Image credit: Bequest Just what does one do when the sun blazes and the humidity churns the air into chunky Campbell soup? Tell that attention-seeking season called summer “Thank you, but no thank you” and camp out by the A/C... Read more →

By Michael Andor Brodeur | For millions of gym bros like me, the closure of gyms nationwide amounted to the loss of a primary habitat, a source of identity. And for many of the men I watched unravel online—throwing tantrums on social media over the perceived oppression of public health measures, mask mandates, and home quarantines—the loss of the gym compromised a key source of their manhood. Read more →

By Arielle Greenberg | One of my friends—someone I met through the sex-positive, ethical non-monogamy world—likes to say “life gets life-y.” What she means by this is that all of us are challenged, at times, by difficulty. Even those of us who dedicate ourselves to naughty delights have moments where that kind of stuff is the last thing on our minds. And in fact, ever since I celebrated the publication of my book, “Superfreaks: Kink, Pleasure and the Pursuit of Happiness,” my own life has been life-y, with unanticipated hardships that put quite a stumbling block in the path to my own pursuit of happiness. Read more →

By Daniel Laurison | A lot of people who think deeply about American democracy, its flaws and its promise both, have ignored campaigns and the people who run them. So I want to explain why what happens inside campaigns, or in the heads and hearts of campaign professionals, is relevant to understanding American politics. Many political scientists assume that everyone in politics is acting in a fairly straightforward manner to maximize some obvious interest or utility for themselves—that is, they believe in the rational choice theory of human behavior. Read more →

By David R. Dow | For the second time in a generation, the Supreme Court has intervened in a political dispute it could have avoided. For the second time in a generation, the justices resolved that political dispute by dividing along ideological lines. For the second time in a generation, the Court squandered the only thing it has as the basis of its authority: the respect of the people, and the public’s perception that it is not merely another political institution. Read more →