Mary Elizabeth Williams, Salon

It's like taking candy from a baby. Or leftover Chinese food from a garbage can; whatever metaphor works for you. Just play it cool. Don't pick any fights and don't make a lot of noise. If you really want to make it as a bandit in the big city, you've got to become the kind of raccoon nobody suspects.

This article first appeared in Salon.

That's according to a new study released earlier this month in the Journal of Experimental Biology, in which researchers from the University of Wyoming Raccoon Project (UWRP) reported their findings on the adaptive abilities of urban raccoons they'd tracked in the city of Laramie over a four year period. What they concluded may not come as much of a surprise to anyone who's ever seen "Goodfellas": loudmouths who like to make a scene are a hindrance to the whole family. It's the less combative types who are better suited to running the cocaine operation — or maybe just raiding a dumpster....

I want to relax so hard. I want to win at serenity. Because, as journalist and author Rina Raphael explains in her new book, "The Gospel of Wellness: Gyms, Gurus, Goop, and the False Promise of Self-Care": "As Americans, we're strivers." Indeed, over the past few years, that ethos has helped fuel an explosively lucrative industry of products and services aimed almost exclusively at anxious, burned out, semi-affluent American women. While the patriarchy is yet to be smashed, maybe a sheet mask and detox diet will serve as a temporary salve.

As a writer, Raphael has been covering the wellness phenomenon for years. She has also, by her own admission, at times embraced it. And the intimate balance she strikes between her skeptical, curious investigation and her honest relationship with consumerism gives "The Gospel of Wellness" its intelligent, emotional punch. She doesn't denigrate women for being influenced by a powerful and persuasive industry; instead she unpacks why modern wellness has become such a juggernaut, and the class and gender dynamics that drive it.

Salon spoke to Raphael about how we got to this place of "fetishizing health," CBD leggings, and of course, Gwyneth Paltrow and Goop. ...

In order to understand how we got here with the stripping of reproductive health care, we need to understand the people who made it happen. It's a journey through a pivotal year in the anti-abortion movement, seen through the eyes of three of its youthful female leaders. There's never been a documentary quite like "Battleground," which premiered recently at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Its Emmy-nominated director and producer, Cynthia Lowen, spoke to me on "Salon Talks" shortly before the overturning of Roe v. Wade about the women at the forefront of the anti-choice crusade, and where we go from here. Watch our episode here, or read a Q&A of our conversation below.

The following conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and length....

I've been slowly poisoning my family. And myself, apparently. Sorry, I just found out.

Maybe it's because I avoid social media, but I somehow only recently learned there was an entire anti-seed oil discourse. I can barely keep track of whether grains are good or bad today, or if protein is overrated.

I didn't even know what "seed oil" was. "Is that, like… sesame oil?" I naively asked a colleague. And then I promptly flung myself down a Google rabbit hole of memes, Joe Rogan references, words like "evil" and "toxic," and a lot of absolutely wild YouTube videos. And now I know, if you want something to blame for everything from cancer to heart disease, dementia to age spots, there are a whole lot of people out there who will tell you the culprit is lurking in your pantry, ready to fry your dinner in sizzling malevolence....

We were a year into the pandemic when a friend's teenaged daughter announced decisively that she had ADHD and needed medication. Her mother had shared the news with me during an anxious, socially distanced morning walk — along with her private concern that it wasn't the correct diagnosis. The girl, however, was convinced. She'd been researching it online, and she see the need to entertain any other possibilities.

This article first appeared on Salon.

American teenagers and college students are facing a deluge of mental health crises unprecedented in modern history. Contrasted with the clenched determination of prior generations to never admit when there's a problem, Gen Y's hunger to identify and treat its emotional challenges isn't just understandable, it's pretty commendable. It's vital, however, for them to be able to distinguish between self-labeling and professional help, especially because neither is 100% accurate or effective....