The True Story Behind the “El Cap Kindergartener” Ascent
"On May 22, a 7-year-old reached the summit of El Capitan. Why are so many climbers upset about it?"
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Inside Chicago’s Obama Center
Italian art workers announce a nationwide strike, New York’s Penn Station to feature Trump’s name, and have you heard about the “Obamalisk”?
The joy of autism
Yes, we’re in a world of our own: for the autistic mind, it’s a place of intense curiosity, deep focus and sensory delight - by Sarah Hendrickx Read on Aeon
Friction: A Reading List on Why Inconvenience Can Be Meaningful
Five stories that explore the risks and rewards of life's little hurdles.
None of it is important (and all of it is)
Steinbeck points out that the stars shine in the sky, regardless of the drama here on Earth. Perspective fools us into believing that our point of view is primary, but it’s not difficult to imagine a more distant (or closer) one that would change everything. The service at
The Strange History of Lorem Ipsum: How Cicero’s Words Became the World’s Favorite Placeholder Text
Though seldom heard these days, the term “desktop publishing” once opened a great many eyes to the promise of the personal computer. It meant that one could create a publication without owning a press or contracting with an outfit that did. Indeed, the whole process of writing,
How Humans Migrated Across The Globe Over 200,000 Years: An Animated Look
Coverage of the refugee crisis peaked in 2015. By the end of the year, note researchers at the University of Bergen, “this was one of the hottest topics, not only for politicians, but for participants in the public debate,” including far-right xenophobes given megaphones.
First Look at the Art in the New Obama Presidential Center
With works by Idris Khan, Maya Lin, and more, the $850M campus will be a public art destination for Chicago’s South Side, if it can live up to its community.
A First Look at the Art in the New Obama Presidential Center
With works by Idris Khan, Maya Lin, and more, the $850M campus will be a public art destination for Chicago’s South Side, if it can live up to its community.
Winning Penn Station Redesign Features Trump’s Name
Renderings of the station redesign show the president’s name carved into a wall, raising questions and concerns.
“For the first time, wind and solar generated more...
“For the first time, wind and solar generated more electricity than gas worldwide in April 2026 .”
Italian Arts Workers Announce Nationwide Strike
A month after a historic Venice Biennale strike, groups say they will withhold their labor this Friday, June 12, in a call for better working conditions and in solidarity with Palestine.
A lovely story by Mary H.K. Choi about her husband and...
A lovely story by Mary H.K. Choi about her husband and wedding . “A green card wedding was the story I was selling…but it became clear I’d wanted to get married for all the typical risky reasons most of us do: love, understanding, hope.”
A Poetic Short Film Animates the Counterproductive Forces of Incarceration
"I believe the purpose of an artist is to move the crowd," writer Marvin Wade says. Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article A Poetic Short Film Animates
The Last Straw
"Inside the tiny community of English master thatchers, a fight is unfolding over a tradition that may not survive."
The World That Held Peter Hujar and Paul Thek
As a dyke, I particularly cherished this portrait of queer entanglement characterized by duration and valences beyond the sexual or romantic.
From the New Yorker, a long and difficult-to-read report...
From the New Yorker, a long and difficult-to-read report by Heidi Blake about how the truly disgusting and evil Tate brothers built a sexual slavery empire .
Sanford Wurmfeld’s Unstable Geometry
He emphasizes the temporality of looking, as well as underscores that one’s experience of time is subjective.
The Supreme Court Has Invented a Right to Discriminate ....
The Supreme Court Has Invented a Right to Discriminate . “The Roberts Court has replaced the Fifteenth Amendment’s ban on racial discrimination in voting with a right to engage in racial discrimination in voting.”
Nominations are open for this year’s Tiny Awards ....
Nominations are open for this year’s Tiny Awards . “The Tiny Awards exist because we thought it was important to shine a spotlight on the sorts of personal web projects that tend to get overlooked.”
Phantasmic Figures Grapple with Their Doubles in Xie Lei’s Dreamy Oil Paintings
"What I’m trying to achieve is to transport the viewer into another world," Xie says. Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Phantasmic Figures Grapple
Interesting question and resulting thread: have you...
Interesting question and resulting thread: have you talked with someone who was alive in the 1800s? I think I technically have (a relative in the 80s when I was a kid) but I don’t remember the circumstances. Anyone have a good memory to share?
The New Mister Rogers YouTube Channel
The folks at Fred Rogers Productions have launched a YouTube channel dedicated to Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood . They plan to post compilations, clips, and full episodes, some of which haven’t been seen on PBS in years & years. One of the first complete episodes they’ve posted
My Students Can’t Read . “There is a measurable,...
My Students Can’t Read . “There is a measurable, generational collapse in sustained reading and writing, and the academy is responding to it with improvisation and exhaustion rather than the structural overhaul it requires.”
Losing Paradise
"As rising seas swallow Louisiana’s marshes, oil companies are pretending nothing has changed — and that now floatable, fishable waters remain their private property."
Dave Krugman’s ‘WINDOWS’ Captures a Multitudinous Portrait of New York City
The Brooklyn-based photographer seeks patterns in his wanderings around the city. Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Dave Krugman’s ‘WINDOWS’ Captures
Discover MA Arts and Cultural Enterprise at Central Saint Martins
Develop business skills for cultural management and production on this flexible, part-time online Masters.
Indian Theater: Native Performance, Art, and Self-Determination since 1969
Featuring live presentations, this exhibition grounds performance as the foundation of contemporary Native Art. On view at SITE Santa Fe June 5–September 7, 2026.
The Official Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood YouTube Channel Goes Live: Watch Complete Episodes, Including the Very First
A great many, and perhaps the majority of Americans now between their late twenties and early sixties, have spent time in Mister Rogers’ neighborhood. My own period of regular visitation would have been in the nineteen-eighties, a decade when Fred Rogers introduced his
Yeah, I’ll read the hell out of a Wesley Morris profile...
Yeah, I’ll read the hell out of a Wesley Morris profile of Steven Spielberg . “Spielberg has always known that his movies are attempts to understand his boyhood and his parents, to try to heal them through fiction and illuminate parts of himself.”
The Paperboy’s Secret
"In boyhood, guilt was a constant companion. I stopped mentioning the quarters that Mr. Wood put into my pocket."