The Plagiarism Scandal That Ended Nella Larsen’s Career
Larsen's 1930 story "Sanctuary" had a similar plot to an earlier British story. So what? Perhaps the tale never really belonged to either writer.
Plant of the Month: Elderberry
The recent entrance of elderberry into mainstream success is marked by an increasing popular desire to engage with traditional, “natural” remedies.
Joe Magarac, a Boss’s Idea of a Folk Hero?
The Paul Bunyan of the steel industry never went on strike. He was too tied up working the twenty-four-hour shifts that unions were fighting.
How to Gather the Oral Histories of COVID-19
The Federal Writers’ Project offers vital lessons for capturing the oral histories of ordinary Americans living through the coronavirus pandemic.
The Colonization of the Ayahuasca Experience
“If someone is from the Amazon,” says Evgenia Fotiou, an anthropologist who studies Western ayahuasca usage, “they bring some legitimacy” to an ayahuasca ritual.
The Offensive Joke Trap
The audience for a joke has options. They can “support” a joke—for example by laughing at it—or they can respond with “unlaughter."
The Dubious Art of the Dad Joke
Is it really only dads who can tell dad jokes? And is this corny humor universal? Our linguist takes a deep dive.
Stockholm Syndrome
What really happened that summer day in 1973? And what does it reveal about our cultural attitudes toward violence?
