Either/Or

Sports, sex, and the case of Caster Semenya.

Author: Ariel Levy
Source: The New Yorker
Published: Nov 30, 2009
Length: 6 minutes (1,663 words)

Did Christianity Cause the Crash?

America’s mainstream religious denominations used to teach the faithful that they would be rewarded in the afterlife. But over the past generation, a different strain of Christian faith has proliferated—one that promises to make believers rich in the here and now.

Source: The Atlantic
Published: Dec 1, 2009
Length: 45 minutes (11,337 words)

Who’s in Big Brother’s Database?

Unlike the British government, which, to its great credit, allowed public debate on the idea of a central data bank, the NSA obtained the full cooperation of much of the American telecom industry in utmost secrecy after September 11. For example, the agency built secret rooms in AT&T’s major switching facilities where duplicate copies of all data are diverted, screened for key names and words by computers, and then transmitted on to the agency for analysis. Thus, these new centers in Utah, Texas, and possibly elsewhere will likely become the centralized repositories for the data intercepted by the NSA in America’s version of the “big brother database” rejected by the British. #Sept11

Published: Nov 5, 2009
Length: 31 minutes (7,880 words)

Is There Such a Thing as Agro-Imperialism?

The American scientist was catching a glimpse of an emerging test of the world’s food resources, one that has begun to take shape over the last year, largely outside the bounds of international scrutiny. A variety of factors — some transitory, like the spike in food prices, and others intractable, like global population growth and water scarcity — have created a market for farmland, as rich but resource-deprived nations in the Middle East, Asia and elsewhere seek to outsource their food production to places where fields are cheap and abundant.

Published: Nov 16, 2009
Length: 17 minutes (4,485 words)

118 Days, 12 Hours, 54 Minutes

On June 21, reporter Maziar Bahari was rousted out of bed and taken to Tehran’s notorious Evin prison—accused of being a spy for the CIA, MI6, Mossad. This is the story of his captivity—and of an Iran whose rampant paranoia underpins an ever more fractured regime.

Source: Newsweek
Published: Nov 21, 2009
Length: 16 minutes (4,021 words)

The Growing Backlash Against Overparenting

The insanity crept up on us slowly; we just wanted what was best for our kids. We bought macrobiotic cupcakes and hypoallergenic socks, hired tutors to correct a 5-year-old’s “pencil-holding deficiency,” hooked up broadband connections in the treehouse but took down the swing set after the second skinned knee.

Source: Time
Published: Nov 20, 2009
Length: 9 minutes (2,271 words)

Karzai’s Paranoid World

As Afghanistan’s president is inaugurated for his second term, author Christina Lamb, his former neighbor, on his transformation from an affable bon vivant to a paranoid shut-in.

Source: The Daily Beast
Published: Nov 18, 2009
Length: 32 minutes (8,066 words)

Atomic Priesthoods, Thorn Landscapes, and Munchian Pictograms

How to communicate the dangers of nuclear waste to future civilizations.

Source: Slate
Published: Nov 16, 2009
Length: 22 minutes (5,700 words)

Who Knew I Was Not the Father?

It was in July 2007 when Mike L. asked the Pennsylvania courts to declare that he was no longer the father of his daughter. For four years, Mike had known that the girl he had rocked to sleep and danced with across the living-room floor was not, as they say, “his.” The revelation from a DNA test was devastating and prompted him to leave his wife — but he had not renounced their child.

Published: Nov 17, 2009
Length: 16 minutes (4,173 words)

Wheelchair Dancer : Glee

Published: Nov 13, 2009
Length: 15 minutes (3,978 words)