The Price of Nice NailsBy Sarah Maslin Nir, The New York TimesManicurists are routinely underpaid and exploited, and endure ethnic bias and other abuse, The New York Times has found.

Split/ImageBy Kate Fagan, ESPNOn Instagram, Madison Holleran’s life looked ideal: Star athlete, bright student, beloved friend. But the photos hid the reality of someone struggling to go on.

The Man Who Became Big BirdBy Jessica Gross, Longreads An interview with Caroll Spinney, who, at 81, has worked at “Sesame Street” as the puppeteer behind Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch for 45 years.

‘Our Demand Is Simple: Stop Killing Us’By Jay Caspian Kangmay, New York Times MagazineHow a group of black social-media activists built the nation’s first 21st-century civil rights movement.

Elephant WatchBy Peter Canby, The New YorkerAs poachers grow bolder, Andrea Turkalo records the behavior of a vanishing species.