The Highlight
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The school shooting generation grows up
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.
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The danger of treating body parts like fast fashion
Social media and the availability of new procedures have made our quest for physical perfection endless, setting women and girls up for failure.
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The case for following fads
The pandemic stole our sense of connectedness. In their own way, viral trends help us regain it.
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Welcome to the Fads Issue of The Highlight
As the holidays approach, we look at the cult of Pokémon, what turns a tiny toy into a major obsession, and the upside — and dark side — of fad culture.
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Pokémon will outlive us all
Pokémon had all the hallmarks of a flash in the pan. Two decades later, it’s a $100 billion empire.
My father, the white supremacist
I’d inherited his family’s money, his height, his arthritis. Could I inherit the very worst parts of him, too?
The modern family
Amid distance and estrangement and strain, some are happily replacing the clans they’re born into with chosen families.
They lost parents to Covid-19. Are we abandoning them?
The number of American kids whose caregivers have died in the pandemic has surpassed 140,000.
The age of monsters
In the ’80s and ’90s, kids’ media was full of murder and mayhem. What changed?
The morbid appeal of “botched” plastic surgery
Cosmetic procedures are on the rise. So is our voyeuristic fascination with how they go wrong.
Can a haunted house even scare us in 2021?
When a pandemic rages just outside our doors, maybe escapism is all we can hope for.
House isn’t selling? Blame the ghosts.
Realtor? Check. Appraiser? Check. Ghostbuster? Check.
The horror century
From the first morbid films a hundred years ago, scary movies always been a dark mirror on Americans’ deepest fears and anxieties.
Apple picking is a bizarre imitation of hard work
Oh, the performative faux labor of it all.
The sad, predictable limits of America’s “economic recovery”
Officially, the Covid-19 recession lasted just two months. So why are so many still suffering?
How your favorite jeans might be fueling a human rights crisis
Cotton’s connection to forced labor by Uyghurs in Xinjiang ought to have you rethinking fast fashion.
A vacation town promises rest and relaxation. The water knows the truth.
On the Georgia coast, leisure and a grim history of slavery co-exist.
The story of amusement parks is the story of America
With all of its sparkle and chipped paint.
The best four years of your life?
Dropping out helped me see the lies we’re sold about the college experience.
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Some brand names have long perpetuated racism. Black Lives Matter is changing that.
The Cleveland Indians are reportedly the latest group preparing to abandon a stereotypical name, following the Washington Redskins and Aunt Jemima this summer.