Constance Grady

ICE is trying to claim the power to decide who gets to be a part of America, and their ads give us a glimpse into who they believe America is.

Check out the full video at patreon.com/vox.

Tom Stoppard, playwright of dazzling wit and playful erudition, dies aged 88 A theatrical sensation since the 1960s, whose dramas included Arcadia, The Real Thing and Leopoldstadt, Stoppard also had huge success as a screenwriter

“Eternity is a terrible thought. I mean, where's it going to end?”

What a legacy he had.

www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/n...

The stupidest tiny triangular wool scarf in the world

oh we're over clothing trends now, they said. we're really in the era of embracing timeless fashion that will never look dated. buy it for once, buy it for life!

Death to the Penultimate Flashback Episode Why do so many shows keep making episodes that feel like unnecessary homework?

This very good take makes me think that on occassions where the penultimate flashback episode is the best of the season (e.g. The Rook, the worst show I have ever loved), it's a tell that the main mystery is bad www.vulture.com/article/penu...

"is parks and rec neoliberal or is saying it was proof democrats hate their own," part 85 million

I see that pop culture discourse finally hit bluesky, only to take the form of the most annoying form of pop culture discourse on Twitter in 2019.

A film you've seen more than seven times with a GIF

The right is obsessed with The Lord of the Rings. But they don’t understand it. The bizarre conservative misunderstanding of The Lord of the Rings, explained.

back on my bullshit about what bad nerds these people are www.vox.com/culture/4668...

Only Connect stans do NOT accept

god when Crispin hits she hits theamericanscholar.org/what-is-an-a...

My favorite niche drama just got hotter

I do talk a bit about what the alkahest is and the metaphorical structure of the whole thing! No big plot reveals, but if you want to play it safe it’s probably best to wait

The Goon Squad, by Daniel Kolitz Loneliness, porn’s next frontier, and the dream of endless masturbation

Honestly this is the most beautifully written investigation of gooning a person could hope to read harpers.org/archive/2025...

Btw, The Rose Field itself is extremely messy and breaks the mythology in quite a few places, but I also had a ton of fun reading it. They call that the Doctor Who paradox.

How the new His Dark Materials spinoff series explains the book-banning wars Philip Pullman’s new book finishes the story The Golden Compass started.

Philip Pullman's new book finishing up Lyra's story came out yesterday! I wrote about how Pullman fits into the past few decades of American book banning www.vox.com/culture/4659...

imagine putting your co-byline on this graf this when your career since the 1990s has been entirely about railing against the excesses of the left

There's a new Next Page out today, and we're dipping into the fall prestige books! Mitfords, McEwan, and Lockwood, oh my www.vox.com/next-page-ne...

What are some good literary essays you've read recently? (Asking for a newsletter.)

How ICE sells itself The retro, cryptofascist aesthetic of all those ICE recruitment ads, explained.

I did a close reading of those weird ICE recruitment ads to see how they're selling themselves www.vox.com/culture/4646...

I reviewed There There a few years ago, it's terrific

Tommy Orange an official Macarthur genius!!!

“I am half agony, half hope”: Jane Austen’s most romantic love scene Persuasion’s famous letter scene has the structure of a murder mystery.

I also have a close reading of the letter scene from Persuasion, because truly is there a more romantic love scene on the books www.vox.com/culture/2017...

Jane Austen’s 6 novels defy rankings. Here’s what each one does best. On the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen’s death, let’s celebrate all six of her novels.

For more Austen appreciation, please enjoy this yearbook-style list of Jane Austen superlatives www.vox.com/culture/2017...

The weirdly modern Jane Austen debate we still haven’t figured out Reckoning with Jane Austen and empire on her 250th anniversary.

It is Jane Austen Appreciation Year always in my heart, but especially this year, when she turns a sunny 250 years old. To celebrate, I went digging through Mansfield Park to learn about what we know about what Austen thought of slavery. www.vox.com/culture/4639...

Taylor Swift is done pretending she doesn’t absolutely love this life Taylor Swift used to try to hide her ambition. In Life of a Showgirl, she’s done with that.

To me, the most interesting thing about Life of a Showgirl is how plainly it features Taylor saying that actually, she loves being famous. I wrote about it here www.vox.com/culture/4637...

I did not expect Taylor to sing the lyric “it’s kind of making me wet,” but it does seem right that she sings it wrt petty vengeance, her truest love

I forget how good Trilling is and then I read his essay on Mansfield Park. These bars! www.unz.com/Pub/Encounte...

how ur always turning back too late from the grass or the stick or the dog or the light!!!!! 😭😭😭😭

oh no I remembered the existence of the song Finishing the Hat and now I am useless for the afternoon

Tombs of Atuannnnnn