Cheri Lucas Rowlands

Sebastopol

Editor @longreads. @automattic since 2012. Californian since 1979. Junglist for life. Not checking Twitter anymore. Drafts/pitches: [email protected].

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Articles

Diary of a Spreadsheet

1 week ago | longreads.com | Cheri Lucas Rowlands

In January 2025, the Eaton and Palisades fires displaced tens of thousands of people in Southern California. For n+1, tenant organizer Chelsea Kirk writes about the “rapid-fire monetization of disaster” in the Los Angeles rental market—and how homeowners and real estate agents capitalized on the chaos.
Growing Up Marvel

1 week ago | longreads.com | Cheri Lucas Rowlands

Stan Lee once called his daughter, JC, his “greatest creation”—a belief that turned out to be both a gift and a burden. Now in her mid-70s, JC is cut off from the Marvel empire, “frozen out by those who control her father’s legacy.” For Business Insider, Jason Guerrasio writes about the tumultuous life of Lee’s only child, as well as recounts the sad and lonely final years of the comic book legend’s life.
When I’m 125? - Longreads

1 week ago | longreads.com | Cheri Lucas Rowlands

In this thoughtful essay for Coda, J. Paul Neeley writes about his participation in a study run by Bryan Johnson, an entrepreneur known for his anti-aging and longevity program called Blueprint. (Johnson is the focus of this TIME profile that I recommended a few years ago.) Throughout his life, Neeley, who grew up Mormon, has striven for perfection in all areas of his life. In his work as a designer and researcher, he has contemplated happiness.
The Battle Over Black Bears

2 weeks ago | longreads.com | Cheri Lucas Rowlands

Decades ago, in the ’80s, bear sightings in South Lake Tahoe were rare. But today, close encounters between bears and humans are everyday occurrences. In this story for Alta, Jordan Fisher Smith reports on the rise of home invasions in the Lake Tahoe region—one of which turned deadly in November 2023—and the fight between animal activists and state agencies who don’t agree on how to handle the issue. Through DNA testing, authorities have identified more than 320 bears in the Lake Tahoe Basin.
Does Luck Exist?

2 weeks ago | longreads.com | Cheri Lucas Rowlands

”What are the chances? That a lapsed luck philosopher meets an unluckiness magnet on Tinder and falls for her? That she falls for him?” For New York magazine, Eric Boodman explores the complex nature of luck through the life trajectories of a sociologist prone to misfortune, Holly Davis, and her husband (and luck scholar), Lee John Whittington. Is luck real? It’s a tough question, but Boodman tackles it in this intriguing piece. We live in an era of boundless data, an empiricist’s fantasy.
The Murder, the Museum and the Monument

2 weeks ago | longreads.com | Cheri Lucas Rowlands

In April 1943, James Wakasa was shot and killed by a guard while walking near the edge of the Topaz Relocation Center, a Japanese American internment camp in Utah. After the shooting, fellow prisoners erected a monument in Wakasa’s honor, which was buried over time. Decades later, two archaeologists rediscovered the monument, but it was excavated—disrespectfully and without the involvement of Topaz descendants—by the museum tasked with preserving the site’s history.
The Incandescent Rise of Sofia Camacho

3 weeks ago | longreads.com | Cheri Lucas Rowlands

For Runner’s World, David Alm profiles Sofia Camacho, a 25-year-old runner with a rocky, traumatic past who’s emerged as a trailblazer in both sports and the arts. Camacho won the New York City Marathon’s nonbinary division last year and set a new nonbinary course record by 14 minutes.
Breastfeeding During a Heatwave

3 weeks ago | longreads.com | Cheri Lucas Rowlands

“How does one perform their ‘natural’ function when humans pervert and destroy nature all around us?” In this personal essay for The Margins, Nina Li Coomes writes about the climate crisis from the perspective of a nursing mother. Coomes calls breast milk nutritionally perfect for her daughter—and the process of breastfeeding environmentally responsible—but she also knows that her milk is not made in isolation.
Barnaby’s Futura Fantasy

3 weeks ago | longreads.com | Cheri Lucas Rowlands

I love the notion that typefaces have personalities—which Nicole Rudick discusses in this Broadcast essay—and that some fonts might actually persuade us. A few recent reads on typography warmed me up for this piece: Marcin Wichary’s essay on the use of Gorton across Manhattan and Kanya Kanchana’s reading list on typefaces. Rudick’s essay examines the use of Futura Medium Oblique in Crockett Johnson’s comic strip, Barnaby. Johnson was interested in geometry, and the interplay of form and content.
The Deaths—and Lives—of Two Sons - Longreads

3 weeks ago | longreads.com | Cheri Lucas Rowlands

“There is no good way to say this,” Yiyun Li writes in the opening sentence of this New Yorker essay, quoting the police who arrive at her home to deliver devastating news. I struggle to encapsulate this piece and find myself returning to that same phrase. There is no good way to say this: Li lost both of her sons, Vincent and James, to suicide, six years apart, at 16 and 19.