National Geographic magazine in 1975
Reading a copy of National Geographic magazine in 1975. (Jorgen Angel/Redferns)

This week, we’re sharing stories from Susan Goldberg, Leslie Jamison, Jacqueline Keeler, Max Genecov, and Ryan Bradley.

Sign up to receive this list free every Friday in your inbox.

* * *

1. For Decades, Our Coverage Was Racist. To Rise Above Our Past, We Must Acknowledge It

Susan Goldberg | National Geographic | March 12, 2018 | 6 minutes (1,630 words)

In her introduction to National Geographic‘s “Race Issue,” Editor-in-Chief Susan Goldberg looks back on the ways in which the magazine’s coverage, since its inception in 1888, has participated in othering of people of color, and used racial slurs.

2. Does Recovery Kill Great Writing?

Leslie Jamison | New York Times Magazine | March 13, 2018 | 24 minutes (6,187 words)

In this excerpt from her book, The Recovering: Intoxication and Its Aftermath, Leslie Jamison recalls how in the early days of recovery, she examined the work of newly-sober writers like John Berryman and Charles Jackson for clues about how sobriety would affect her as a writer. It wasn’t until she read David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest that she found “proof that sober creativity was possible.”

3. Why Reading Sherman Alexie was Never Enough

Jacqueline Keeler | Yes Magazine | March 12, 2018 | 14 minutes (3,627 words)

In the wake of several women speaking out about being sexually harassed by Native American author Sherman Alexie, and/or having their careers derailed by him, writer Jacqueline Keeler interrogates the tokenism and minimal representation in publishing that gave Alexie so much power.

4. How Ken Layne Created a Publishing Oasis in a Desert Town of 8,000 People

Max Genecov | Pacific Standard | March 5, 2018 | 7 minutes (1,996 words)

If you’re dedicated and have an original vision, you can make things happen, even way out among the cactus. Anyway, the rattlesnakes are nicer than some of the people in New York media.

5. How Pop-Ups Took Over America’s Restaurants

Ryan Bradley | GQ | March 7, 2018 | 9 minutes (2,300 words)

“High turnover is now a virtue” in the restaurant business, “which means the latest food trend isn’t an ingredient or a cuisine; it’s a length of time.” GQ sends Ryan Bradley to eat his way across Los Angeles in an attempt to help readers (and his 96-year-old grandmother, Bam-Bam) get to the bottom of our trendy attraction to ephemeral dining experiences.