At Contingent Magazine, Edward Guimont dives deep into the 19th century, and tells the story of the strange European quest to find living dinosaurs in Africa.

REI Co-op started a movement for people to reconnect outdoors over the holidays. They now close on Black Friday — one of the most popular shopping days of the year — and on their blog invite America to #OptOutside with them.

Iman Sultan explores the rich storytelling traditions that gave the world Aladdin — but that have been all but erased in the blockbuster Disney versions.

“These archetypes give women the extremely confused message that to be truly independent, ambitious, and empowered — and dare we say, feminist — is to perform well in the marketplace of the likeable self. It also gives capitalism, which is superficially unfashionable, a second life: its mercenary logic can take on a socially conscientious sheen.”

“Storyboard 75” compiles some of the most popular posts from the archives at Nieman Storyboard, a resource for exploring the art and craft of storytelling. Writers: bookmark this page and return to it again and again.

“Some are tired. All are broke. Some are gay or trans and suffer for it. All have professional ambitions beyond what they can achieve on a blockaded island.” At Here is Havana, Conner Gorry reflects on emigration, loss, and Cuba.

“A novel is hard because it needs to be hard, and the novel is hard because it’s yours.” On his blog Terribleminds, Chuck Wendig offers advice to writers at the start of National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo.

“The impulse to see pregnancy as a sci-fi curiosity turns pregnant people into something that is not human, or at least adds an asterisk to their humanity.” In this longread, Sara Fredman writes about pregnancy, demons, and Stranger Things.

Journalists frequently write about the working class, but is anyone writing for them? Because “[e]conomic hardship does not mean the absence of joy, love, pleasure, duty, care,” and stories — and representation! — are powerful.

“For all I say I’m envious of my daughter’s freedoms, perhaps the older woman has more leeway, more agency.” Artist Myfanwy Tristram was irritated by her teenage daughter’s extreme fashions — until she took an illustrated journey into their origins.