This week, we’re sharing stories from Craig Whitlock, Keren Blankfield, Ash Sanders, C.J. Hauser, and Brian Kevin.
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1. At War with the Truth
Craig Whitlock | The Washington Post | December 9, 2019 | 25 minutes (6,332 words)
“A confidential trove of government documents obtained by The Washington Post reveals that senior U.S. officials failed to tell the truth about the war in Afghanistan throughout the 18-year campaign, making rosy pronouncements they knew to be false and hiding unmistakable evidence the war had become unwinnable.”
2. Lovers in Auschwitz, Reunited 72 Years Later. He Had One Question.
Keren Blankfeld | The New York Times | December 8, 2019 | 14 minutes (3,543 words)
The heart-warming story of Holocaust survivors David Wisnia and Helen Spitzer, young lovers at Auschwitz, who got to meet one last time before she died at 100 last year. At the meeting, “Zippi,” as she was known then, revealed she’d used her position as a privileged inmate and a graphic designer at the camp five times to keep Wisnia from being shipped to a worse camp.
3. Under the Weather
Ash Sanders | The Believer | December 2, 2019 | 27 minutes (6,836 words)
Ash Sanders considers the heavy psychological cost of climate change and society-at-large’s strangely dismissive view of those who routinely make personal sacrifices in order to help the planet survive.
4. ‘This Is Small Talk Purgatory’: What Tinder Taught Me About Love
C.J. Hauser | The Guardian | December 7, 2019 | 13 minutes (3,408 words)
Just when she is about to give up on finding real human connection on a dating app, C.J. Hauser meets a mate — who stays in her life for a while.
5. This Fish House in Maine Is an Icon
Brian Kevin | Down East | December 9, 2019 | 17 minutes (4,300 words)
But of what, exactly? On beauty, authenticity, and community in the Instagram age.
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