The Highlight
Vox’s home for ambitious stories that explain our world.
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Welcome to the Friendship Issue of the Highlight
Inside this issue: The state of American friendship, its radical power, and advice for small talk and making your social battery work for you, even if you’re an introvert.
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The introvert’s guide to actually enjoying a party
It’s all about managing your social battery.
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Too many Americans live in places built for cars — not for human connection
How urban planning contributed to the great undoing of modern friendship.
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How to make small talk when you hate small talk
In defense of the much-maligned conversational form.
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The radical political power of friendship
It can help us push back against tyranny. Philosopher Hannah Arendt’s legendary cocktail parties were proof.
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So you want to end a friendship. Here’s what to consider.
Platonic breakups can be just as painful as romantic ones.
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Why friendship is different than any other relationship we have
As its role in society recedes, Vox asked six people to tell us why their friendship matters — and may just be the most meaningful relationship of their lives.
The power of silence in a deafening world
Why there’s more noise, and more kinds of it — and why it might be ruining our focus.
The rise of land acknowledgments — and their limitations
More institutions are making note of indigenous rights to land. Does it make a difference?
What if the suburbs were just a first draft?
Remote work, the arrival of home-owning millennials, and other forces can be an opportunity to remake them for the better.
A Black rodeo rewrites the story of the West
At the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo, Black riders and fans bring a sense of swaggering cool to a culture overlooked by the history books.
The deadliest road in America
Being a pedestrian in the US was already dangerous. It’s getting even worse.
Welcome to the July issue of The Highlight
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.
Women wanted to fly jets in combat. Breaking that barrier would be the fight of their lives.
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.
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The economic case for abortion rights
Being able to access abortion is about all kinds of justice — economic justice included.
Juneteenth isn’t just a celebration of freedom. It’s a monument to America’s failures.
The holiday observes the emancipation of enslaved people. Let it also be a time to consider the hypocrisies of the American experiment.
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In Appalachia, a race to preserve the practice of plant healing
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.
Welcome to the May issue of The Highlight
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.
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The profound impact of giving American families a little more cash
Six months of payments lifted millions of children out of poverty. Then they stopped.
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The anti-abortion movement is about to win. Even it isn’t ready for what comes next.
Tracking down the sources of abortion pills, a brewing internal schism over arresting pregnant people — welcome to the post-Roe future.
What does it mean to take America’s “jobs of last resort”?
Author Eyal Press on the nation’s most morally troubling labor — and why many refuse to acknowledge it.