LEVEL columnist Aliya S. King got hitched last year, and she came away with some advice for anyone thinking about popping the question: no Jumbotrons, first of all. Also, consider asking what type of heavy metal your partner wants to wear on their hand for the foreseeable future. …

29 reads to catch up on while we take a break — We’ve finally reached the end of 2020, and we sort of can’t believe it. Yes, “years” are just constructs, but at this point we’ll take a symbolic refresh wherever we can find one. …

In Ashley C. Ford’s latest “Five Things” essay, she reflects on the feeling of getting what you want (among other things). I Wish There Was a Place Where I Could Stand Still Saying no is getting easier. I’m remembering how much I don’t need and never wanted.ashleycford.medium.com

11 perspectives on food, family, and American history — Before we log off to join our respective Zoom Thanksgivings, we wanted to share a few memorable perspectives on this holiday — how it started, the stories we tell ourselves about it, and what it means to give thanks (especially this year). You’ll find humor, revisionist history, and some advice…

“Black jeans are like fishnets, though — the right ones seem to come with lessons on how to wear them and what to do while wearing them that arrive when you put them on,” writes Alexander Chee in a post about the jeans that are getting him through quarantine. …

Congratulations to Human Parts alum Sarah McBride on her win as the first out transgender state senator in U.S. history. We’ve been fans of Sarah since reading this moving tribute to her late husband, Andy, who she met fighting for LGBTQ+ rights in Washington, D.C. To the Husband I Lost at 24 Fighting inequality brought us together, fighting cancer made us inseparablehumanparts.medium.com

If 2020 hasn’t taught us this lesson already, we’re about to learn it: Humans have a hard time dealing with uncertainty. It evokes fear. Anxiety. An obsession with hitting “refresh” on [insert your rabbithole of choice] until the world makes even less sense than it did before. But uncertainty also…

Sending a cold email — especially to someone you admire — is a modern leap of faith. You want to strike the right tone: complimentary, brief, earnest. You delete an exclamation point and re-add it two seconds later. …

chrissy teigen shares a heartfelt essay about losing her son. Hi. I had no idea when I would be ready to write this. Part of me thought it would be early on, when I was still really…chrissyteigen.medium.com