Ugly Body

Why Is Everything So Ugly?

Editors | n+1 | 20th September 2024

A century ago, H. L. Mencken deplored the American "libido for the ugly". Matters have not improved. Even with better design and construction techniques than ever, we have managed to produce a homogenous world of unoriginality. "Our built environment tends overwhelmingly toward the insubstantial, the flat, and the grey, punctuated here and there by the occasional childish squiggle" (3,900 words)

Written On The Body

Rumaan Alam | Esquire | 8th October 2024

In praise of a tattooed middle age. "Most of us have some instinct to capture these things; that’s why we save ticket stubs and outgrown baby clothes, take photographs of every memorable taco. We want to remember. This is a losing battle, and we know it. Maybe if I inscribe this stuff on my very body, it will last however long my body does. Maybe I’ve landed on a workaround" (1,400 words)