Street Farmer

Like others in the so-called good-food movement, Will Allen asserts that our industrial food system is depleting soil, poisoning water, gobbling fossil fuels and stuffing us with bad calories. Like others, he advocates eating locally grown food. But to Allen, local doesn’t mean a rolling pasture or even a suburban garden: it means 14 greenhouses crammed onto two acres in a working-class neighborhood on Milwaukee’s northwest side, less than half a mile from the city’s largest public-housing project.

Published: Jul 1, 2009
Length: 11 minutes (2,907 words)

Family Man

Bobby Krotendorfer didn’t expect to be a father at 19, or jobless at 20. But he’s determined to be a loving dad and strong breadwinner. The first part comes easily.

Source: Washington Post
Published: Jul 5, 2009
Length: 21 minutes (5,471 words)

A Good Man Down

In Parkersburg, Iowa, it was a high school coach who led the townspeople out of the rubble of a tornado, showed them how to live a Christian life and brought honor to a football field he mowed himself. What they can’t understand is why Ed Thomas was gunned down by a former player

Published: Jul 6, 2009
Length: 11 minutes (2,854 words)

How blogs changed everything

As old media struggles for relevance, the once-maligned blogosphere proves it’s as transformative as the telephone

Source: Salon
Published: Jul 6, 2009
Length: 9 minutes (2,441 words)

Michael Wolff, On His Own (But Not Really)

Source: WWD
Published: Jul 2, 2009
Length: 9 minutes (2,324 words)

Borrower’s Remorse

Why fixing the banks will not revive the economy

Published: Jul 3, 2009
Length: 6 minutes (1,615 words)

‘Freebird’ ultimately unforgettable

Lynyrd Skynyrd released the song 35 years ago. Since then, it has been an anthem, a demand, an ode to personal independence and the lamest heckle in the history of rock.

Source: Chicago Tribune
Published: Jul 5, 2009
Length: 6 minutes (1,572 words)

Who Can Possibly Govern California?

Gavin Newsom, the mayor of San Francisco, has an emergency button under his desk that was installed 30 years ago after former City Supervisor Dan White entered City Hall through a window and fatally shot Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. Not knowing what the button was for, Newsom kept pushing it on his first day in office, only to have three sheriffs rush in repeatedly.

Published: Jul 1, 2009
Length: 33 minutes (8,334 words)

Robot Babies

Can scientists build a machine that learns as it goes and plays well with others? A new robot design draws on ways human babies learn about the world

Source: Smithsonian
Published: Jul 28, 2009
Length: 19 minutes (4,914 words)

Dancing About Architecture

A Meditation On Possibly Futile Artistic Pursuits

Source: The Believer
Published: Jul 28, 2009
Length: 14 minutes (3,614 words)