Teeth & Pastor

Featured Reading

Fake Teeth Will Solve All My Problems

Electric Literature • Published on 2025-02-06 • ~5200 words
By Edgar Gomez

In this excerpt from his memoir “Alligator Tears,” Edgar Gomez reflects on his childhood insecurities about his teeth and his family's financial struggles. The narrative explores the impact of his new teeth on his self-esteem and social interactions, as well as coming to terms with his sexuality, and the conflicts that created with his family.

I looked like the real me, not that other, shame-filled version of me I’d been living as before. A startled giggle shot out of my mouth. Instinctively, I reached up to cover it with the back of my hand, but I stopped and lowered it halfway. I didn’t need to hide ever again.

I pointed at the best tooth, at the end of the slab, imagining it in my mouth and the doors it would open. With a full set like that, I could get any job, date anyone I wanted. Images of myself as a doctor or a lawyer flashed behind my eyes, clinking wineglasses with my husband in our tasteful brownstone in Manhattan, the two of us cracking up about the time I got kicked out of school and thought I’d ruined my future. I felt an awkward pull in my cheeks, the muscles contracting in a way I wasn’t used to. I couldn’t help it. I was smiling.

How My Dad Reconciled His God and His Gay Son

New York Times • Published on 2025-02-05 • ~7850 words
By Timothy White

Timothy White explores the journey of his father, an evangelical pastor, as he reconciles his faith with the fact that his son is gay. Through excerpts from the father’s journals, White shows how personal connections can reshape deeply held beliefs and foster inclusivity. “He took stock of what really mattered to him at his core.” he writes, “And then he reshaped his beliefs, practices and work around that …”

But some of his fears came from a deeper place, beyond simple stereotypes or concern. He was afraid that something within me might, in his words above, be stronger than God. That it would unmoor him from the evangelical moral foundation upon which he’d spent decades building his life and career. And in some ways, he wouldn’t be wrong.

To feel the bedrock of your theology shifting might sound abstract, but it’s almost impossible to underestimate the terror it brings for someone who has made this their whole life.

Recommended Reading

The Kings of College Radio

The Yale Review • Published on 2025-02-04 • ~3650 words
By Mina Tavakoli

Mina Tavakoli reviews “The Name of This Band is R.E.M.,” a book by Peter Ames Carlin that serves as the bands biography. She brings her take on R.E.M.’s legacy though, arguing that their shift to mainstream led to a decline in their cultural relevance.

A shared and sane decision to quit came in 2011. There was no infinite farewell tour, no enduring drama—just a merciful, dignified exit signaled by a couple paragraphs on the band’s website. But public mourning came with a greater-than-usual procession of dark clouds. “R.E.M.’s break-up is classy, and a decade late—but who cares?” The New Yorker said with a shrug. “The cynicism isn’t surprising, given the way R.E.M.’s image has decayed in the 21st century,” hedged The Atlantic. My high school English teacher—at that hour wearing a T-shirt featuring the art for Automatic for the People—slammed his laptop shut after reading the band’s retirement announcement to a silent classroom. “Finally,” he said, frowning into the distance.

Congo's Curse

Comment is Freed • Published on 2025-02-05 • ~4350 words
By Lawrence Freedman

Lawrence Freedman explores the legacy of resource exploitation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a nation rich in minerals yet plagued by instability and poverty. He draws connections from colonial times to present-day conflicts, fueled by both greed and foreign interference.

This is a country that should be enjoying its wealth. What is now the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is Africa’s second largest and fourth most populous country, with a surface area equivalent to Western Europe. It rests on approximately $24 trillion worth of natural resources. Before King Leopold concentrated on ivory and rubber. Now the range of its potential mineral wealth is extraordinary: cobalt (the largest producer in the world), copper (the largest producer in Africa), niobium, tantalum, coltan (80% of the world’s reserves), diamonds (30% of the world’s reserves), gold, silver, zinc, manganese, tin, uranium, and coal. Yet about a fifth of its population of about 100 million rely on aid to survive.

It is one of the most extreme examples of the so-called ‘resource curse’, whereby an abundance of raw materials leads to authoritarian regimes and civil wars.

Fouad Elkoury’s Photography Finds Poetry Amid Destruction

New Lines Magazine • Published on 2025-02-06 • ~3750 words
By Olivia Snaije

Olivia Snaije writes about how Fouad Elkoury's photography captures the haunting beauty of conflict and resilience over decades of turmoil in the Middle East.

Elkoury’s work has always been poetic, whether in images or writing, and he has combined photography with writing for years. In the challenging subjects he has taken on, he has been ever-conscious of finding beauty and singularity in his mode of expression. He speaks often of his fear — during wars or of the mukhabarat (secret police) when taking photos in the Syria of the 1980s or ’90s — yet he has always strayed from the beaten path. He is unafraid of expressing his emotions, which are just under the surface, as if he might smile suddenly or cry at any moment.

Taiwan’s Literature Is Having a Moment in Central and Eastern Europe

New Lines Magazine • Published on 2025-02-05 • ~3500 words
By James Baron

Taiwanese literature is finding a footing Central and Eastern Europe, as seen in the growing interest at events like Book World Prague. James Baron explores how politics in the region are fostering cultural exchanges that highlight Taiwan’s unique identity. Literature serves as a bridge between Taiwan and these European countries, reflecting shared democratic values and a resistance to authoritarianism.

Hsu says there are similarities in the tragedies that beset artistic life in both Ukraine and Taiwan in the 20th century. During the White Terror period in Taiwan under the Kuomintang, which began in the late 1940s, artists and writers were among the thousands of victims of repression, says Hsu. This, he says, is analogous to the Executed Renaissance, a generation of Ukrainian-language literati exterminated by the Soviet regime 20 years earlier.

Hitler’s Oligarchs

The Atlantic • Published on 2025-02-06 • ~3450 words
By Timothy W. Ryback

This brief history explores the relationship between Adolf Hitler and the industrial magnates who once reviled him, but ultimately empowered his rise. Figures like Alfred Hugenberg and Fritz Thyssen navigated their own ambitions while enabling a regime that would lead to catastrophe. Sound familiar?

After cantankerous negotiation, a deal was reached: Hugenberg would deliver Hitler the chancellorship, in exchange for Hugenberg being given a cabinet post as head of a Superministerium that subsumed the ministries of economics, agriculture, and nutrition. Once in the cabinet, Hugenberg didn’t hesitate to meddle in foreign relations when it suited him. Reinhold Quaatz, a close Hugenberg associate, distilled Hugenberg’s calculus as follows: “Hitler will sit in the saddle but Hugenberg holds the whip.”

How to Build a Human

The Intercept • Published on 2025-02-02 • ~6450 words
By Jordan Smith

Parabon NanoLabs claims that with their software Snapshot, DNA samples can be turned into a composite image of a suspect to help law enforcement find the perpetrator. Scientist do not agree, and raise concerns about its reliability and the potential for deepening racial bias in investigations.

Parabon’s methodology for generating its phenotype predictions is a closely guarded secret; its system has not faced independent scientific verification and validation — the gold standard among scientists for vetting the efficacy of computer-based programs — nor has it been peer reviewed. Still, Parabon insists that its phenotyping work is based on good science. While it acknowledges that its program has not gone through traditional scientific review processes, it says the proof of Snapshot’s ability and value is in the number of law enforcement agencies that use it and say it has helped them solve cases.

… the tools police use to generate investigative leads are generally not considered evidence in criminal cases, meaning the state is not required to share information about those tools or the leads they generate with defense lawyers. So, for example, if police use a Snapshot composite to lead them to a suspect who they then charge with a crime, the defense will likely never know unless the police choose to publicize it.

The “Inhuman” Court Case That Helped Sink a Major Law Firm

The Walrus • Published on 2025-02-06 • ~2500 words
By Adam Dodek

Adam Dodek writes about the Castor Holdings case, now a cautionary tale, illustrating how a single case can consume resources and time far beyond what is reasonable.

The Castor Holdings saga was an epic fail, not only for the Quebec Superior Court but also for the entire Canadian legal system. It revealed the judicial system at its worst: how lawyers can hijack it for more than a decade; how a well-meaning but short-sighted and ineffective trial judge can lose sight of the larger issues of justice in the name of process; and how preventive measures are limited by the system’s structure, its overreliance on individuals, and its fidelity to judicial independence.

Full House

Urban Omnibus • Published on 2025-02-05 • ~2750 words
By Amy AndrieuxJun ChouRaj KottamasuKai Naima Williams Sabina Sethi Unni

Five authors contribute narratives of cohabitation among New Yorkers, revealing how shared living arrangements shape relationships and community. From the bonds formed during the pandemic to the intergenerational ties within immigrant families, the stories highlight the lasting impact of these spaces on our identity.

Urban solitude can be defined by the maxim: Alone, together. Even home — often the only place people have to be alone — isn’t exempt. The rate of people taking roommates is rising, especially in expensive cities like New York: lower rent at the expense of privacy. If you’re lucky, you’re among one of the renters who is cohabitating with people you can call your friends. I was lucky to be lucky.