News & Notes

Musical Notes

Selections from the Archives

Just like a good mixtape, the selections we’re sharing this month blend genres as they explore a common theme. They all offer surprising answers to the questions raised in our July interview with Kelefa Sanneh on what popular music can teach us about each other.

Kelefa Sanneh Interview Playlist

My conversation with Kelefa Sanneh covered so many artists and so many genres that we thought readers would enjoy a playlist. My hope is that something here gets stuck in your head long enough to prompt some investigating of your own.

What’s Brewing at The Sun

If this month’s Readers Write is any indication, many of you love a strong cup of coffee as much as we do. We couldn’t resist sharing a few of our favorite mugs. Tag us on Instagram with your own!

Understanding Our Place in the Ecosystem

Selections from the Archives

Dash Lewis’s June interview with Rebecca Priestley on finding hope amid the climate crisis felt timely even before New York and the U.S. East Coast roiled in wildfire smoke from Canada. This month’s archive selections offer more perspectives on how people think of their place within Earth’s ecosystems. The vivid descriptions in Synne Borgen’s “Observations on Ice” this month led us to pieces about the Arctic landscape in particular.

Through the Years

Stephen Gaskin and Ina May Gaskin

In our November issue, Rupert Fike discusses The Farm in his poem “He Arrived in a Hollowed-Out Studebaker Lark.” From 1971 to 1983 The Farm existed as a spiritual commune, home to more than a thousand “voluntary peasants” on 1,750 acres in southern Tennessee. It continues today as a reorganized cooperative with members in charge of their own finances. The Farm was founded by Stephen Gaskin with the help of his wife Ina May Gaskin, both of whom are Sun contributors. We present links to content by and about Stephen and Ina May through the years.

October’s Most Popular Reads

Competing perspectives take center stage in this month’s most-read selections.

The Hope and Heartache of Parenting

This month’s archive selections explore the fraught connections between parents and children.

September’s Most Popular Reads

This month’s most popular selections are united by common themes: violence and education.

Fertility, Parenthood, and “The Great Decline”

Children often evoke our strongest emotions. When we think about them — when and whether to have them, whether we can have them, whether we’ll have the freedom to make the choices we want — we confront our deepest fears and hopes.

Four Ways to Lose Yourself: August’s Most Popular Selections

This month’s most popular selections are all about losing yourself — or trying to — in unexpected ways.