Editors Roundtable: 170 Million Pieces of Trash Orbiting the Earth and No One Knows How to Use an Apostrophe (Podcast) By Longreads Commentary This week, Longreads editors discuss stories in Outside Magazine, Backchannel (WIRED), and The New York Times: Styles.
‘Give It Up For My Sister’: Beyonce, Solange, and The History of Sibling Acts in Pop By Danielle Jackson Feature Family dynasties are neither new nor newly influential in pop.
Technology Is as Biased as Its Makers By Longreads Feature From exploding Ford Pintos to racist algorithms, all harmful technologies are a product of unethical design. Yet, like car companies in the ’70s, today’s tech companies would rather blame the user.
Editors Roundtable: Violence of Men, Money, and Space (Podcast) By Longreads Commentary Catherine Cusick, Kelly Stout, Ethan Chiel, and Aaron Gilbreath discuss stories by Wil S. Hylton, Josephine Livingstone, Jesse Barron, and Rivka Galchen.
Editors Roundtable: Alma Matters, Raisin Hell, and Upstairs Cocaine (Podcast) By Longreads Commentary This week, we’re discussing stories in The Cut, Vulture, The New York Times, Topic, and The Atavist.
Canada’s Breeding Ground for Hate By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight How Canada’s new, educated, organized far-right has been using a video game app to try to influence mainstream politics and create a white ethno-state.
The Growing Power of Prosecutors By Hope Reese Feature An unintended consequence of mandatory minimums has been to concentrate too much power in the hands of prosecutors. Journalist Emily Bazelon talks about how some cities are pushing back.
Notes on Citizenship By Nina Coomes Feature Nina Li Coomes reckons with the quandary of citizenship and the meaning of home.
The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez By Longreads Feature In the story of one Mexican-American woman’s life, we can see the whole tragic story of the US-Mexico border’s transformation from a simple chain-link fence to a humanitarian crisis.
The 2019 Pulitzer Prize Winners By Longreads Reading List The winners of the Pulitzer Prize have been announced.
What the Death of a Glacier Means for Us By Aaron Gilbreath Commentary The death of an iconic California glacier signals the loss of one scientist’s work, the end of an epoch, and possibly the beginning of a new era of mass extinction.
The American Worth Ethic By Bryce Covert Feature Like so many of our lofty ideals, the “American Work Ethic” is actually two different standards — one for the wealthy and one for the poor — with two different interpretations of what work looks like.
‘There’s Virtually No Conversation In Chicago … About the Aftershocks of the Violence.’ By Hope Reese Feature In “An American Summer,” journalist Alex Kotlowitz tries to report on gun deaths on Chicago’s South Side with the same attention to survivors, anniversaries, and aftershocks that is paid to mass shootings.
The Manhandling of Rock ‘N’ Roll History By Evelyn McDonnell Feature Less than 8 percent of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s inductees are women. Time for it to step up and induct an all-female class in 2020.
An American City, Inhabited Yet Abandoned By Michelle Weber Highlight “Not a single person was killed on the day of the rioting. But the following month, May, would conclude with 41 homicides — the most the city had experienced in a month since the 1970s.”
The Power of a Neighborhood’s Name By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight When Google Maps’ data renamed an African American neighborhood, it opened up residents to the looming forces of gentrification.
How the Shock Jock Became the Outrage Jock By Soraya Roberts Feature What’s the difference between Howard Stern and Tucker Carlson? There isn’t really one.
“White” Isn’t Even Neutral When You’re Talking About Paint Colors By Michelle Weber Highlight Your systems will not protect you.
Faith and Reproductive Justice Are Not in Opposition By Danielle Jackson Feature Black women face outsized threats if Roe v. Wade is overturned.
What to Read After ‘Leaving Neverland’ By Danielle Jackson Reading List A list of longreads to make sense of ‘Leaving Neverland.’
What’s a Good Hourly Wage for Developing PTSD? By Michelle Weber Highlight Asking for a friend called Facebook.
Baring the Bones of the Lost Country: The Last Paleontologist in Venezuela By Zoe Valery Feature In light of recent events in crisis-ridden Venezuela, its last vertebrate paleontologist puts together key pieces of the baffling puzzle that the country has become in the past couple of decades.
How Do You Shepherd If You’ve Never Had a Sheep? By Michelle Weber Highlight “You couldn’t have a particular friendship with a man, because you might end up being homosexual. And you couldn’t have a friendship with a woman, because you might end up falling in love.”
A Citizen Is Obliged To Listen By Ankita Chakraborty Feature When a refugee flees to another country and claims asylum, she is, in effect, petitioning the state to listen to her story.
‘We Are All Responsible’: How #MeToo Rejects the Bystander Effect By Soraya Roberts Feature The classic “Bystander Effect” blames a lack of intervention on diffusion of responsibility. That doesn’t fly anymore.
Notes on a Shipwreck By Longreads Feature On Lampedusa, history is never far from the islanders’ thoughts, and they are preoccupied by its contradictions. Is Lampedusa a stop on a long journey, or is it a graveyard? Does every fence need a hole in it?
Remembering Ken Nordine By Tom Maxwell Feature The ambitious radio personality created his own form of expression, called “word jazz,” to properly accomodate his musical voice and artistic ambitions.
Maybe What We Need Is … More Politics? By Aaron Timms Feature Recent books by economists who hope to “save capitalism” dismiss popular ideas as “just politics.” But why assume the popular is the enemy of the good?
‘It’s a Perfect Profession for a Con Artist’ By Michelle Weber Highlight Personal assistant? Start-up founder? Professional long-lost sister? No, Southern Baptist pastor.
Preparing for a Post-Roe America By Laura Barcella Feature Activist and author Robin Marty says the biggest threat facing women in a post-Roe America would be arrest, not death.
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