Jan/Feb 2017
Field Notes: Working the Bricks in Myanmar
Mingaladon Township, Myanmar: Laborers in a brick factory, about an hour's drive from the new hotels and shopping malls of the city of Yangon, get by on $3 per day.
Objects That Matter: White Picket Fence
In the 1940s, the mass-produced tract homes that formed Levittown, New York—one of America's first suburbs—specifically barred "any person other than members of the Caucasian race" in their leases.
Field Notes: Casting About in an Overfished River
Assam, India: At sunset a fisherman casts his net on a tributary of the Brahmaputra River, where commercial overfishing has made it more difficult to operate.
In the Picture: Ankle Deep in Okinawa, Japan
In every print issue, we fix our gaze on an everyday photograph and chase down facts about details in the frame.
Small Gifts, Stable Homes
How just a little bit of cash now can prevent homelessness later.
Exit, Stage White
For American regional theaters, diversifying their audiences will mean the difference between life and death. But it's not simple or easy.
Excerpts From the Literary Magazine Written by the Homeless: Short, Sweet, Written on a Receipt
A reprint from The Pilgrim.
Excerpts From the Literary Magazine Written by the Homeless: Calmness vs. Chaos
A reprint from The Pilgrim.
Excerpts From the Literary Magazine Written by the Homeless: Keeping Clothes Clean
A reprint from The Pilgrim.
Radical Efforts to End Homelessness: Street Scribes
The story of the literary magazine whose authors are all homeless.
Since We Last Spoke: The Drug War's New Front
Updates to stories from the Pacific Standard archive.
This Is Your Brain on Poverty: Breaking Down Barriers
A surprisingly small tweak to the college admissions process yields an impressive increase in the enrollment of low-income students.
This Is Your Brain on Poverty: What's in a Name?
Program designers are learning that the words they use really matter.
Ona Judge, the Washingtons, and the Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave
A portrait of George Washington as slave master.
This Is Your Brain on Poverty: The Default Choice
Automatic enrollment in a non-profit food program keeps more kids from going hungry on the weekends.
Letter From Berkeley, California: The Tsar Bell
The largest bell in the world sits in a courtyard at the Kremlin as a 200-ton tourist attraction. It has never been heard—until now, using digital tools.
This Is Your Brain on Poverty: Fewer Choices, More Graduates
Limiting the choices of community college students paradoxically leads to greater academic success.
A Museum for Healing Broken Hearts
In Los Angeles, the Museum of Broken Relationships gathers its emotional collection from the public—and, in the process, invites civilians of all classes and backgrounds to heal.
This Is Your Brain on Poverty
How behavioral economics is opening a creative new front in the fight against inequality.
Radical Efforts to End Homelessness: Inside the Tent Cities of Seattle
Personal stories from the residents of Tent City 3.
Since We Last Spoke: School's Out
Updates to stories from the Pacific Standard archive.
Director Joshua Oppenheimer on Thinking Differently and Challenging Your Assumptions
We spoke to Joshua Oppenheimer about what he recommends reading, watching, and listening to.
There's a Name for That: Jevons Paradox
The 19th-century British economist Stanley Jevons predicted—correctly—that the invention of more-efficient steam engines would lead to more coal getting burned.