Still from the movie Reds. Screenshot from official trailer. What are we ever really fighting for? The answer is love. Love in the movies, and on the streets, and in our heads—instead…
Month: January 2026
Love Letters from Lord Byron’s Boyfriend
LETTER 5: October 31, 1811, Nicolas Giraud to Byron. All letters courtesy of The National Library of Scotland. Lord Byron’s bisexuality is well known—but Byron’s archive still has the power to surprise…
January 23, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts first members
Today is Friday, Jan. 23, the 23rd day of 2026. There are 342 days left in the year. Today in history: On Jan. 23, 1986, the Rock and Rock Hall of Fame…
The Wishing Well
The Wishing Well, Summer 1979. All images reproduced with permission of the Lesbian Herstory Archives. “I am once again looking for a special woman to share my life with,” begins L-231; she…
January 17, Murderer Gary Gilmore executed by firing squad
Today is Saturday, Jan. 17, the 17th day of 2026. There are 348 days left in the year. Today in history: On Jan. 17, 1977, convicted murderer Gary Gilmore, 36, was shot…
Making of a Poem: Jana Prikryl on “Dover Calais”
The English Channel. Photograph by Markus Trienke, via Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. For our series Making of a Poem, we’re asking poets and translators to dissect the poems they’ve…
January 11, Mark McGwire admits to steroids use
Today is Sunday, Jan. 11, the 11th day of 2026. There are 354 days left in the year. Today in history: On Jan. 11, 2010, Mark McGwire admitted to The Associated Press that…
Thirteen Waters: Tasting Notes from a Sommelier
All photographs courtesy of the author. My water journey began on the airplane, when I recognized a bottle of Elisabethen Quelle. I remembered this brand from my time at the Doemens water…
January 5, ‘Rapper’s Delight’ hits Billboard Top 40
Today is Monday, Jan. 5, the fifth day of 2026. There are 360 days left in the year. Today in history: On Jan. 5, 1980, “Rapper’s Delight,” by The Sugarhill Gang, became…
Eve Babitz’s Photographs
Hollywood, California. Photographs courtesy of the Huntington Library. In 1969, five years before Eve Babitz published her first book, Eve’s Hollywood, she kept a journal—her only surviving diary—in which she honed the…