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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

Vivian Blaxell grew up in rural Australia and co-founded Tiresias House, Australia’s first shelter and resource centre for and by trans people. Her essay &#8220;Nuclear Cats&#8221; was shortlisted for the 2021 Melbourne Prize for Literature. She lives in Naarm/Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Vivian Blaxell

Coke Sign at corner of William Street and Kings Cross, Sydney

Book Excerpts That Don't Suck

“Get The Fuck Off This Corner. It’s Mine.”

Brandy Jensen

Life Lessons

I Will Take An Annoying World Over A Sterile One

Barry Petchesky

There Are Other People In The World

Ray Ratto

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - JANUARY 12: Former NFL Player Tom Brady looks on prior to the NFC Wild Card Playoff between the Green Bay Packers and the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field on January 12, 2025 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Nuisance Is That Which You Cannot Escape

charismatic megafauna (they/them)

Sabrina Imbler

op down image of a pile of dirty dishes and saucepans sitting on a countertop in a kitchen

The Year Of No Dishwasher

Lauren Theisen

a set of homemade toasted subs with ground beef, cheese, green pepper and onion

How I Got Comfortable With Cooking, And Eating

Diana Moskovitz is Defector&#8217;s investigations editor. You can contact her at diana@defector.com or dfmoskovitz@protonmail.com. She&#8217;s also on Signal @dmoskovitz.99

Diana Moskovitz

People stretch and raise their hands during an outside yoga session on Thursday, April 4, 2024 in Long Beach, CA.

A Hip Stretch To Help You Stay Sane

Rachelle Hampton

A red iPhone 12 mini rests on a wood table. The back of the phone is facing up; it's glass surface is cracked.

Phone Too Big

Megan Greenwell is the author of Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream, which will be published in June 2025 and is <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/bad-company-megan-greenwell?variant=43151012757538">available for preorder now</a>.

Megan Greenwell

photo of a corner of the Clevelant Museum of Art

Arts And Culture

The Wonder Of The Regional Art Museum

Kathryn Xu

A little girl completes a jigsaw puzzle delivered to her by Santa Claus, 24th December 1938.

It’s Puzzling Time

A wide-angle view of the total eclipse of the Moon of November 8, 2022, with the red Moon at right amid the stars of the northern winter sky and Milky Way, plus with bright red Mars at top. Above and left of the Moon is the blue Pleiades star cluster, while below it and to the left is the larger Hyades cluster with reddish Aldebaran in Taurus. The stars of Orion are left of centre, including reddish Betelgeuse, while at far left are the two Dog Stars: Procyon, at top, in Canis Minor, and Sirius, at bottom, in Canis Major. So this is a gathering of many red stars, planets and the rare red Moon. I shot the frames for this scene beginning at 3:50 am MST, 10 minutes before mid-totality during this 1h25m-long total eclipse. . (Photo by: Alan Dyer/VW Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Look Up!

Patrick Redford

An Iranian rock climber scaling a climbing wall in Tehran.

How Do You Win When You Compete With Yourself?

Alex Sujong Laughlin

A man and woman sit on a beach under a striped umbrella drinking Coke out of glass bottles.

I Was Wrong About Diet Coke

A collection of straw hats and fedoras for sale at a market

Year In Review

Beware The Vacation Fedora

Matchbook image of men in suits having drinks at a bar.

My Fancy Little Mocktail Was Missing More Than Booze

A clothing rack at a flea market showing a row of vintage sweaters of various colors.

How To Buy A Sweater That Doesn’t Suck

Animals

I Have Created A Turkey Fiend

Justin Ellis

A dish filled with baked macaroni and cheese

Chefector

When Does A Recipe Become Your Own?

Cup of rose hip berries herbal tea and glass teapot standing on old wooden plank table with wild autumn berries around.

Consider The Fruit Tea Dilemma

Tom Ley

1940s YOUNG BOY STUDYING IN ROOM WITH ARMY NAVY PENNANTS ON WALL

Journalismism

How To Be Sure You Are Reading Some Dumb Bullshit

Risk Week

Everything I Expect From Atlantic City, Based On The ‘Rugrats’ Vacation Episode

A black and white photo of people around a craps table gambling in Las Vegas in 1963

If You Must Gamble, Gamble In Person, Like An Adult

Emily Bice is a Brooklyn-based writer. Her work centers on explorations of how we navigate love and life in the 21st century. These investigations have taken her to a fishmonger, inspired meditations on dating, and even led to rollerblading a marathon. You can find more on her Substack, <a href="https://129waysto.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://129waysto.substack.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1728739707762000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1SlDWyDATtJJ90_yxFN0B1">129 Ways to Get a Life</a>.

Emily Bice

Emily skates in the final stretch of the marathon

The Great Outdoors

The View From The Way, Way Back Of The Berlin Inline Skating Marathon

Nicholas Russell is a writer from Las Vegas.

Nicholas Russell

The new Alchem-E Gold Ex drum set, made by Zildjian.

Tom-Tom C’est Moi

Michael Rosen is a transportation planner and author of the <a href="https://pitchplots.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://pitchplots.substack.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1725119706246000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3LfT9S-qtmoiPwAXtsicWT">&#8220;Pitch Plots&#8221;</a> Substack. He lives in Los Angeles.

Michael Rosen

An umpire mediates between two people networking