A male sparrow. Photograph by Rhododendrites, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. I. He Who Noteth Everyone had fallen in love with the short (five feet, six inches), young (twenty-four years old), big-hearted leader of the Chicago Zouaves. Even Abraham Lincoln. The president and Elmer Ephraim Ellsworth were as “intimate”—these are Lincoln’s words … [Read more…]
List like the best chess player of all time always sparks debate, because chess greatness is not just a statistic. Titles matter, but so does dominance, longevity, influence on theory, and how far a player pushes his game forward. This guide ranks the The 10 best chess players of all time uses transparent criteria, then … [Read more…]
Illustration by the author. The first rule of screenwriting is that it’s always formatted in 12-point Courier font—as if ejected from the typewriter of a gumshoe detective. Beyond this, there are no rules. There are no necessary qualifications to screenwriting and no academically paywalled knowledge base. The requisite research is the substrate of our collective … [Read more…]
Women’s volleyball in 2025 is more interesting than before. Sports followers can see demonstrations that drop the jaw, nails that challenge gravity, and team work that changes the match into an unforgettable event. This year, there are a number of women who have risen above others. Here, we will introduce you to five of them … [Read more…]
A deadlock in chess is one of those rules that feels unfair to the point of saving someone’s game. It occurs when the moving side is not checkedbut that’s it no legal action with any part. According to official rules, the match immediately ended in a draw. In one sentence: what is meant by stalemate … [Read more…]
Roque Dalton in exile in Havana, Cuba, 1967. Casa de las Américas, via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain. For our Poetry Making series, we ask poets and translators to dissect the poems they publish in our pages. Natasha Wimmer’s translation of Roque Dalton’s poem “I Wasn’t Always This Ugly” appears in our new Fall issue, no. … [Read more…]
AVP League continues the 2025 season with week 6 scheduled for July 19 and 20 in New York City. Central Park will be eight matches for two days because four teams based in the city compete in front of the local crowd. With some playoffs still in quarrels, the weekend results are expected to have … [Read more…]
With the highest parity in the NFL, some unlikely clubs may have the best chance of getting a ring As the NFL season approaches, predictions are being made about who could win the Super Bowl in February, and there’s still plenty of time to see if those views pan out. The majority of those views … [Read more…]
Antique friendly robot. Photograph by Thomas Quine, via Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under CC BY 2.0. Read the first installment of Nancy Lemann’s series on talking to robots here. “Would you say that you have a personality?” I asked him. What am I really trying to find out—this guy is a robot. I just want to … [Read more…]
Andy Warhol with Archie, his pet Dachsund. Photograph by Jack Mitchell, via Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under CC BY-SA 1.0. In The Philosophy, the artist Andy Warhol tells us relatively little about how he became Warhol. He shares parts of his story in this series of aperçus about death, love, taxes, and beauty, among other issues—thus … [Read more…]