Now Entering Make-Believe Country

Urbania, My Imaginary Land, Gave a Weird, Curious, and Somewhat Lonely Kid a Shorthand for the World at Large

Last year, my friend Jesús passed away when he was hit by a car while riding his bike. He was one year older than me. We both had been college professors in Venezuela, where we developed a friendship over our shared humanities-focused geekery. Jesús was also the only other person I knew at the time who had constructed a world inside his mind as a hobby. When Jesús was buried, his casket was draped with the blue, white, and green of his make-believe country’s flag. As far as I know, …

by JOSÉ GONZÁLEZ VARGAS | January 26, 2022

The Cycle of Public Panic Over Childhood That Got Us to QAnon

For 150 Years, Americans Have Misplaced Concerns for Their Kids—Helping Conspiracy Theories to Flourish

by Sherman Dorn | August 4, 2021

The story of QAnon’s violent extremism is often told as one of partisan polarization. We tend to focus on the most outlandish parts of the far-right conspiracy theory—which falsely claims …

Where I Go: The Nature Preserve of Memory

Torrey Pines—A Mythic Hike in My Childhood Imagination—Feels Fragile Now

by Melody Jue | June 30, 2021

Like a giant’s sandy belly rising up from the gentle chill of the ocean, Torrey Pines Natural Reserve was a mythic force in my childhood imagination. Yet during a recent …

My Childhood in a Cult Prepared Me for COVID-19 Lockdown

The Pandemic Pushed Me to Confront My Painful Past, and to Truly Help Save the World—By Listening to Science

by Be Boggs | June 24, 2021

I can vividly recall the final time I hugged friends before the lockdown. We were crowded in the velvety closeness of a dark music venue where they were performing. I …

‘Sharp and Subversive’ Scenes of Integrated 1940s Summer Camps

Gordon Parks's Photos of Black and White Kids at Play Resisted Segregation in Nature and Beyond by Presenting a Vision of America as He Hoped It Could Be

by Amanda Martin-Hardin | July 23, 2020

One day in 1923, three white boys pushed 11-year-old Gordon Parks into the Marmaton River in rural Kansas. Parks couldn’t swim and he tumbled under the surface, the current pushing …

Where I Go: Peñasquitos Gardens | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Where I Go: Penasquitos Gardens

Traversing the Gulf Back to a San Diego Apartment

by Oscar Villalon | May 15, 2020

I haven’t brought my wife or son to see where I mostly grew up. I keep meaning to. But even though it’s less than a mile from my father’s condo …

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