Coming from Nowhere

“The first time someone called me a spic was during recess or after school in the playground or in the park across the street from my house.”

Published: Mar 27, 2020
Length: 22 minutes (5,657 words)

Face Mask Scarcity Leaves California Farmworkers Unprotected

The demand for face masks could have profound effects on California agriculture, including the application of different fungicides and an increase in Valley Fever. Many farm workers can’t afford to let risks effect their livelihood, but fear of exposure is reducing the number of workers in certain sectors. Without laborers, $4 billion dollars worth of crops are at risk in Monterey County alone.

Source: CalMatters
Published: Mar 26, 2020
Length: 7 minutes (1,953 words)

W. H. Auden Was a Messy Roommate

An organized life is not always a productive life.

Published: Mar 25, 2020
Length: 10 minutes (2,598 words)

“Anything Good I Could Say About This Would Be a Lie”

“She’s dead, and I’m quarantined. That’s how the story ends. I keep going back over it in loops, trying to find a way to sweeten it, but nothing changes the facts. I wasn’t there with her at the end. I didn’t get to say goodbye. I don’t even know where her body is right now, or if the only thing that’s left is her ashes.”

Author: Eli Saslow
Published: Mar 28, 2020
Length: 8 minutes (2,005 words)

Eating for Two

“My husband and I shared a love of food. Then he cheated on me when I was seven months pregnant.”

Source: The Cut
Published: Mar 25, 2020
Length: 10 minutes (2,577 words)

Where Water Used to Be

A look at another crisis the world is facing: water scarcity. Rosa Lyster examines the water-stressed cities of Cape Town and Mexico City — cities grappling with issues related to climate change, infrastructure, and inequality.

Published: Mar 25, 2020
Length: 11 minutes (2,810 words)

Learning to Swim Taught Me More Than I Bargained For

In this braided essay, Jazmine Hughes contemplates her resistance to both learning to swim and coming out, and the empowerment each experience offers her when she finally surrenders to them.

Published: Mar 24, 2020
Length: 20 minutes (5,005 words)

Since I Became Symptomatic

A month after filing for divorce, single mom Leslie Jamison contracted COVID-19. She wrote this meditation on single parenthood, loneliness, longing, and frustration while sheltering in place — and sweating out the virus — with her 2-year-old daughter.

Published: Mar 26, 2020
Length: 6 minutes (1,500 words)

The Unlisted

How people without an address are stripped of their basic rights—an excerpt from The Address Book.

Source: The Guardian
Published: Mar 26, 2020
Length: 15 minutes (3,755 words)

How the Pandemic Will End

“The U.S. may end up with the worst COVID-19 outbreak in the industrialized world. This is how it’s going to play out.”

Author: Ed Yong
Source: The Atlantic
Published: Mar 25, 2020
Length: 22 minutes (5,549 words)