All Stories

Your magical burnout cure is in this Miyazaki film

Throughout July, The Swell is celebrating the lasting cultural inspiration of animator Hayao Miyazaki and the legendary films he created with Studio Ghibli. As part of GKIDS’ annual Studio Ghibli Fest, which kicked off in June, you can enjoy theatrical…
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Anthony Minghella, 1954-2008 – Salon.com

English writer and director Anthony Minghella has died at age 54, according to various news reports. It’s a sad and early departure for one of the best-loved figures in the British film industry. Minghella was chairman of the British Film…
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Taylor, Travis and the cone of silence

Nature abhors a vacuum, but it’s got nothing on celebrity media, which has spent the last year buzzing with rumor, speculation, and snark about the closest thing to a royal wedding in the United States since JFK Jr. and Carolyn…
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The sex ed icon who won’t go quietly

Surveying the massive archive of tapes tightly nestled in her Manhattan apartment, Robin Byrd — the New York cable-access icon whose hour-long, X-rated variety program, “The Robin Byrd Show,” lit up metro-area television sets every week — pulls a few…
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The emotional turmoil Americans face after moving abroad

In September 2025, Ruby Mora, a 34-year-old from Pennsylvania, packed her bags and moved to the Netherlands with her husband. As a neurodivergent Puerto Rican-Mexican woman, she didn’t feel safe in Trump’s America anymore. A community effort helped her finance…
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It’s time to reclaim the Luddite

Delivering the commencement address at Wesleyan on May 24th, Senator Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) inadvertently demonstrated the success of a century-spanning smear campaign against a single historically significant term. Murphy had a powerful piece of advice for the graduating class: Resist…
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