“To join a party on condition that we oppose our own civil rights and our own basic civil equality seems a non-starter for me,” says the conservative blogger. “There’s something […]

The Daily Dish gets one million readers each month—partly because the blogger treats his readers as part of a community, fostering a dialogue rather than a monologue.

There aren’t set standards for bloggers the way that there are for print journalists, but there are still some rules that everyone should follow: “Don’t lie, and if you’re wrong, […]

Blogs allow writers to have an open and honest discussion in real-time. This is better than a single article because it treats the readers as participants in the conversation.

Blogging destroys the future-oriented process of writing nonfiction and replaces it with a sense of constant presentness—everything you write is provisional because the facts, or your mind, could change.

A conversation with the writer and blogger.

Psychologist and ex-NBA player John Amaechi’s mother was a doctor who had an uncanny ability to calm anxious patients and relatives, which is why Amaechi grew up thinking she was a Jedi.

When society tells boys that being in touch with their emotions will make them into a girl or gay, they lose the ability to cope with stress and creatively handle […]

Athletes are given a free pass by society—engendering a sense of entitlement and omnipotence. Once the adulation stops for retired pros, these qualities can become dangerous.

“We need to get past the point where being black and a male means that I am likely to mug you for your wallet, likely to have a minus 15 […]

In an ideal world, celebrities would have a responsibility to come out, but the gay basketball star realizes that the process is personal and variable—like a gestation period. Some people […]

When the basketball player publicly came out in 2007, 85 percent of people were “fantastic.” The other 15 percent were “weirded out.”

The key to succeeding in something that is statistically improbable, like making it to the NBA, is to have a crystal clear assessment of your own strengths and failings.

A conversation with the former basketball player and psychologist.

More and more people are being born, and the Earth isn’t getting any bigger. We’re on a serious disaster course. The only thing a filmmaker can do is try to […]

The filmmaker is known for his idiosyncratic creative process in which he and his actors create the film together through workshopping and improvisation.

The filmmaker is concerned with getting to the truth about people, not about passing judgment. “Everybody is interesting, and everybody is the potential central character in a story, so judging […]

I am unashamedly in the entertainment business,” says Leigh. “If a film is not entertaining, forget it, it’s a failure.

The filmmaker was more influenced by the realism of the “Nouvelle Vague” of 1960s France than by the “British New Wave” or the tradition of Dickensian social realism.

The British master of suspense once said that women who spent all day doing chores wouldn’t want to watch a film about a woman doing chores. Mike Leigh begs to […]

A conversation with the filmmaker.

The very first human records were records of slaves, which suggests that it has existed as a practice long before recorded history and has dogged mankind ever since.

Conservative estimates say that there are 50,000 slaves in the U.S., and less than half of these are being sexually exploited—the rest could be in your neighbor’s backyard or in […]

Military juntas like Burma and failed states like the Congo are, unsurprisingly, fertile grounds for slavery. But the practice thrives even in developed countries like Japan and the United States.

There are some tell-tale signs that someone is being forced to work against his or her will. Would you recognize them?

Most modern slaves are people who, driven by economic desperation, agree to take jobs far from their homes thinking they will help feed their families. Only when they are severed […]

Slavery is not just about Africans being forced to work in cotton fields—it’s an insidious practice that has existed throughout history and continues to this day, thanks in large part […]

A conversation with the anti-slavery advocate.

Women tend to be systematically better at doing what works in leadership positions. The data indicates that women are better managers and better for the economy.

Because of a persistently unequal division of work at home, men, on average, put in more hours at the office. As a result, it’s harder for women to reach the […]