What I Learned at the Most Instagrammed Outdoor Places

Visiting tourist hotspots like the Grand Canyon and Horseshoe Bend, Lisa Chase explores “the human desire to lose ourselves in the wild and also to extract, despoil, and package it.”

Author: Lisa Chase
Published: Jul 6, 2020
Length: 16 minutes (4,094 words)

The Spirit of Rebellion Grows During America’s Summer of Protest

“From the nation’s capital to Nashville, from Connecticut to California, a summer of protest has come to America. Its participants are the ‘good trouble’ John Lewis spoke of, the ‘group of angelic troublemakers’ Bayard Rustin dreamed of. And the unifying emotion connecting each demonstration will be outrage.”

Source: The Ringer
Published: Jun 29, 2020
Length: 24 minutes (6,249 words)

Who Had to Die For Your Dinner?

“A BuzzFeed News investigation reveals the extent to which the virus — and the nation’s inadequate response to it — has infected, sickened, and even killed workers up and down the nation’s food supply chains as they work to keep our refrigerators full.”

Source: BuzzFeed
Published: Jul 4, 2020
Length: 30 minutes (7,543 words)

What’s Wrong with WhatsApp

“WhatsApp, the unmoderated, self-governing, amoral collective – larger than a conversation, smaller than a public – has become a dominant and disruptive political force in our society, much as figures such as Bion and Lewin feared.”

Source: The Guardian
Published: Jul 2, 2020
Length: 18 minutes (4,552 words)

The Rabbit Outbreak

“As RHDV2 is poised to become endemic in the United States, the vaccine, which is the one thing that might stop it, is now caught up in the contradictions of rabbits.” The latest New Yorker feature from Susan Orlean tracks a highly contagious, deadly virus among rabbits.

Source: New Yorker
Published: Jun 29, 2020
Length: 19 minutes (4,751 words)

The Cursed Platoon

“Clint Lorance had been in charge of his platoon for only three days when he ordered his men to kill three Afghans stopped on a dirt road. A second-degree murder conviction and pardon followed. Today, Lorance is hailed as a hero by President Trump. His troops have suffered a very different fate.”

Author: Greg Jaffe
Published: Jul 2, 2020
Length: 40 minutes (10,000 words)

An Oral History of the Onion’s 9/11 Issue

“Immediately after 9/11, humorists struggled with what many called ‘the death of irony.’ Then ‘The Onion’ returned and showed everyone the way.”

Source: MEL Magazine
Published: Jun 29, 2020
Length: 37 minutes (9,395 words)

Conscripted into the Emperor’s Private Orchestra

“What do a crew of talented musicians do when forced to serve at the pleasure of a notoriously cruel dictator? They play like their lives depend on it.”

Source: Narratively
Published: Jun 30, 2020
Length: 20 minutes (5,186 words)

Troubles in Quinn Country

“In the Irish borderlands, Sean Quinn was always known as a tough businessman. But he was hugely successful and created thousands of jobs. A local hero. And then it all went wrong.”

Published: Jun 30, 2020
Length: 21 minutes (5,400 words)

Death, Disembodied

In the wake of COVID-19, Ann Neumann asks on behalf of a nation in mourning: “how do we honor the dead when we can’t see them, touch them, gather to comfort ourselves?”

Source: The Baffler
Published: Jul 30, 2020
Length: 10 minutes (2,513 words)