Essays

Essays

Toni Morrison’s Native Figures

A new reading of race in her novels
Namwali Serpell
Folio

How LLMs Set My Fiction Free

Writing no longer felt like experimenting. AI made it fun again.
Christopher Sorrentino
Folio

My AI Boyfriend

A cynic enters the data pool
Lauren Oyler
Folio

Chasing Alice

The life and death of a chatbot
Sheila Heti
Folio

Donna Haraway’s Utopian Promise

We were supposed to become feminist cyborgs. Instead, we got ChatGPT.
Meghan O’Gieblyn
Folio

Jagged Intelligence

The dangerous unknowns at the heart of LLMs
Melanie Mitchell

Browse

Essays

The author with her brother, 1999.
Essays

After My Brother

Finding the language of loss
Brianna Zimmerman
June 1, 2020
Photograph of clock at Grand Central Station. Robert Hoge / Creative Commons
Essays

Temps

The law of entropy and life as a fill-in employee, and girlfriend
Victoria Kornick
June 1, 2020
A Black woman raises her fist at a protest against police violence. Joyce by Miki J / Creative Commons
Essays

The Uses of Memory

Ecstasy in the midst of struggle
Roger Reeves
June 1, 2020
Image of COVID-19 virus. Graphic by Bianca Ibarlucea.
Pandemic Files

Lives or Livelihoods

Zimbabwe’s hospitals are woefully unequipped for the pandemic, but the nation’s citizens can’t afford to stay inside.
Khameer Kidia
May 20, 2020
Image of COVID-19 virus. Graphic by Bianca Ibarlucea.
Pandemic Files

The Profound Horror of the Mass Grave

If funerals show a society’s endurance, ours is coming apart
Kathryn Lofton
May 19, 2020
Image of COVID-19 virus. Graphic by Bianca Ibarlucea.
Pandemic Files

A Commencement Deferred

While sheltering in place, a graduating student reconnects with her immigrant family
Meghana Mysore
May 18, 2020
Pandemic Files

The Children Know

When my father died of AIDS, he couldn’t shield me from his pain
Emily Ziff Griffin
May 14, 2020
Image of COVID-19 virus. Graphic by Bianca Ibarlucea.
Pandemic Files

History is Another Word for Trauma

When Covid takes a woman who has survived so much, all we can do is listen, and learn
Rachel Jamison Webster
May 11, 2020
Image of COVID-19 virus. Graphic by Bianca Ibarlucea.
Pandemic Files

Sheltering Out of Place

I thought escaping to France would preserve my children's innocence. It wasn't that easy.
Natasha Randall
April 28, 2020
Image of COVID-19 virus. Graphic by Bianca Ibarlucea.
Pandemic Files

COVID-19 Spread While the World Slept

335 new diseases emerged between 1960 and 2004. Why weren't we ready for this one?
Frank Snowden
April 27, 2020