Longreads

Fidel Castro: Revolutionary, Dictator, Sportswriter

For the longtime Communist leader, sports were as much a hallmark of his legacy as they were a tool to trumpet the revolution’s triumphs. As a writer, though, he wasn’t always as different from your average sports columnist as you might expect.

‘I Bet Your Mama Was a Tent-Show Queen’

Fifty years ago, a gay, cross-dressing, black singer named Jackie Shane scored a surprise radio hit in what was then staid and uptight Toronto. A few years later, he disappeared. On Shane's legacy, and the under-appreciated gifts he gave to a sometimes self-congratulatory city.

Scariest Music in the World

Scott Walker was once a pop star; he is now an artist whose albums—including Bish Bosch, which comes out today—are cryptic and immersive and terrifying. There are references to fascism, bestiality, disease, gastrointestinal workings. And they have either nothing or everything to do with Scott Walker the former pop star.

Our Symptoms, Ourselves

Mad Pride, a global movement with Toronto roots, conceives of madness as an identity—personal, cultural, political—rather than an illness. Modelling itself after Gay Pride, it challenges biomedical narratives and empowers its adherents. But is it tenable? Is it safe?

| | Adam Leith Gollner ,
The Glabrous Apricots of Tajikistan

Spurred by memories of first love and impossible sweetness, the author of The Fruit Hunters investigates a culinary holy grail—the delectable apricot.

The Rise of the Femoir

How the bare-all confessional gave female comedians a break—and then broke their legs (it’s a metaphor).