Fact-Checking and Tennis Pros

House Arab

Ismail Ibrahim | Bidoun | 16th September 2025

Fact checker's account of being the only Arab on the editorial staff of a prominent US magazine (the New Yorker, although the writer is too polite to say) after the October 7th attacks on Israel. The work of calling people in Palestine and asking "how, precisely, their relative had been killed" fell to him, the sole Arabic speaker. Soon, the limits of a supposedly neutral verification process became apparent (2,700 words)

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The Hair Theory

Andrea Petkovic | Finite Jest | 19th September 2025

Former tennis pro explains why a male player's confidence in their hair is a predictor of good performance on the court. Athletes' bodies receive extreme scrutiny, never more so than in the smartphone era. For men, this intense critique is often centred on their hair. When Carlos Alcaraz easily brushed off mockery of his accidental buzzcut, he exhibited the kind of confidence necessary to win the US Open (1,000 words)