Life's Swell
On surfer girls in Maui; the story that led to the film Blue Crush.
Susan Orlean
La Matadora Revisa Su Maquillaje (The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup)
A profile of a 25-year-old Spanish sensation.
The American Man at Age Ten
A profile of a suburban New Jersey fifth-grader named Colin Duffy.
Meet the Shaggs
From 1968-1973, the three teenage Wiggin sisters, guided by a domineering father, played their strange music at New Hampshire ballrooms and recorded a single album. The Philosophy of the World LP goes for over $500 today, but the intervening decades have not been kind to the Wiggins.
What Makes the "Lion Whisperer" Roar?
On spending your life among large felines.
Figures in a Mall
Spending time with the Tonya Harding Fan Club in the wake of the assault on Nancy Kerrigan.
Show Dog
“If I were a bitch, I’d be in love with Biff Truesdale. Biff is perfect. He’s friendly, good-looking, rich, famous, and in excellent physical condition. He almost never drools.”
Orchid Fever
The story of John Laroche, which led to Orleans’ The Orchid Thief, and tangentially, the film Adaptation.
Art for Everybody
On the empire built by “Painter of Light” Thomas Kinkade.
The Place to Disappear
On Bangkok’s Khao San Road.
Fantasyland
On designer Jean Paul Gaultier and his inspirations.
Shoot the Moon
A profile of Felipe Lopez, high school phenom.
I Want This Apartment
War stories from the world of Manhattan real estate, written during an era when everybody knew the Internet would completely change the business and nobody quite knew how.
Lifelike
What does it take to win the World Taxidermy Championships?
Thinking in the Rain
An artist takes on “the umbrella problem,” which runs so deep the U.S. Patent Office has four full-time examiners dedicated solely to assessing ideas for umbrella improvement.
