Jessica Bennett

How do you create a bible that entices people who don't read the Bible? Swedish advertising guru Dag Söderberg decided recent versions lacked visual punch, so he made a new one with big, glossy photos, hoping design fans will display it proudly on their coffee tables.

A new book traces the migration of porn culture from adult theaters to the mainstream—and asks what that means for kids.

Medical advances are helping many HIV patients live into old age. But that blessing presents its own unique set of tribulations.

A growing population of lesbian and gay senior citizens seeks recognition for their unique needs and challenges.

Anorexics can be male, old, Latino, black or pregnant. A new book undercuts old stereotypes.

It makes city governments cringe. But graffiti can be provocative, inspiring and poetic—sometimes even a tool for public discourse. That's what San Francisco designers Axel Albin and Josh Kamler say in their new book, "Written on the City." They've compiled their favorite "message graffiti" from cities around the globe—the musings, rants, political statements and cultural observations of artists who risk jail to have their voices heard.

To this day, the images are haunting: entire neighborhoods submerged by toxic water, bodies packed into the Superdome like sardines. Seeing them rendered in a comic book—dialogue balloons filled with cries of anguish, inked and colored corpses—is, as it turns out, no less horrifying.

We've all heard the warnings: addiction, isolation, a waste of time. But some 50 million people log on to online role-playing games like The Sims and Second Life—and many of them never log off.

Some people call it a fad. But for the city of Flint, Mich., that urban style known as 'sagging' is now a criminal offense.

William Butler Yeats once said that sex and death are the only things that can interest a serious mind. If that's the case, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert Olen Butler is as serious as they come.

Hip-hop pioneer Grandmaster Flash talks about his new memoir and the state of music today.

Why even families with health insurance are resorting to lawsuits to get coverage for the treatment of eating disorders like anorexia.

Why do people write confessional blogs? It's a creative outlet. It's a forum to vent. It's an exercise in exhibitionism. To mental-health experts, though, it's more than that: a blog is medicine.

It was a place of many firsts: the first time away from home, the first campfire and—for a few zillion kids—the first kiss. It began with the long trip on a school bus with puke-colored seats, and it ended with friendships that faded by fall but roared back the next summer.

As geeks become chic in all levels of society, an unlikely subset is starting to roar. Meet the Nerd Girls: they're smart, they're techie and they're hot.

Fans of boxed wine have always taken the good with the bad, the good being the price; the bad, of course, being the quality. But for those who've outgrown cheap hangovers but not cheap prices, a new breed of "premium" boxed wines has arrived.

It's the latest ploy to get rich quick: create a quirky blog, solicit a following and—voilà!—six-figure book deal. Last year Collins signed the creators of the photo blog Passive Aggressive Notes for a reported six figures; Christian Lander, whose blog Stuff White People Like has clocked 20 million hits this year, signed for $350,000 with Random House in March.

In a new memoir, a former MTV staffer dishes on the rap industry's persistent "down-low" culture. He doesn't name names, but it's a fascinating peek inside hip-hop's last taboo.

The hype over "I Was Told There'd Be Cake" has a lot to do with who Sloane Crosley knows. But the book ain't bad, either.

Filming a documentary on the streets of Baghdad is no easy task. For the producers of "Heavy Metal in Baghdad," a new Vice film about Iraq's only metal band, it meant smuggling themselves into the country, shelling out thousands for security, and constant disorder.

On His Long, Strange Trip

Airbrushing celebrity and model photos has become so common that it's a popular pastime for magazine readers to spot the digital manipulations. But have photo editors gone too far?

Celebs are trying a new tactic to win the freedom of Burmese democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi. Can their viral video possibly have an impact?

There was a three year period during my adolescence when Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield, the heart-stealing twins of Francine Pascal's "Sweet Valley High" series, were, like, my best friends and biggest idols.

His resume is loaded: lawyer, economist, presidential speechwriter—and beloved monotone teacher. Now Ben Stein ("Bueller? Bueller?") is taking on the role of moral crusader.

What do recycling, farmers markets and "The Wire" have in common? If you've ever read Stuff White People Like, the satirical blog that has clocked 20 million hits since its January debut, you'd have your answer.

Or at least to Verdana. Because without a signature font, you'll never be letter-perfect.

It took hours to make: every free moment curled by the boombox, the local radio station's song-request line set to speed dial, the volume knob turned loud enough to hear, but quiet enough not to wake Mom and Dad.

Four years ago, my college roommates and I saw Hillary Clinton speak. It was in Boston during the Democratic National Convention, and the four of us—all in our early 20s—swore that if she ever ran for president, we'd quit our jobs and work for her campaign.

Every subject wears out its welcome eventually. In this new feature, we say when.