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I’ll Have Flies with That
Josh Brown was at a crossroads in 2009 when he pulled into the parking lot of California Carnivores, one of the largest and oldest carnivorous plant nurseries in the United States…
The Botez Gambit
When she was 15 years old, Alexandra Botez won a national chess tournament that could have changed her life. In the palpable silence of a hotel banquet hall in Chicago, she’d dominated…
Just Add Prawns
Giulio De Leo tries never to touch the water in the lower basin of the Senegal River. Even when the weather tops 100 degrees Fahrenheit, the Stanford ecologist and his team of researchers…
Sharing the Kids
In the 108-year-old hayloft at Harley Farms Goat Dairy in Pescadero, there’s a hand-made wooden chair with its seat carved to perfectly fit farm owner Dee Harley’s butt…
Ticking Mite Bomb
Sometimes Bob Silverstein rolls his bees in sugar. It’s the gentler approach to removing the parasites that often infest his hives. When he aims for accuracy though, he can’t be gentle…
The Farmworker Connection
On April 22, 2020, a line of cars snaked along the dry, dusty roads of Delano, Calif. Despite harvesting the fruits and nuts that would fill grocery store shelves during the early days of the pandemic…
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Staying the Course
“I want to start with a story about something illegal,” wrote Rose Zhang, ’25, in August. “It’s one of my favorite memories.” She was writing for the Players’ Tribune from Paris, on the eve of her Olympic debut…
The Hospital Teacher
Kathy Ho tries to see every new teen on her list within 72 hours of their arrival. For some, it’s too soon, or they’re too sick. But for others, she is a beacon of normalcy…
Intergalactic Fact and Fiction
Kemi Ashing-Giwa was in the middle of a college biology class, learning about Ophiocordyceps unilateralis (aka the zombie-ant fungus), when an idea sprang to mind…
Obituaries
English Professor, Avant-Garde Scholar
Most nights, while her husband and daughters slept, literary critic Marjorie Perloff typed away on her IBM Selectric, her younger daughter sometimes waking to the clacking of the keys…
Oboist Who Pulled Back the Curtain
In the back of the orchestra pit at the 2002 Broadway production of Man of La Mancha, oboist Blair Tindall scribbled away at the pages of her memoir. “She knew that book was going to screw her…
Front Man of Big-Wave Surfing
Peter Cole set his schedule by the waves, planning his life around the height of the swells off the coast of Oahu. For 50 years, when the waves were good, he’d paddle out and wait for hours…
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Data Driven
After just 12 laps at Sonoma Raceway, Jesse Love’s fireproof bodysuit is soaked through and heavy. That’s not unusual. Roasting in the driver’s seat, he can lose up to eight pounds of sweat…
Redwood Roller Rink
In the heart of the high-tech capital of the world stands a vault from the past. There’s no air conditioning and no heat, and the ceiling leaks when it rains. Somehow it’s clear, though…
The Airport Next Door
Bennett Taber steers his small aircraft toward the San Francisco Peninsula at 25,000 feet in the air, keenly aware that he is flying between tragedy and salvation. As he leaves Fresno behind…
Rural Suburbia
At a glance, it can look like militarized motherhood: a hangar of young recruits in starched, white uniforms, emerald neckerchiefs, and matching felt berets patrolling the aisles…
Winning Whiskers
Alfred Nash wasn’t always an idol of hirsute achievement. “My facial hair didn’t really start to grow until I was about 30,” he says. In 2011, he grew a mustache for Movember…
A Path of Pirouettes
When Michael Wu was 6 years old, he stepped into a new dance studio—and froze. “All of the people in there are girls,” he recalls, “and all of them are wearing tights.” He’d been enjoying…