defector-orange-no-empty-space

lede_post_card_default

lede_post_card_stacked

lede_post_card_featured_post

lede_post_card_featured_posts_hero

lede_post_card_featured_posts_sidebar

lede_post_card_highlighted_post

lede_post_card_horizontal_a

lede_post_card_horizontal_c

lede_post_card_related_post

lede_article_featured_16x9

lede_article_featured_3x2

lede_article_featured_flexible

lede_article_content

lede_article_content_wide_width

lede_article_content_full_width

lede_byline_avatar_post_card

lede_byline_avatar_highlight

lede_profile_coral_avatar

lede_logo

lede_logo_banner

lede_logo_footer_banner

lede_logo_simple_header

lede_sponsorship_logo

lede_sponsorship_logo_river_card

lede_sponsorship_homepage_card_logo

lede_sponsorship_homepage_card

Footer Legal

Header - Categories

Header Menu

The last good website.

Topics

This is Defector, a new sports blog and media company. We made this place together, we own it together, we run it together. Without access, without favor, without discretion, and without interference.

defector-no-empty-space

Defector

NYC: Come To Our WNBA Comedy Show On May 16

Ten Minute Quarters comedy show at 3:2 ratio

ten-minute-quarters-3.2

Live Event

charismatic megafauna (they/them)

Typing

Sabrina Imbler

A photo of a USAID education officer, Joel Runnels, standing in a field

IMG_5316

Interviews

An Interview With A Fired USAID Education Officer

A photo of Jules Reynolds, a fired USDA program coordinator, sitting near a valley of farmland

Jules 1

An Interview With A Fired USDA Program Coordinator

a photo of Tara Kerin, an infectious disease epidemiologist who lost her job as a result of the DOGE layoffs

20250403_suzsteiner_9929

An Interview With An Epidemiologist Who Lost Her Job Because Of The DOGE Layoffs

a photo of Veronica Correa, a fired EPA public affairs specialist, standing in snowy woods by a stream

IMG_2272

An Interview With A Fired EPA Public Affairs Specialist

Nicholas Russell is a writer from Las Vegas.

IMG_1801 (1)

Nicholas Russell

On a gradient background going from tan-ish to pink-ish, the front cover of the book Trauma Plot by Jamie Hood. The book is black with a statue of a woman with wings in the center. It also identifies Hood as the author of How to Be A Good Girl.

trauma-plot-cover

“Rape Is Political”: Jamie Hood On Trauma Narratives, Writing The Self, And Ethical Obligation

A photo of Sara Hugentobler, a USFWS fish biologist, in the lab extracting DNA

1742418955962(1)

An Interview With A Fired USFWS Fish Biologist

a photo of Kate Wheeler, a former USDA farm to school specialist. Kate has short brown hair and is smiling in front of several painted planks

IMG_0377

An Interview With A Fired USDA Specialist

a selfie of Sarah Cooley, the former director of NOAA's ocean acidification program, with an orange life vest on a river

JPEG-image-46FF-A6E7-B6-0_69b32a

An Interview With A Fired NOAA Director

Screenshot 2025-03-03 at 5.14.33 PM

Mark Asch

Screenshot 2025-03-06 at 11.46.04 AM

‘Eephus’ Director Carson Lund On Baseball As A Way Of Being

a photo of Sabrina Valenti, formerly a budget analyst for NOAA. Sabrina has brown curly hair and is standing against a floral background.

JPEG image-4557-80C7-04-0

An Interview With A Fired NOAA Budget Analyst

a photo of Kaesee Bourne, a former fish and wildlife biologist at the USFWS, holding a shovel in front of a wetland

kaesee bourne

An Interview With A Fired USFWS Biologist

Normal Gossip: portraits

Alex Sujong Laughlin

IMG_3469

Animals

An Interview With My Cat About His Most Annoying Behaviors 

skalaf-photo

Samer Kalaf

Palestinians walk through the destruction in Gaza.

gaza-palestine-feb-2

Pankaj Mishra On Gaza, The Memory Of The Holocaust, And The “Very Dark World” To Come

headshot1

Patrick Redford

Sir John Falstaff On A Visit To His Friend Page, At Windsor. From The Merry Wives Of Windsor, By William Shakespeare. Drawn And Etched By George Cruikshank. From The Illustrated Library Shakspeare, Published London 1890. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Sir John Falstaff On A Visit To His Friend Page

Jeremy Gordon On Grief, Connection, And His Novel ‘See Friendship’

2019-01-01 00:15:14.989

Maitreyi Anantharaman

kelseybook

Gossip Queen Kelsey McKinney SPILLS EVERYTHING In This SHOCKING Interview

Two hands, a drawing, holding an orange sign with yellow text that reads: MAKE YOUR OWN JOB

make-your-own-job

The Power Of Negative Thinking

A fire fighting helicopter drops water as the Palisades fire grows near the Mandeville Canyon neighborhood and Encino, California, on January 11, 2025. The Palisades Fire, the largest of the Los Angeles fires, spread toward previously untouched neighborhoods January 11, forcing new evacuations and dimming hopes that the disaster was coming under control. Across the city, at least 11 people have died as multiple fires have ripped through residential areas since January 7, razing thousands of homes in destruction that US President Joe Biden likened to a "war scene." (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon / AFP) (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)

US-WEATHER-FIRE

Climate

The Future Of West Coast Wildfire Is Whiplash

Dennis Young is the news editor at Front Office Sports.

Dennis Young

David Roche sprays a bottle of champagne after winning the Leadville 100

david-roche-ultramarathon

How David Roche Nearly Ran His Dick Off And Maybe Changed Ultrarunning In The Process

Alex Prewitt is a writer in Brooklyn. He shoots free throws the normal way.

alexprewittprofileavi

Alex Prewitt

Timber Cleghorn stands shirtless in front of his shelter on the show 'Alone.'

timber-cleghorn-alone

Anxiety, Injury, And Constipation: An Executive Producer Discusses The Toll On ‘Alone’ Contestants

Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump leaves the stage during a commercial break as he participates in the first presidential debate of the 2024 elections with US President Joe Biden at CNN's studios in Atlanta, Georgia, on June 27, 2024.

TOPSHOT-US-VOTE-POLITICS-DEBATE-BIDEN-TRUMP

‘Know Your Enemy’ Host Matt Sitman Talks About Covering Politics Without Becoming A Hack

-b9trzb

Lauren Theisen

ROCHESTER, NEW YORK - MAY 18: Ben Braymer #40 of the Rochester Red Wings throws a pitch in the third inning against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders at Frontier Field on May 18, 2021 in Rochester, New York. (Photo by Joshua Bessex/Getty Images)

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders v Rochester Red Wings

Wings Week

An Interview With The Biggest Washington Nationals Prospect Sicko Any Of Us Know

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 06: Donte DiVincenzo #0, Jalen Brunson #11, and Josh Hart #3 of the New York Knicks react against the Indiana Pacers during Game One of the Eastern Conference Second Round Playoffs at Madison Square Garden on May 06, 2024 in New York City. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. ()

Indiana Pacers v New York Knicks – Game One

Mods Asleep

Vinson Cunningham On The Knicks, Art, And How Basketball Can Help You Live Nobly

Investigations Editor. You can contact her at diana@defector.com or dfmoskovitz@protonmail.com. She&#8217;s also on Signal @dmoskovitz.99

DFM New Headshot

Diana Moskovitz

Bradley Beal #3, Josh Okogie #2, Isaiah Thomas #4 and Thaddeus Young #30 of the Phoenix Suns react on the bench during the second half of game four of the Western Conference First Round Playoffs at Footprint Center on April 28, 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona. They all look very sad.

Sad Phoenix Suns

A Post-Season Debrief With The World’s (Still) Most Pessimistic Suns Fan

A line of police at City College during pro-Gaza demonstrations

nypd-city-college

A City College Student Journalist Shares What He Saw During The NYPD Crackdown

Corey Atad is a freelancer writer based in Toronto with an unhealthy Air Bud obsession.

IMG_7322

Corey Atad

Ethan Hawke and Maya Hawke attend a screening of "Wildcat" at Angelika Film Center on April 11, 2024 in New York City.