The Highlight
A digital magazine unpacking the big ideas changing our present and shaping our future.
Being a pedestrian in the US was already dangerous. It’s getting even worse.
In this issue: How one Florida road became the deadliest in the nation for pedestrians; behind the scenes of a Black rodeo; the rise of the new suburbs; and more.
In the early 1990s, few corners of the military were as misogynistic as the world of fighter pilots. These women Naval officers would break barriers to fly in combat.
Being able to access abortion is about all kinds of justice — economic justice included.
Reform advocates say there are other ways to respond to crimes — from rehabilitation to trauma treatment.
The flag’s designer shares the story and inspiration for his design.
The Constitution was written to thwart Black freedom. But we can change the rules.
Keeping the promise of “40 acres and a mule” might have transformed Black American lives. A movement rages on.
Freedom, Georgia, is a utopian vision for Black life in America.
From enslavement to the “Black tax,” Black people have been asked to pay for freedom for far too long.
The holiday observes the emancipation of enslaved people. Let it also be a time to consider the hypocrisies of the American experiment.
Even as ginseng, St. John’s wort, and other herbs grow in popularity, the region is struggling to keep its age-old practice of herbalism alive for a new generation.
From John Cena to Jason Momoa, our most muscular movie stars are increasingly our most vulnerable too.
In this issue: The anti-abortion movement’s post-Roe future, the plant peddlers of Appalachia, the real effect of the child tax credit now that it’s gone, and more.
Butterflying during the “insect apocalypse” is complicated.
Six months of payments lifted millions of children out of poverty. Then they stopped.
Tracking down the sources of abortion pills, a brewing internal schism over arresting pregnant people — welcome to the post-Roe future.
Breastfeeding isn’t free — and it isn’t a solution to the national baby formula shortage.
Author Eyal Press on the nation’s most morally troubling labor — and why many refuse to acknowledge it.
On TikTok and online, the youngest workers are rejecting work as we know it. How will that play out IRL?
The e-commerce giant’s labor issues expose the complicated truth about getting what we want when we want it.
Recognizing that many of us find purpose in what we do is a good start.
Why so many are giving up on child care work and what it will mean for everyone else.
For many, the gains in worker pay and power during the pandemic are fading fast — if they even saw them at all.
The Future of Work issue of the Highlight looks at the workers Americans dubbed “essential” and then largely left behind in the work revolution. Can we make work better for the nation’s crucial workforce?
What’s taking the feds so long to legalize marijuana? Also, therapeutic Covid-19 drugs, abortion by mail, and what a “sober” high might mean.
Public opinion, states, and even the GOP have come around to the idea of legal weed. So how hard is it to finally get done?
Tiny doses of magic mushrooms, LSD, and cannabis have hit wellness culture, while the stigma around the drugs recedes.
Restrictive states have already set their sights on a new wave of telehealth companies that were supposed to be a panacea for a post-Roe world.
The new, easy-to-take antivirals are now on pharmacy shelves. This is who they stand to help the most.
Delores White said she was defending her daughter. She went to jail anyway.
As the nation reckons with mass Covid-19 deaths, the power of a second line provides inspiration on how to mourn.
Why some are trying to discover more about our bodies’ “little living archives.”
The mundane photographs that are helping scientists probe the mysteries of memory.
The very real psychiatric term has become so omnipresent in pop culture that some experts worry it’s losing its meaning.
Survivors of early school shootings reflect, the growing popularity of the word “trauma,” scientists’ efforts to understand memory, and more.
An early wave of survivors came of age in a wholly unprepared world. Now they’re in their 30s and 40s, grappling with the present.
Social media and the availability of new procedures have made our quest for physical perfection endless, setting women and girls up for failure.
The pandemic stole our sense of connectedness. In their own way, viral trends help us regain it.
