Prisons such as the California Correctional Center in Susanville, California, drive the local economy in the rural town, and its residents are just as tied to these facilities as the incarcerated ones. Piper French offers a nuanced portrait of the town, as locals in support of CCC, incarcerated organizers on the inside, and urban abolitionist […]
Cheri Lucas Rowlands
Cheri has been an editor at Longreads since 2014.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Hostage Business
“How a Virginia businesswoman escaped her kidnappers in Iraq—and later returned to finish her work.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Coyotes in the HOA
A short poignant essay from Thao Thai about coyotes, a neighborhood Facebook HOA group, belonging, migration, and the immigrant experience. Coyotes are known to claim territories for their families, even unconventional ones like bustling downtown streets in Chicago. Like me, coyotes blossom in familiarity. I admire their resilience, but I sometimes wonder if it’s worth […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
How the AI Industry Profits from Catastrophe
The demand for data labeling in the artificial intelligence industry — tagging videos, sorting photos, and transcribing audio in order to train AI — has created a massive need for cheap labor, leading data-labeling platforms such as Appen to hire low-pay workers in countries like Venezuela, the Philippines, and Kenya to do these tasks. In […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Lion King of Los Angeles
Growing up in Los Angeles as a Latino child interested in science, Miguel Ordeñana didn’t really have any role models to look up to. Now, as a wildlife biologist, his research on P-22, the famous mountain lion of Griffith Park, is important and inspiring. Ordeñana is an advocate for landscape connectivity and a more inclusive […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control: Inside Shein’s Sudden Rise
“The Chinese company has become a fast-fashion juggernaut by appealing to budget-conscious Gen Zers. But its ultralow prices are hiding unacceptable costs.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Hustler at the End of the World
In the early days of the pandemic, Hiam Kaplan tried to move massive amounts of PPE for money. But, as Amanda Chicago Lewis writes in this story about supply chain hustling, he found so much more. It’s been a humbling time to be a hustler. After thousands of hours of work, through all his pandemic […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
In the Dark
This is an in-depth look at the rise of government-led internet blackouts around the world over the past decade, since the Mubarak regime’s shutdown of the internet in Egypt during the Arab Spring of 2011. Whole countries, including Sudan, Uganda, and Myanmar, have gone offline for days on end, as leaders try to cripple their […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
Love, COVID, and Other Risks
Throughout the pandemic, Emma Healey and her immunocompromised partner — a liver transplant recipient — have constantly weighed and navigated day-to-day risks. As Toronto opens up, making decisions have become even more confusing. In this essay, Healey reflects on health, risk, and love. We are all making our decisions the same way—with one eye on […]