The Tangled Language of Jargon
What our emotional reaction to jargon reveals about the evolution of the English language, and how the use of specialized terms can manipulate meaning.
“The Yellow Wallpaper” and Women’s Pain
Charlotte Gilman wrote her famous short story in response to her own experience having her pain belittled and misunderstood by a male physician.
White House Leaks, Mafia Lemons, and Future Babies
Well-researched stories from GQ, NPR, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
The Most Controversial Comic Strip
In the 1950s, Walt Kelly's comic strip about a cute opossum named Pogo was syndicated by over 450 newspapers. It was also frequently censored.
“Telling the Bees”
In nineteenth-century New England, it was held to be essential to whisper to beehives of a loved one’s death.
When “Middle Eastern” Nightclubs Swept America
In the 1950s, nightclubs featuring "Middle Eastern" music and belly dancers mixed and matched cultures, serving white audiences an exotic experience.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: I Became Black in America
Adichie speaks on the meaning of blackness, sexism in Nigeria, and whether the current feminist movement leaves out black women.
John McCain, Reproduction Myths, and Drinking
Well-researched stories from Aeon, Mental Floss, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
The Religious Experience of Antiques Roadshow
What has made this slow, quiet television show about antiques the sleeper hit of PBS? One scholar describes the show as enacting near-religious rituals.
When Harriet Beecher Stowe and George Eliot Were Penpals
These 19th-century novelists might seem to have little in common. But for 11 years they wrote each other letters, forging an unusual literary friendship.