by Shuja Haider

Shuja Haider is an editor at Popula and Viewpoint, who has also written for The New York Times, The Guardian, The New Republic, and The Believer.

Jan 1, 2018 1:44PM EST

The Editors @popula

The Ambien Diaries
The first thing I always notice, after the mild cottonmouth that serves as the universal announcement of a chemical taking effect on the body, is that I’m not alone.

How to Suck at Business Without Really Trying
I didn’t know the term then, but I had become a toiler on a content farm.

Song for My Father
Where words fail, there is music.

Canon Fodder
Where’s the country music on Pitchfork’s Best Albums of the 1980s?

A style of music played on the guitar that pretty much no one listens to except guitar players
So my agenda was to inspire myself to start playing again.

Ajooba, or That Emotion Which is Excited by Novelty
The Hindi film Ajooba is something like a cross between Robin Hood and Batman.

Somebody Had to Set a Bad Example
The return of the Pistol Annies calls attention to a troubling gender imbalance in the country music industry.

How I Invented a Cocktail
Eventually, someone threw up. It might have been me.

Sweet Leaf
Paan is a substance that occupies a space somewhere between a snack and a drug — a space left vacant in the West.

Eli Valley is Not Sorry
“When you’re in such a warped mindset, it’s natural you’re going to call a piece of Jewish art antisemitic.”

I Call it Just the Beginning
The DJ’s job is to ensure the music doesn’t stop, allowing listeners to get from Point A to Point B without having to stop dancing.

One Weird Trick to Get Red Wine Stains Out of Clothing That Doesn’t Actually Work
I spilled red wine on my pants. What happened next will shock you.

Life at the Village Vanguard
I knew what it sounded like to be in there before I ever had a chance to go there myself.

Good Mental Health
On Frasier, an argument over opera or wine can become as much a plot point as a farcical mistaken identity.

NYT Fact Check: David Brooks
You are in the business of forgetting, so in the end I have nothing much to offer you.

What Next

Brain/Salad Misery
- Jef Harmatz
Published on Dec 13, 2019 2:00PM EST
Alan Partridge and the Backstop
- Penny Andrews
Published on Apr 15, 2019 10:00AM EDT
Praise the Good
- Yonatan Raz Portugali
Published on Jun 29, 2020 9:00AM EDT
The California Photograph
- Sophie Haigney
Published on Jan 10, 2019 11:00AM EST
Taiwan’s amazing answer to ‘The Room’
- Brian Hioe
Published on Sep 30, 2018 12:00PM EDT
Ghana and #MeToo
- Nana Ama Agyemang Asante
Published on Mar 5, 2019 12:01PM EST
Clueless in Canada
- Andrew Urie
Published on Aug 10, 2020 10:00AM EDT
Trasformismo and Immobilismo
- Giovanni Tiso
Published on Mar 20, 2019 2:00PM EDT
Colonialism walks into a chop bar
- Hamza Moshood
Published on Sep 27, 2019 1:00PM EDT
Alienated Labor
- Katy Slininger
Published on Jan 24, 2019 11:00AM EST

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Shoplifting at Sephora and Other Acts of Humanity

Henry Giardina

"We were the majority. For the first time in all our lives. A trans majority."

Apr 12, 2021 11:30AM EDT

A Conspiracy Theorist’s Garden

Henry Wismayer

The sun was shining. Bees hummed about the lavender bushes.

Apr 9, 2021 1:00PM EDT

COVID in San Quentin

Rahsaan Thomas

Most of the population at San Quentin was 'vaccinated' through surviving the virus last summer

Apr 5, 2021 10:00AM EDT

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