A promotional image for Yellowjackets

Girls Gone Greek

The most influential character on Showtime’s Yellowjackets is the one who goes unnamed: Dionysus.
Watercolor illustration of Plumeria Acuminata commissioned by Scottish doctor and botanist William Roxburgh, late 18th century or early 19th century.

Plant of the Month: Frangipani

An ornamental plant whose white flowers hang over graveyards and temples in Southeast Asia presents complicated questions on national belonging and religious identity.

From Imperialism to Postcolonialism: Key Concepts

An introduction to the histories of imperialism and the writings of those who grappled with its oppressions and legacies in the twentieth century.
from How the Grinch Stole Christmas

The Anti-Jewish Tropes in How the Grinch Stole Christmas

You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch. You’re in keeping with the medieval tradition of viewing the Jew as an outcast and a baleful force in society.
Appalachian Mountains dialect

The Legendary Language of the Appalachian “Holler”

Is the unique Appalachian dialect the preserved language of Elizabethan England? Left over from Scots-Irish immigrants? Or something else altogether?
Selfie in Paris

What to Do When Social Media Inspires Envy

In the case of envy, social media works in three closely related ways: by increasing proximity, by eliminating encapsulation and by rejecting concealment.
Black Poets

10 Poems by African-American Poets

Poems by African-American poets, including Gwendolyn Brooks, Kwame Dawes, Rita Dove, Langston Hughes, Tyehimba Jess, Kevin Young, and more.
Mulberry tree Cambridge

When America Went Crazy for Mulberry Trees

In the early 19th century, mulberry trees became associated with economic prosperity and morally upright productiveness, leading to a speculative bubble.
JSTOR Daily Friday Reads

Louise Erdrich

Friday Reads: An exclusive short story by Louise Erdrich (author of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry), originally published in The Georgia Review in 1985.
Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison, the first African American writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, was born to working-class ...