Liquid Cities

“In Japanese architecture and science fiction from the 1960s through the 1990s, we can trace an enduring question: ‘how to make substantial architecture when substantial things are losing their meaning.’”

Source: Places
Published: May 26, 2020
Length: 32 minutes (8,227 words)

“Like a Tap Being Turned Off”: Music Magazines Fight for Survival in UK

With no concerts to sell ads for and few shops open to sell print issues, British music magazines such as QUncut, and Mojo are suffering and considering their options for survival.

Source: The Guardian
Published: May 24, 2020
Length: 6 minutes (1,597 words)

How to Cool It

“I’m questioning the values on which this country thinks of itself as being based.” James Baldwin’s landmark 1968 interview about race relations in America.

Source: Esquire
Published: Jul 1, 1968
Length: 32 minutes (8,214 words)

I Will Miss What I Wanted to Lose

“I didn’t fully appreciate what life on the road gave me until suddenly it was gone.”

Source: The Atlantic
Published: May 27, 2020
Length: 6 minutes (1,684 words)

The Evidence Against Her

He raped and tortured her for years. He had a gun; he “showed her diagrams of the human brain… the place that would allow her to live but without speech or memory. ‘Wouldn’t that be convenient, he said.'” She shot him, to save herself and her kids. And according to the prosecutor, jury, and judge, she’s a premeditated murderer who deserves her 20-year prison sentence.

Source: GEN
Published: May 27, 2020
Length: 44 minutes (11,071 words)

The Resilience of Marga Griesbach

“I think every life is like a novel.” Marga Griesbach was born in Germany in 1927. Her life is like multiple novels — horror, romance, magical realism, travelogue. Whatever you’re doing right now, you should stop it and read this story.

Source: The Cut
Published: May 26, 2020
Length: 35 minutes (8,816 words)

How Selfie Culture Ruins the Great Outdoors for Everyone Else

“There have literally been screaming matches and fist fights over parking spots,” she says. “It can be like a shopping mall at Christmas.”

Author: Joel Barde
Source: The Walrus
Published: May 19, 2019
Length: 9 minutes (2,462 words)

Splendid Isolation

Meditations on a surreal cherry-blossom season in Japan.

Source: Financial Times
Published: May 23, 2020
Length: 8 minutes (2,000 words)

1,112 and Counting

Larry Kramer’s historic essay, originally published in March 1983, was a clarion call for urgent action on HIV/AIDS.

Source: New York Native
Published: Mar 14, 1983
Length: 24 minutes (6,164 words)

The Ramshackle Garden of Affection

Two poets exchange letters about language, love, and basketball.

Published: May 25, 2020
Length: 27 minutes (6,828 words)