Emo Music Made Me a Better Man

A Father Reflects on the Genre’s Greatest Gift—Vulnerability

Is it normal to wonder how you didn’t wind up more of a mess?

As a man, I sometimes find myself asking this question. As an American, I’ve met my fair share of masculinist jerks. Like the father berating his “loser” son—the kid had just lost a wrestling match—in a public restroom. Like the dudes who heckled me for walking my dog while wearing pink shorts. These are the men that make men look bad, though sometimes I worry that they’re just most men, full stop.

How then did I come to …

by Derek Mong | June 12, 2023

The Bridges My Father Built

A Lifelong Educator, He Left Behind Many Legacies—Including a Suspension Bridge and a Bust of JFK I Spent Years Trying to Find

by Cindy Wenig with Cari Lynn | June 16, 2022

In the 1960s, my father’s crowning achievement was building, entirely by hand, a 60-foot steel suspension bridge over the lake at Camp Pontiac, the summer camp his family owned in …

The Renowned Psychologist Who Fathered a Theory of Child Development, a Rhesus Monkey, and Me

Remembering Kurt Fischer and His Complex, Varied, and Dynamic View of Humanity

by Seth Fischer | July 20, 2020

A few hours after I learned my dad had died, my stepmom called me on speaker to ask if we wanted a post-mortem COVID-19 test. I was pacing my living …

When Black Prizefighters Consider Family as Much a Symbol of Masculinity as a Knockout

By Defining Themselves as Family Men Outside the Ring, They Link Patriarchal Pride With Athletic Prowess

By Louis Moore | March 21, 2018

Standing 6 feet 7 inches, with an athlete’s body, Deontay Wilder dreamed of going pro in either football or basketball. But at 19, with a newborn girl who had spina …

In Praise Of the Male Biological Clock

No One Likes Nature’s Inflexibility, But Maybe Now Young People Will Push to Have Kids-And A Life

by Brigid Schulte | September 9, 2012

When my husband and I had our first child, our son, I had to look up the strangely ominous label I’d read on my chart: “elderly primigravida.” With visions of …

fatherhood