Stories that caught your attention (and continued to captivate ours) this year.
by Kaylen Ralph
Since moving to a quarterly print schedule in the fall of 2015, we have published a lot less original longform online (which just means that our print issues have even more of the lady longform that you and I love — so don’t fret). However, The Riveter’s mission of providing longform content that is not only of the moment, but timelessly relevant, could not be illustrated more brilliantly than it is by the following list.
These ten stories are the ones you clicked on and read the most over the course of the last calendar year. Most of them are from 2014 and 2015, when we were in-between print volumes one and two, and then two and three, and therefore putting the best of the best of our content online, just because it was (and is) so good, and we really wanted you to read it ASAP. I was so delighted to revisit these pieces and see just how impactful they remain. These works are just as relevant as they were when we originally published them, if not more so. What this demonstrates about the importance of our content and the prescience of the many talented women who have written for us is an exciting and invaluable affirmation of our mission. I hope you enjoy re-reading these pieces as much as I did.
10. “A Body Profession” by Shaina Cavazos
published July 24, 2015
Written by a self-described “recreational ballet dancer,” this reported longform personal essay grapples with the delightful discord that swells between a love of classical ballet versus a love of one’s own body. Journalist Shaina Cavazos examines her own motivation for diving back into ballet classes after a four-year hiatus, despite having no interest in pursuing dance as a professional career. In addition to providing a close personal analysis of her own motivation (and concerns) about returning to class, Cavazos also interviews professional ballerinas, as well as fellow recreational dancers, plus dance psychologists. The lyricism of Cavazos’ own personal journey alone is worth the read (or re-read) but the contemporary relevance of her research makes this an essential piece to bookmark.
“Conversations about body image are tricky. In many circles, they are taboo–no one talks about them, but no one denies the problems exist. It’s important here to distinguish between professional and recreational dancers. All dancers have to learn to accept their bodies, but pre-professional and professional dancers bear the brunt of the pressure. For them, their bodies are their livelihoods.”
9. “Surviving Seven Tinder Dates in One Week” by Maura Lammers
published July 29, 2015
Essayist Maura Lammers uses Tinder as a means to put herself through dating boot camp, and the results are at once cringe-worthy, charming and hilarious. Most importantly, using nothing more than a keen self-awareness of her prior dating history and a free phone app, Lammers is able to re-evalute the way she measures dating “success,” choosing instead to focus on and self-interpret her own behavior first, and her date’s interest second. The juicy details of lewd texts and total flops are just delicious, as well.
“If I came back from every date feeling good about myself, it was a success. Even if nothing developed from these dates, it was a success. Once I set these terms, dating became empowering for the first time in my life. I was in control, and the bar was only set high for my personal happiness.”
8. “Where Faith Meets Fashion” by Sally McGraw
published September 29, 2016
Westerners carry a lot of opinions about faith-based dress codes. We saw this cultural conflict arise most acutely in the summer of 2016 with the controversy over “the burkini.” Laurence Rossignol, the French minister for women’s rights, was most vocal about her distaste for the swimsuit style, saying the design of such promoted “women’s bodies being locked up.” Fashion blogger Sally McGraw’s thoughtful investigation of faith-based dress restrictions goes beyond the burka debate, French or otherwise, touching mostly deeply instead on the specific restrictions imposed under the Hasidic, Orthodox, and Conservative Jewish practice of “tzniutt.” McGraw interviews three observant Jewish women who maintain that the dress codes of their respective religion are only as restrictive as Westerners want to believe them to be.
“‘Although there’s no better word for it in English, the Jewish concept of tzniut is not at all that idea. It’s not about hiding something out of shame — it’s about internality versus externality; dressing in a way that puts the emphasis on your personality, mind, and soul, rather than on your body.’”
7. “Q&A with ‘Girls’ Writer Sarah Heyward” by Joanna Demkiewicz
published January 7, 2015
As we anticipate the final season of HBO’s Girls to be released next month (February 12 is the big day!), there’s no better time than the present to revisit this interview with one of the show’s head writers, Sarah Heyward. The Riveter’s co-founder Joanna Demkiewicz goes long — Q&A-style — with Heyward about Gilmore Girls (insanely relevant once again thanks to Netflix’s revival), entertainment as activism, and why the writers’ room of Girls is like one big sleepover.
“(The writers’ group) has been pretty consistent for a couple years, and it’s pretty little – there are like six of us. And we all know each other really well. I think the other people in the writers’ room know way more about me than people I would call my best friends. Just because the amount of hours we sit there talking; it’s almost like being on ‘Survivor’ or something, we’re not using our phones, we don’t have computers in front of us, we’re just in the room chatting with each other.”
6. “What Orange is the New Black Gets Wrong (and Right) About Private Prisons” by Ziwe Fumudoh
published June 23, 2015
Exposés and exploration of America’s private prisons have become more commonplace as of late, and rightfully so. In August, 2016, the U.S. Justice Department announced that it would begin phasing out the use of federal private prisons, after realizing the institutions weren’t saving the government that much money after all. There is so much unknown about the murky end point of the United States’ criminal justice system, but writer Ziwe Fumudoh’s article proves just how closely popular entertainment and social change are intertwined in this day and age. It would be impossible to ascertain exactly how the viewing public’s perception of private prisons was affected by the dramatization of “life inside” in Orange is the New Black, but the recurring interest in this story after more than a year shows that Americans, at least those with a Netflix password, are paying attention.
“Until recently, OITNB focused on the institutional support jobs at Litchfield, which refers to inmates doing work related to daily prison operation, like Pennsatucky Dogget (Taryn Manning) driving the correctional facility’s van or Red (Galina Reznikov) managing the kitchen. But since Litchfield was taken over by (a private prison), the inmates have been assigned to sew underwear for “Whispers” (what one can assume is a stand-in company for Victoria’s Secret, the lingerie company that formerly employed inmates in the 1990s). Interestingly, the OTINB inmates make $1 an hour, despite the fact that the lingerie they make costs $90. This cheap pay is nothing unusual for for-profit prisons, as leasing out their labor to private companies accounts for much of their profit. In fact, taxpayers subsidize prison companies for employing prisoners, because companies that pay inmates for their labor can get 40 percent back on their tax reimbursement.”
5. “Song of the Little Hobo Bird: Leonard’s Knight’s Salvation Mountain” by Heather Quinn
published July 11, 2014
This longform profile of place is travel journalism at its most beautiful. In addition to writing about the mystical place known as Salvation Mountain, Quinn provides photos that will have you running for your own paint set — they’re just that inspiring. The vibrance she confers through imagery, both lyrical and physical, is so intoxicating. Quinn’s description of the “dreamscape” that opens up into “Slab City,” in California, “a makeshift community of desert loners, hermits, and eccentrics squatting on the remaining concrete foundations of Camp Dunlap, a Marine training base decommissioned in 1961,” is gritty, spooky, and unforgettable. Salvation Mountain remains a destination for Leonard Knight enthusiasts (even as fans worry about how much longer the structure will last), but Quinn’s portrait of the man behind the the mountain (or, more accurately, inside the mountain) is a lasting testament to the lore of Leonard’s work.
“The mountain is also a home, the dwelling place of its creator Leonard Knight, a drifter who washed up on this desert hillside in 1986 and spent the rest of his life building his monument of love for the world to see. He passed away in a nursing home this February at the age of 82. The mountain was his independent creation, a solitary labor and his life’s main work.”
4. “Q&A with Mina Kimes, Staff Writer for ESPN” by Joanna Demkiewicz
published October 8, 2014
The Riveter’s Joanna Demkiewicz interviewed Mina Kimes shortly after she accepted a columnist position at ESPN in the fall of 2014. In this longform Q&A, Kimes and Demkiewicz chat about the bonding aspect of fandom, the role that social media has had in opening up sports analysis to the masses, and how Kimes uses social media to develop story ideas in real time. Kimes is still writing for ESPN, now as a senior staff writer. Don’t miss her recent piece about the art of the bat flip in South Korean baseball.
“I mean, if you research anything long enough, it becomes interesting to you. I wrote about the craziest industries. I wrote about the railroad industry and learned everything about that. I wrote about pharmaceuticals – things where I would start knowing nothing and I would end knowing far more than I could ever fit in a seven-or-eight-page piece, and I became fascinated in things I had no interest in before.”
3. “‘Queering’ the Relationship” by Jasmine Rose-Olesco
published April 21, 2015
The Riveter has always prided itself on covering relationships of all types, no matter how “untraditional” they may seem. Rose-Olesco’s longform investigation of queerplatonic partnerships is at once thoughtful, provocative and groundbreaking. Using pop culture references such as Boy Meets World cultural studies from various sociologists and experts and first-person interviews with partners in queerplatonic partnerships, Rose-Olesco successfully depicts a “niche” lifestyle with the depth and gravitas of a mainstream exploration.
“Like any relationship, queerplatonic relationships are fluid; it is at the discretion of the people in these partnerships to decide their nature.”
2. “Love and Witchcraft in Morocco” by Ailsa Sachdev
published September 19, 2014
For young Moroccan women, marriage is an important milestone to achieve. The pressure to do so by a certain age is felt acutely by the country’s young women, who bear the brunt of this societal pressure. Enter the shawafas. In a country where 15 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, shawafas, who are said to be able to tell the future, are highly respected and sought after by those who can’t afford the recourses that many Westerners would turn to if they were in despair over their bad luck in the love department. To further complicate matters, Morrocco’s population is made up of a overwhelmingly Muslim majority, and, unfortunately for shawafas and those who seek their guidance, their brand of “witchcraft” is strictly prohibited by the Quran. Sachdev succeeds in demonstrating this conflict through captivating stories and first-person interviews with Moroccan women.
“In a country where 15 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, Salma is one of many Moroccans who cannot afford counseling or mental health therapy. Instead, they turn to the mystical, seeking advice from shawafas who say they can tell the future, even though the practice of witchcraft is illegal and considered anti-Islamic in Morocco. This is because the Quran says that nobody can tell the future, except for God.”
1. “‘Out of Office with No Access to Email,’ Says Employee with Smartphone in Hand” by Kinzy Janssen
June 27, 2014
This story by former Riveter staffer Kinzy Janssen is not only the most-read of the year, it’s the consistently most-read story on our site every single day. Work-life balance is a topic that we as a culture have yet to tire of exploring and debating, and the finessing of an out-of-office email responder, let alone actually abiding by it, can feel as delicate as navigating inner-office politics. Last week, we saw the passing of a new French labor law that legally protects citizens from having to answer, or even check, email while off the clock. Your continued interest in this story show’s Janssen’s prescience in covering this topic more than two years ago.
“Right now, responding to work messages after-hours is vastly unregulated, both at the level of labor law and at an organizational level. Mobile technology has unspooled quickly, breeding a new grey area before HR reps can staple a new page to the employee handbook. According to the Society for Human Resource Management, only 20 percent of work places have instated a formal policy on mobile communication during non-work hours. So although most Americans do not know what is expected, we feel sure that doing more and being “always on” is the safer route.”
Kaylen Ralph is The Riveter’s cofounder, editorial development director and brand director. She works as a personal stylist for Anthropologie. Follow her on Instagram @kaylenralph for books, fashion and a lot of content blending those two subjects. You can also find her on Twitter at @kaylenralph.
