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1. The Life and Times of Strider Wolf

Sarah Schweitzer | Boston Globe | Nov. 30, 2015 | 26 minutes (6,618 words)

Sarah Schweitzer’s moving story of a young boy and his brother, rescued from near-fatal abuse, now in the care of grandparents who have their own difficulties making things work.

2. Access Denied

John Herrman | The Awl | Dec. 3, 2015 | 22 minutes (5,644 words)

Celebrities, politicians, musicians, and corporations used to rely on large media organizations to get their message to the public. Platforms like Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter has allowed them to bypass this, changing the media landscape.

3. Claimed

Seth Stevenson | Slate | Nov. 30, 2015 | 22 minutes (5703 words)

After Fidel Castro took power in 1959 he nationalized the Cuban economy, seizing a wide variety of assets, including sugar mills, power plants, and hotels. Some of these assets belonged to American citizens doing business in Cuba. Seth Stevenson traces the strange history of these contested holdings, which have grown to a collective worth of roughly $8 billion, and questions how they will affect future relations between the two countries.

4. White Debt

Eula Biss | New York Times | Dec. 2, 2015 | 15 minutes (3,841 words)

“What is the condition of white life? We are moral debtors who act as material creditors.”

5. ‘Star Wars’ Strikes Back: Behind the Scenes of the Biggest Movie of the Year

Brian Hiatt | Rolling Stone | Dec. 3, 2015 | 29 minutes (7,435 words)

Terrific Brian Hiatt feature on ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens,’ including profiles of the new stars, and interviews with Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher on their own complicated feelings about the franchise.