Like a Thief in the Night

The repo man does his best work alone in the dark. No good can come of a confrontation.

Published: Jan 1, 2010
Length: 7 minutes (1,927 words)

Songs in the Key of Lacerating

Sparks flew in Greenwich Village, 1969, when Loudon Wainwright III, the sardonic bard of Westchester County, met Kate McGarrigle, a sublime singer-songwriter from Quebec.

Source: Vanity Fair
Published: May 22, 2007
Length: 7 minutes (1,892 words)

Street Diva

In the spring of 1947, Jimmy Fletcher heard from his bosses at the Federal Bureau of Narcotics that it might be a convenient time to visit Billie Holiday at home. Her manager, a former fight-fixer, whoremonger, and running dog in Al Capone’s pack, had offered up the celebrated Negro “torchchanteuse” and notorious dope fiend as grist for Harry Anslinger’s publicity mill.

Published: Jul 14, 2005
Length: 7 minutes (1,858 words)

The Guantánamo “Suicides”: A Camp Delta sergeant blows the whistle

Published: Jan 18, 2010
Length: 30 minutes (7,722 words)

Kid Goth

Neil Gaiman’s fantasies.

Source: The New Yorker
Published: Jan 25, 2010
Length: 29 minutes (7,269 words)

Mars or Bust

While the aerospace community waits for February when President Obama will announce the 2011 budget, effectively setting NASA’s direction for the near future, aerospace engineer Robert Zubrin agitates for a manned mission to Mars.

Published: Jan 1, 2010
Length: 14 minutes (3,625 words)

Moscow’s stray dogs

Source: Financial Times
Published: Jan 16, 2010
Length: 11 minutes (2,840 words)

The Amazing Tale of the High School Quarterback Turned Lesbian Filmmaker

Growing up, she was Paul, the smart, popular golden boy QB everyone envied. Now, as Kimberly Reed, she’s something more.

Author: Rick Moody
Source: Details
Published: Jan 1, 2010
Length: 11 minutes (2,884 words)

Vigor Quest

Comite says she believes in the existence of male menopause. She pegs it to when the testicles stop responding to a testosterone stimulant like H.C.G., for all intents and purposes shutting down. That occurs anywhere between the ages of 45 and 75.

Author: Tom Dunkel
Published: Jan 15, 2010
Length: 5 minutes (1,284 words)

Letter from a Birmingham Jail

We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was “well timed” in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word “Wait!” It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This “Wait” has almost always meant “Never.” We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.” #MLK

Published: Apr 16, 1963
Length: 11 minutes (2,891 words)