Playboy Interview: John Lennon and Yoko Ono (1980)

PLAYBOY: What is the Eighties’ dream to you, John? LENNON: Well, you make your own dream. That’s the Beatles’ story, isn’t it? That’s Yoko’s story. That’s what I’m saying now. Produce your own dream. If you want to save Peru, go save Peru. It’s quite possible to do anything, but not to put it on the leaders and the parking meters. Don’t expect Jimmy Carter or Ronald Reagan or John Lennon or Yoko Ono or Bob Dylan or Jesus Christ to come and do it for you. You have to do it yourself.

Source: Playboy
Published: Jan 1, 1981
Length: 96 minutes (24,169 words)

My First Time: A Political Novice Runs for Office

I ran for Congress in Maryland’s 8th District because I thought the government was spending too much money. I had no idea how much I’d be spending, or what I’d have to show for it when the ballots were counted. My rookie stats — 2,242 votes, 15.25 percent of the total — are a matter of public record, although the public’s not exactly clamoring for a look-see. Which could be the harshest lesson from all of this.

Source: Washington Post
Published: Dec 5, 2010
Length: 12 minutes (3,173 words)

The Mystery Of Erica Blasberg

How could a onetime rising golf star be gifted with top 10 talent yet struggle to break even on the LPGA tour, possess Madison Avenue magnetism yet be such a loner? But the most difficult thing to understand is this: Why did she take her own life?

Published: Dec 7, 2010
Length: 27 minutes (6,765 words)

Pearl Harbor in Retrospect

From 1948: Maj. Gen. Sherman Miles, Assistant Chief of Staff for Military Intelligence at the time of the attack, reflects on what went wrong. “The last twenty-four hours in Washington before the bombs fell have come in for much scrutiny. Why did the President, with most of the Japanese final answer before him, conclude that it meant war and then, after a fitful attempt to reach Admiral Stark by telephone, quietly go to bed? Why was he in seclusion the following morning? Why was no action taken on the Japanese reply by the Secretaries of State, War, and Navy when they met on that Sunday morning? Why did they not consult the President, or he send for them? Where was everybody, including my humble self? Why, in short, didn’t someone stage a last-minute rescue, in good Western style?”

Source: The Atlantic
Published: Jul 1, 1948
Length: 28 minutes (7,118 words)

Don Blankenship: The Dark Lord of Coal Country

On Friday, December 3rd, a week after this article was published in Rolling Stone, Massey Energy announced that Don Blankenship will be retiring as CEO and chairman. “After almost three decades at Massey, it’s time for me to move on,” Blankenship said in a statement. It’s not clear whether he was forced out, but the news took nearly everyone in coal country by surprise. An executive at the West Virginia Coal Association called the announcement “unreal,” and a leading environmentalist exulted, “Ding, dong, the witch is dead!”

Source: Rolling Stone
Published: Dec 6, 2010
Length: 30 minutes (7,721 words)

The Jonathan Franzen Award for Jaw-Dropping Literary Genius Goes to… Jonathan Franzen

Say what you will about his cockiness. With the heavy weight of lit-er-ah-ture on his shoulders, the man delivered the greatest all-American novel since… since… well, you get the idea. Chuck Klosterman talks branding, ex-wives, and rock ‘n’ roll with the Updike of our time

Source: GQ
Published: Dec 4, 2010
Length: 11 minutes (2,999 words)

Planet Monocle

Tyler Brûlé ushered in a design revolution with Wallpaper magazine. His new global media strategy is equally rarefied, and only occasionally ridiculous. Listen to him for a while, and the world seems positively aglow with possibility.

Published: Dec 6, 2010
Length: 10 minutes (2,513 words)

As Bullies Go Digital, Parents Play Catch-Up

Christine herself uses a keystroke logger, software that records everything her two daughters write and see on their home computer. “It’s uncomfortable,” Christine said. “But my older daughter has demonstrated less than zero common sense. The level of trust between us is much lower than I’d like it to be. But I also think she was relieved that we caught her. … My younger daughter calls me a stalker. She says we mistrust her because of what her sister did. That’s true. But my eyes are open, and I won’t go back.”

Published: Dec 5, 2010
Length: 17 minutes (4,397 words)

Unauthorized, but Not Untrue

The real story of a biographer in a celebrity culture of public denials, media timidity, and legal threats. “Even after all these years I’m still not comfortable with the term unauthorized, because it sounds so nefarious, almost as if it involves breaking and entering. Admittedly, biography by its very nature is an invasion of a life—an intimate examination by the biographer, who burrows deeper and deeper to probe the unknown, reveal the unseen, illuminate the unexpected. Despite my discomfort with the word, I firmly believe that unauthorized biography can be a public service and a boon to history.”

Published: Dec 3, 2010
Length: 20 minutes (5,129 words)

Do Ask, Must Tell

Turkey’s military doesn’t just discriminate against gays — it humiliates them. “K., a gay man in his mid 20s who works at an NGO, was called up to the military this year. ‘The first time I went for a medical examination,’ he recalls, ‘I told the psychiatrist in charge I was gay, but he claimed that I was pretending.’ K. was forced to spend a night in a military psychiatric hospital where, he says, another doctor asked him to provide pictures documenting his homosexuality.”

Source: Foreign Policy
Published: Dec 4, 2010
Length: 7 minutes (1,770 words)