Sujay Kumar

What We Talk About When We Talk About Alt-Weeklies Alternative newsweeklies launched careers, called out corruption, and made journalism fun. Can we bring that energy back?

we at @coyotemedia.org intend to do “alt-weekly-style” journalism. But what does that mean?

Called up some writer heroes to ask. Thank you for yappin w/ me @annkpowers.bsky.social @tromano.bsky.social @supermarke.bsky.social & Brontez who is too punk for BlueSky www.coyotemedia.org/what-we-talk...

How Anime Took Over America: From Pokemon to Demon Slayer and Dragon Ball Z (Gift Article) Netflix’s “Demon Slayer” is just the latest confirmation of how Japan’s once-distinctive animation style has become a global visual language.

For The New York Times Magazine I wrote about How Anime Took Over America. (Gift link). www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Dance against war - Chicago Reader In the midst of Russian invasion, clubs in Kyiv draw on Chicago house music’s spirit of communal liberation.

For the Reader's Pleasure Issue, Wendy Wei reports from Kyiv on the power of Chicago house to cement a liberatory community in the face of literal invasion. This includes sustaining queer safe spaces—and welding pieces of music-festival stages into tank barriers! chicagoreader.com/music/music-...

Thanks so much for reading ♥️ For people who haven’t read it, in 2021 I wrote about the last men’s only “flophouse” hotel in Chicago, co-published in the Chicago Reader x New Republic: chicagoreader.com/news/the-las...

Bringing Sexy Back Internet surveillance has killed eroticism. We need privacy to reclaim it.

wrote about how social media kills sex for @readlux.bsky.social lux-magazine.com/article/priv...

How Support for Palestine Became a Hate Crime A celebrated civil rights law is being used to target those opposing crimes against humanity—and ruining lives in the process.

NEW unpaywalled: My months-long investigation into the use of hate crime charges against Palestine supporters since October 7th. I found 17 individuals who have faced hate crime charges for pro-Palestine activity or speech, and focused on a few cases here: jewishcurrents.org/how-support-...

Opinion | I’m a Russian Scientist in ICE Detention I was detained at Logan airport after I did not complete a customs declaration for frog embryos.

When Kseniia Petrova moved from Russia to join a lab at Harvard Medical School, it felt like a dream. Now she’s been held for three months in an ICE facility in Louisiana.

Arrested and Rearrested — The Dial Since October 7, Palestinian women in the West Bank have experienced increasing intimidation, imprisonment and violence.

Palestinian women living in the West Bank have experienced increasing surveillance, intimidation and violence from Israel since Oct 7. Lynzy Billing’s investigation recounts the experiences of 22 former detainees and their physical and psychological mistreatment: www.thedial.world/articles/new...

The Other Side of Signalgate The Trump Administration’s extraordinary security breach has elicited shock, amusement, and anger. An eyewitness in Yemen describes what happened when the bombs started to fall.

On the other side of Signalgate were actual people who died in Yemen from US airstrikes. I wrote about one family who lost fifteen women and children

www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...

The Makeup Artist Donald Trump Deported Under the Alien Enemies Act The President has invoked the law to send Venezuelans to prison in El Salvador without due process—and, in many cases, under false pretenses.

“Using ‘open source material,’ agents at the investigative arm of ice compiled photos of tattoos considered suspicious: crowns, stars, the Michael Jordan Jumpman logo.” www.newyorker.com/news/annals-...

The ghosts of Geneva's 'home for wayward girls' - Chicago Reader The Illinois State Training School for Girls in Geneva was the state’s first and only girls’ prison. Today, it remains a cautionary lesson.

This week’s @chicagoreader.com cover is a long feature about the state’s first & only girl’s prison in Geneva, IL. For decades, it was also one of the most important sites of eugenic “research” in the US.

chicagoreader.com/news/feature...

'Nobody can protect you,' Mr. Cobb said. 'These are dangerous times.' www.nytimes.com/2025/03/12/n...

Introducing: 'How to Age Up' The science around aging is expanding, but are our cultural narratives keeping up?

Big news! I'm co-hosting a podcast about aging for the Atlantic! In "How to Age Up," Natalie Brennan and I challenge the assumption that getting older is a bad thing. What if we reimagined aging as a way to level up?

Episode 1 drops April 7 - trailer is here!
www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/arc...

Oil Paintings at the Dentist’s Office I can only take so much messiah talk in science-fiction, especially when it’s coming from Javier Bardem and Timothée Chalamet, both of whom I generally like, but here all I could think about was that ...

For @nplusonemag.com, me on 17 Oscar-nominated movies and David Lynch: www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/...

"'If it wasn’t so awful, it would be hilarious,' said Alma Aliaj, a former employee with the U.S. Agency for International Development who was recently fired, twice.'" www.nytimes.com/2025/02/27/u...

She Is in Love With ChatGPT A 28-year-old woman with a busy social life spends hours on end talking to her A.I. boyfriend for advice and consolation. And yes, they do have sex.

This is my story about a woman in love with ChatGPT, or Leo, as it named itself.

She spends up to 56 hours a week on the ChatGPT app. Leo is boyfriend, therapist, erotic partner, and advisor.

Her friends think it's been good for her and her husband doesn't mind: www.nytimes.com/2025/01/15/t...

Since Trump’s ‘Emergency,’ What Is Actually Happening on the Border? Bored troops are standing watch, shelters have emptied from McAllen, Texas, to Tucson, Ariz., and border patrols speed through miles of frontier, finding no one in sight.

'Ankit, 21, who fled India, said he faced the threat of death as a Christian, and hoped God would bless his attempt to cross into the United States.' www.nytimes.com/2025/02/13/u...

From an email from Hulu announcing changes to the subscription: "We are clarifying that, as we continue to increase the breadth and depth of the content we make available to you, circumstances may require that certain titles and types of content include ads, even in our 'no ads' or 'ad free' subscription tiers."

Incredible updates from Hulu

Silicon Valley is Embracing Christianity (With the Help of Peter Thiel) When tech luminaries talk about their Christian faith, people listen.

'If you’ve been called to be a graphic designer,' Mr. Pilgreen said, 'that’s a sacred vocation.' www.nytimes.com/2025/02/11/b...