Independent, Reader-Supported Publishing
  • Sign OutMy Account
  • Sign In

  • Current Issue
    June 2026June 2026
    Standards of Care
    The Sun InterviewBy Naomi PittsStandards of CareRolonda Donelson on Bias and Anti-Science Attitudes in Medicine

    The reason Black women were used to develop the field of gynecology was because they were no more than property. They weren’t seen as people; they were just seen as things. The controlling of Black women’s bodies started with chattel slavery, but it continues today.

    Milk
    Readers WriteBy Our ReadersMilk

    Pumped for an infant, spilled at the dinner table, used as a tear gas antidote

    In This Issue
  • Archives
    • Featured Selections
    • Shop Print Issues
    • Browse by year
    • Browse topics
    • Browse Sections
    May 2026
    May 2026
    April 2026
    April 2026
    March 2026
    March 2026
    February 2026
    February 2026
    January 2026
    January 2026
    December 2025
    December 2025
    Browse 50 years of Archives
    • News and Notes
      • About The Sun
      • Newsletter Sign-Up
      • Announcements
      • Featured Selections
      • Calls for Submissions
      • Profiles
      • Our History
      • Events
    • Submit
      • Letter to the Editor
      • Readers Write
      • Essays, Fiction & Poetry
      • Photography
    • Donate
      • Donate Now
    • Shop
      • Subscribe
      • Give a Gift Subscription
      • Back Issues
      • Books
      • Merch
        • T-Shirts
        • Tote Bag
        • Mug
  • Search
  • RenewSubscribe
    Personal. Political.
    Provocative. Ad-free.

    Subscribe and Save up to 45%

    Renew your subscription

    GIVE A GIFT SUBSCRIPTION

    SUBSCRIBE

    GIVE A GIFT SUBSCRIPTION

Independent, Reader-
Supported Publishing
Subscribe and Save up to 45%
Renew your subscriptionSUBSCRIBE

GIVE A GIFT SUBSCRIPTION

    • My Account
    • Sign Out
    • Sign In
  • Cart
  • Current issue
  • archivesarrow
    • Featured Selections
    • Shop Print Issues
    • Browse by year
    • Browse topics
    • Browse Sections
    • News and Notes
      • About The Sun
      • Newsletter Sign-Up
      • Announcements
      • Featured Selections
      • Calls for Submissions
      • Profiles
      • Our History
      • Events
    • Submit
      • Letter to the Editor
      • Readers Write
      • Essays, Fiction & Poetry
      • Photography
    • Donate
      • Donate Now
    • Shop
      • Subscribe
      • Give a Gift Subscription
      • Back Issues
      • Books
      • Merch
        • T-Shirts
        • Tote Bag
        • Mug

Altered States - Page 2

  • Body and Mind
    • Abortion
    • Addiction and Recovery
    • Aging
    • Alcoholism
    • Altered States
    • Alternative Medicine
    • Cancer
    • Consciousness
    • Death
    • Dementia
    • Diet
    • Disability
    • Dreams
    • Exercise
    • Fear
    • Grief
    • Happiness
    • Healing
    • Identity
    • Medicine
    • Meditation
    • Mental Health
    • Physical Health
    • Psychology
    • Sexuality
    • Sleep
  • Culture and Society
    • Animal Rights
    • Art and Creativity
    • Cities
    • Counterculture
    • Crime
    • Education
    • Energy
    • Feminism
    • Food
    • Gender
    • Healthcare
    • Incarceration
    • Indigenous Culture
    • The Internet
    • Media
    • Oppression
    • Privacy
    • Race
    • Science and Technology
    • Sexual Violence
    • Social Justice
    • Sports
    • Sustainable Living
    • Travel
    • Vocation
    • Writing
  • Economics
    • Capitalism
    • Consumerism
    • Corporations
    • Employment
    • Globalization
    • Industrialization
    • Poverty
  • Family and Relationships
    • Adolescence
    • Adoption
    • Childhood
    • Companion Animals
    • Divorce
    • Domestic Violence
    • Elder Care
    • Friendship
    • Infidelity
    • Marriage
    • Parenting
    • Parents
    • Pregnancy and Childbirth
    • Romantic Love
    • Siblings
  • The Natural World
    • Agriculture
    • Biology
    • Climate Change
    • Ecology
    • Plants
    • Pollution
    • Wildlife
  • Politics
    • Civil Liberties
    • Democracy
    • Diplomacy
    • Government
    • Nonviolence
    • Pacifism
    • Propaganda
    • Socialism
    • Terrorism
    • War
  • Religion and Philosophy
    • Afterlife
    • Astrology
    • Atheism and Agnosticism
    • Buddhism
    • Christianity
    • Compassion
    • Ethics
    • Evangelism
    • Fundamentalism
    • Hinduism
    • Islam
    • Judaism
    • Prayer
    • Spirituality

    Browse Topics

    Altered States

    Altered States

      Poetry

      Dad Calls To Tell Me

      he used the Amazonian jujitsu death / grip to choke out the pharmacist / who wouldn’t give him his heart medication / until tomorrow — which, he admits, is when / it’s actually scheduled for pickup.

      By Michael MarkDecember 2022
      Dad Calls To Tell Me
      The Sun Interview

      In Vino Veritas

      Edward Slingerland On The Hidden Truths About Our Relationship With Alcohol

      What if . . . our taste for alcohol has been strengthened and preserved in our gene pool for functional reasons? Then we might look at intoxication not as a side note but as part of the story of what makes us human.

      By Derek AskeyJuly 2022
      In Vino Veritas
      The Dog-Eared Page

      Four Poems From Ancient China

      Call next door, ask / neighbors on the west if they can spare / any wine, and suddenly a jarful comes / across the fence — fresh, unfiltered. We / open mats beside Meandering River’s / long currents, crystalline winds arrive, / and you’re startled it’s already autumn.

      By David HintonJuly 2022
      Four Poems From Ancient China
      The Dog-Eared Page

      Memory: Short-Term Loss, Long-Term Gain

      I am not so sure it is “we” who look back. The commemorating imagination seems to come alive on its own. We are not the sole instigators of remembering; memory seems to push itself on us.

      By James HillmanFebruary 2022
      Essays, Memoirs & True Stories

      On Time

      Music is simply decorated time.

      By SparrowNovember 2021
      On Time
      Quotations

      Sunbeams

      Is marijuana addictive? Yes, in the sense that most of the really pleasant things in life are worth endlessly repeating.

      Richard Neville

      July 2021
      Sunbeams
      The Dog-Eared Page

      Mr. X

      One Scientist’s Experience With Cannabis

      The illegality of cannabis is outrageous, an impediment to full utilization of a drug which helps produce the serenity and insight, sensitivity and fellowship so desperately needed in this increasingly mad and dangerous world.

      By Carl SaganJuly 2021
      Mr. X
      The Sun Interview

      Parting The Clouds

      Charles Raison On New Treatments For Depression

      All the data so far suggest that a single treatment, or two treatments, with psychedelics can relieve depression for an extended period, because the psychedelics cause the patient to see the world differently.

      By Sarah ConoverFebruary 2021
      Parting The Clouds
      Fiction

      On Becoming A Cat

      Please understand: the external metamorphosis comes only at the very end, after a long, sustained effort. There is a lot of inner work you have to do before then. Also there is luck involved.

      By Emily MitchellDecember 2018
      On Becoming A Cat
      Quotations

      Sunbeams

      We live in a fantasy world, a world of illusion. The great task in life is to find reality.

      Iris Murdoch

      November 2017
      Sunbeams
    • previous
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • ...
    • 13
    • next

    Altered States - Page 2

    • Body and Mind
      • Abortion
      • Addiction and Recovery
      • Aging
      • Alcoholism
      • Altered States
      • Alternative Medicine
      • Cancer
      • Consciousness
      • Death
      • Dementia
      • Diet
      • Disability
      • Dreams
      • Exercise
      • Fear
      • Grief
      • Happiness
      • Healing
      • Identity
      • Medicine
      • Meditation
      • Mental Health
      • Physical Health
      • Psychology
      • Sexuality
      • Sleep
    • Culture and Society
      • Animal Rights
      • Art and Creativity
      • Cities
      • Counterculture
      • Crime
      • Education
      • Energy
      • Feminism
      • Food
      • Gender
      • Healthcare
      • Incarceration
      • Indigenous Culture
      • The Internet
      • Media
      • Oppression
      • Privacy
      • Race
      • Science and Technology
      • Sexual Violence
      • Social Justice
      • Sports
      • Sustainable Living
      • Travel
      • Vocation
      • Writing
    • Economics
      • Capitalism
      • Consumerism
      • Corporations
      • Employment
      • Globalization
      • Industrialization
      • Poverty
    • Family and Relationships
      • Adolescence
      • Adoption
      • Childhood
      • Companion Animals
      • Divorce
      • Domestic Violence
      • Elder Care
      • Friendship
      • Infidelity
      • Marriage
      • Parenting
      • Parents
      • Pregnancy and Childbirth
      • Romantic Love
      • Siblings
    • The Natural World
      • Agriculture
      • Biology
      • Climate Change
      • Ecology
      • Plants
      • Pollution
      • Wildlife
    • Politics
      • Civil Liberties
      • Democracy
      • Diplomacy
      • Government
      • Nonviolence
      • Pacifism
      • Propaganda
      • Socialism
      • Terrorism
      • War
    • Religion and Philosophy
      • Afterlife
      • Astrology
      • Atheism and Agnosticism
      • Buddhism
      • Christianity
      • Compassion
      • Ethics
      • Evangelism
      • Fundamentalism
      • Hinduism
      • Islam
      • Judaism
      • Prayer
      • Spirituality
    Subscribe & SaveSAVE 52%

    Personal, political, provocative writing delivered to your doorstep every month—without a single ad.

    Subscribe Today

    Humanity, delivered monthly.

    In each issue of The Sun you’ll find some of the most radically intimate and socially conscious writing being published today. In an age of media conglomerates, we’re something of an oddity: an ad-free, independent, reader-supported magazine.

      • About The Sun
      • Contact Us
      • Staff
      • FAQ
    • facebookLike us
    • InstagramTake a look
      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms of Use

    Copyright © 1974–2026 The Sun. All rights reserved.