White America Has Lost Its Mind

The white brain, beset with worries, finally goes haywire in spectacular fashion

Source: Village Voice
Published: Sep 29, 2010
Length: 14 minutes (3,736 words)

Greg Giraldo Before He Was Greg Giraldo

Ten years ago, Esquire profiled several young professionals who, ten years before that, had graduated from Harvard Law School and thrown away their degrees. One of them was comedian Greg Giraldo, who died on Wednesday of a drug overdose. This is the obituary of his first life.

Source: Esquire
Published: Aug 1, 2000
Length: 7 minutes (1,959 words)

Being Glenn Beck

Published: Sep 29, 2010
Length: 32 minutes (8,072 words)

Das Racist: ‘We’re Not Racist, We Love White People: Ford Trucks, Apple Pies, Bald Eagles’

last week Das Racist’s new mixtape got a glowing review and a score of 8.7 out of 10 on pitchfork, and a coveted Best New Music designation, and then the next day i was in central park seeing Pavement and when Pavement was finished playing, i texted Himanshu, one of the rappers in Das Racist, to see if i could ask him some questions.

Source: The Awl
Published: Sep 28, 2010
Length: 22 minutes (5,721 words)

The Vulture Transcript: David Sedaris

So about seven years ago I wrote a story about a cat in a bad mood. And then the next fall another one. So I tried to write a few every year, but for every one that worked, there were two that didn’t. And then, obviously, I stepped it up over the past year and a half, once I got the actual deadline. I set up a few rules for myself. I didn’t want any animal to have a name. If you say that a rabbit’s name was, oh I don’t know, sometimes someone will have a cat, and you ask, “What’s your cat’s name?” And they say, “Critter!” And you think, Oh, I hate your cat. And they say, “Diane.” And you think, I like your cat.

Published: Sep 29, 2010
Length: 23 minutes (5,772 words)

The Peekaboo Paradox

If you want to understand why the Great Zucchini has this kind of success, you need look no further than the stresses of suburban Washington parenting. The attendant brew of love, guilt and toddler-set social pressures puts an arguably unrealistic value on someone with the skills, and the willingness, to control and delight a roistering roomful of preschoolers for a blessed half-hour. That’s the easy part. Here’s the hard part: There are dozens of professional children’s entertainers in the Washington area, but only one is as successful and intriguing, and as completely over-the-top preposterous, as the Great Zucchini. And if you want to know why that is — the hook, Vicki, the hook — it’s going to take some time.

Source: Washington Post
Published: Jan 18, 2006
Length: 37 minutes (9,346 words)

What’s Eating David Axelrod?

The disillusionment of Obama’s guru.

Published: Sep 27, 2010
Length: 21 minutes (5,415 words)

Ready to Be Rich

David Tepper, whose hedge fund made a killing during the crash by betting the government wouldn’t let the big banks fail, is coming out of the billionaire closet.

Published: Sep 26, 2010
Length: 17 minutes (4,307 words)

Obama in Command: The Rolling Stone Interview

In an Oval Office interview, the president discusses the Tea Party, the war, the economy and what’s at stake this November

Source: Rolling Stone
Published: Sep 28, 2010
Length: 32 minutes (8,065 words)

Small Change

Why the revolution will not be tweeted.

Source: The New Yorker
Published: Oct 4, 2010
Length: 17 minutes (4,348 words)