Kalaichandran, a pediatrician and journalist, starts by revisiting her travails working at an Ontario hospital where, she says, the hostility of senior staff caused her to develop anxiety, depression, and high cholesterol levels. The ordeal prompted her to research connections between mental and physical healing and embark on a tour of alternate therapies. The journey […]
Born and raised in Scotland, Isla MacKenzie has traveled to Japan to learn more about the Japanese branch of her mother’s family. She hopes to discover whether family lore is true and she’s descended from a warrior who served alongside legendary rebel samurai leader Takamori Saigō. When a strangely out-of-season typhoon hits the town of […]
Yuknavitch, whose previous memoir The Chronology of Water (2011) has been both a viral sensation and a touchstone for students of the genre, returns to personal writing after several novels. “What if we could read our past, our memories, even our bodies, as if they too were books open to endless interpretation?” The point, she […]
In her nonfiction debut, futurist and technology entrepreneur Rad helps readers acclimate to a world “where change accelerates far faster than any standardized test or rubric can reflect or contain.” Humanity is experiencing huge advances in processing power, artificial intelligence, and biotechnology, along with the advent of all kinds of neural interfaces on the horizon—technological […]
Sisters Debbi and Vicki Peterson had been honing their musical chops for years as drummer and guitarist, respectively, in Southern California rock bands before forming the classic lineup of the Bangles in the early 1980s with guitarist Susanna Hoffs and bassist Michael Steele, a founding member of ’70s rockers the Runaways. The four women found […]
“Nothing ever happens if you don’t say yes, even if…it seems like a bad idea at the time,” writes Vilanch at the end of a meandering catalog of onscreen disasters, some so improbable that it’s amazing they made it past the cutting-room floor. Take a sitcom with Charo, the cuchi-cuchi Spanish “force of nature” who […]
Hijabs are as different as the women who wear them, and the young people in this story praise their mothers for what makes them remarkable. As one mama prepares a nourishing meal, her child notes that her headscarf is a symbol of her devotion and care for her family. Another mother’s hijab represents her deep […]
Despite being an “economic powerhouse,” the United States “has managed to lose much of its manufacturing prowess,” and most low-tech production has taken flight to other countries like China, observes Olsen. We cannot simply accept an economy that runs singularly on services, he asserts. “We need to make more of our own things.” Much of […]
Seventeen-and-a-half-year-old Alex thinks she’s seen every variety of foster mom. Her latest one, Monica, seems to be the overly earnest and anxious type. Alex has always been an urbanite, residing in San Francisco and other cities, so living in rural Jefferson, California, with Monica is an adjustment. (There is dial-up internet, and many cows.) In […]
In truth, it’s quite a while before Mike takes center stage because half of these stories are told to him by his friend and mentor, retired warden Charley Stevens, whose narratives are provoked by events in the present. In “The Bear Trap,” Charley goes hunting for Sweet Tooth, a hermit who’s reported to have carried […]