author Geoff Dyer
If you ever wondered how Dyer got this way, the 67-year-old writer’s new memoir, Homework, is a good start.
https://interviewmagazine.com/liter…
Don Bachardy reflects on his artfully queer life
In his retrospective at The Huntington, Don Bachardy, at 91, gets his flowers and reflects on a lifetime of queer art.
https://out.com/out-exclusives/gay-…
Your Hip Surgery, My Headache
Getting Hugh home after his hip replacement involved a thick cushion and a car with legroom. “Ow!” he said whenever I tried to help. “You’re making everything worse!”
https://newyorker.com/magazine/2025…
The American Paradox: Bigger Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Better
The community characteristics found in villages are scaled up for the cities. Size of space affects behavior. And behavior of course produces culture.
https://commonedge.org/the-american…
Ben Shahn, the Lefty Artist Who Was Left Behind
Shahn was an American phenomenon, but a new retrospective suggests that we’ve come to prize his politics over his accomplishments.
https://newyorker.com/culture/the-a…
