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Twin Freaks: On High-Altitude Skiers the Marolt Brothers

Twin Freaks: On High-Altitude Skiers the Marolt Brothers

MIRRORINGS: The late great Lucy Grealy on her face, tragedy, beauty and identity

Thanks to Julia Arthur for two #longreads on Lucy Grealy. Below, from Grealy herself in Harper’s (1993), and here from her friend Ann Patchett in New York Magazine, 2003.

lostangelesca:

There was a long period of time, almost a year, during which I never looked in a mirror. It wasn’t easy, for I’d never suspected just how omnipresent are our own images. I began by merely avoiding mirrors, but by the end of the year I found myself with an acute knowledge of the reflected image, its numerous tricks and wiles, how it can spring up at any moment: a glass tabletop, a well-polished door handle, a darkened window, a pair of sunglasses, a restaurant’s otherwise magnificent brass-plated coffee machine sitting innocently by the cash register.

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Patrick Doyle: Top 5 Longreads from 2010

Patrick Doyle is a senior editor for 5280 Magazine in Denver. 

patrickcdoyle:

The good folks at Longreads.com have been asking everyone for their five favorite pieces from 2010. Here are mine.  

Roger Ebert: The Essential Man,” by Chris Jones, Esquire
The best story of the year. Just give Jones his Ellie now.

The End of Men,” by Hanna Rosin, The Atlantic
A compelling case for why I and my male brethren are, umm, goners.

The Quaid Conspiracy,” by Nancy Jo Sales, Vanity Fair
Reminiscent of VF’s Pat Dollard story from a few years back; Sales gets out of the way and watches—along with us—the Quaid trainwreck.

Village Voice,” by Peter Hessler, The New Yorker
Hessler follows Rajeev Goyal as he wades through D.C. and Nepalese politics and tries to make the Peace Corps relevant again. 

Believeland,” by Wright Thompson, ESPN.com
A heartbreaking, but hopeful piece about post-LeBron Cleveland. (Also: Who knew that Dennis Kucinich was such a hoops fan?) I still haven’t forgiven ESPN for “The Decision,” but this is a much-needed salve.

Mallary Tenore: My Top 5 Media Longreads of 2010

Mallary Tenore covers media news for the Poynter Institute’s Poynter.org.

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Timothy Lavin: The Listener, The Atlantic, Jan/Feb 2010 

Refreshing to see well-written stories about lesser-known media phenomena like Coast to Coast AM.

James Verini: Lost Exile, Vanity Fair, Feb. 23, 2010 

Verini does a great job describing what the death of the paper (in this case, Russia’s English-language paper The Exile) means to the two men who started it and how this ties into the experience of loss. 

Richard Morgan: Seven Years as a Freelancer, or, How to Make Vitamin Soup, The AwlAug. 2, 2010

Using humor and honesty to show how unglamorous the life of a freelancer can be.

Laurie Hertzel: News Reporting in Duluth: Adventures of an Accidental Journalist, MinnPost, Aug. 26, 2010 

I’ve always loved stories about female journalists who aren’t afraid to advocate for gender equality in the newsroom, and I think this one is particularly good. I like the memories that Hertzel shares about working with Jacqui Banaszynski — arguably one of the most influential editors and coaches in the business. 

Frank Bruni: The Age of Laura Linney, The New York Times, July 28, 2010 

This story isn’t about the media, but I’m including it because it reminds me of the importance of being versatile as a journalist. Bruni has written about a wide variety of topics — Hollywood, politics, his struggles with weight,  etc. — and always does so in a way that makes me think he has studied that particular subject or source for years. 

Not All Smurfs and Sunshine: Profile of Esquire's Chris Jones

Not All Smurfs and Sunshine: Profile of Esquire’s Chris Jones

Not All Smurfs and Sunshine: Profile of Esquire’s Chris Jones

Longreads Pick

“I wanted to do right by Joey,” Chris Jones now says of “The Things That Carried Him” which Esquire published in May 2008. In 17,000 words, he told the story of one soldier’s return home, structured backward from his funeral to the moment an IED broke his body. He sprinkled details—a girl in a flowered dress and the two yellow ribbons tied to a tree on Elm Street—that act as emotional cues and lend lyricism to the writing. The piece won the 2009 National Magazine Award for feature writing.

Published: Dec 16, 2010
Length: 16 minutes (4,062 words)

Joe Spring & Chris Keyes: Our Top 5 Longreads of 2010

Joe Spring and Chris Keyes are editors for Outside Magazine.

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The Most Isolated Man on the Planet, Slate, Monte Reel (Aug. 20, 2010)

He’s alone in the Brazilian Amazon, but for how long?

The Last Patrol, The Atlantic, Brian Mockenhaupt (November 2010)

A veteran unit patrolling the Devil’s Playground hands off its territory to a new patrol.

An Army of One, GQ, Chris Heath (September 2010)

Who would be crazy enough to hunt Osama bin Laden alone…11 times?

The Ballad of Colton Harris-Moore, Outside, Bob Friel (January 2010)

One the trail of a teenage fugitive.

Last Drop, Outside, Brad Melekian (December 2010)

An inside look at the last days of surfing’s most troubled star.

Amy K. Nelson's Top 6 Longreads of 2010: Murder mysteries, baseball, The Price Is Right

Amy K. Nelson is a writer for ESPN.com. (She and Elizabeth Merrill also wrote this great longread about sports and infidelity.)

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Longreads asked me to compile my Top 5 of 2010. An impossible task, and I know a few of mine are on other people’s lists. Here’s what I drew up:

The Case of the Vanishing Blonde
By Mark Bowden
Vanity Fair

Can’t get enough of murder-esque mysteries; this is one that stayed with me.

Dodgers Tap into ‘V energy’
By Bill Shaikin
Los Angeles Times

The most amazing baseball story of 2010. Hands down. One of those you wish you had written.

TV’s Crowning Moment of Awesome
By Chris Jones
Esquire

I’m biased because this is my all-time favorite game show (Bob Barker only). Even without my bias, it’s just a kickass story.

Last Drop
By Brad Melekian
Outside

This was an amazing quick-turn of a difficult story with reluctant sources.

Art of the Steal
By Joshuah Bearman
Wired

Murder mysteries and thieving stories battle it out for closest to my heart.

*EXTRA CREDIT

The Shadow Scholar
By Ed Dante
The Chronicle of Higher Education

Rich Ziade: My Top 5 Longreads of 2010

Rich Ziade is partner and lead strategist at Arc90, notable for many things including creation of the wondrous Readability app.

(Ed. note: We know: One of the stories below is from 2009, and another is from 2007.)

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• Paul Graham ruminates over the deflationary value of stuff.

• Zak Smith debates which is more offensive: the porn industry or Tyra Banks exploiting the porn industry in Barely Legal Whores Get  Gang-F***ed.

• The New York Times (Wyatt Mason) deep dives into the mind of The Wired’s David Simon.

• The New Yorker (Nick Paumgarten) profiles John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods.

• The CBC investigation (by Neil Macdonald) of the assassination of Lebanon’s prime minister Rafik Hariri plays like an international procedural thriller. Ben Affleck as the protagonist?

Time Person of the Year 2010: Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg

Time Person of the Year 2010: Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg