The Ghost Hunter

For hundreds of years, there were rumors of a shipwrecked treasure on the Oregon coast. But no one found anything, until Cameron La Follette began digging. A real-life “Goonies” adventure.

Source: The Atavist
Published: Jan 31, 2020
Length: 34 minutes (8,600 words)

Vivian Gornick Doesn’t Get the Hype

Nora Caplan-Bricker speaks with the incisive author about how her views on feminism and politics have evolved over her 84 years, and of her ongoing “quest for ‘expressiveness’ — a word that, in her work, connotes both inner clarity and the ability to translate that insight outward.”

Source: The Cut
Published: Jan 24, 2020
Length: 11 minutes (2,838 words)

No One Knows Amy Sedaris Better Than Her Brother David

Humorist David Sedaris lovingly — and hilariously — profiles his sister Amy, recalling their playwriting days in the ’90s as “The Talent Family,” and other adventures.

Source: Elle
Published: Jan 29, 2020
Length: 12 minutes (3,150 words)

Adventures in Publishing Outside the Gates

When Latinx author Wendy C. Ortiz shopped her memoir, Excavation, about the inappropriate sexual relationship her eighth grade English teacher initiated with her, mainstream publishers wouldn’t give her the time of day. She published it with tiny Future Tense Books, and the book gained a strong following. Among her readers was white author Kate Elizabeth Russell, whose forthcoming novel, My Dark Vanessa — for which she received a seven-figure deal and a blurb from Stephen King —  is remarkably similar. In this essay, Ortiz takes the white-dominated publishing industry to task for its longstanding discrimination against, and erasure of, writers of color.

Source: Gay Magazine
Published: Jan 29, 2020
Length: 14 minutes (3,521 words)

Question Time: My Life as a Quiz Obsessive

From India and Ireland to the U.S., quiz tournaments are enduringly popular even — if not especially — as information has become more accessible than ever.

Source: The Guardian
Published: Jan 28, 2020
Length: 24 minutes (6,084 words)

Pure Magic: The Oral History of Prince’s Super Bowl XLI Halftime Show

“As the heavens opened up and rain poured down, the Purple One ran through a handful of covers and some of his own songs, delivering an iconic set on the biggest stage possible and only expanding his legend.”

Source: The Ringer
Published: Jan 29, 2020
Length: 28 minutes (7,138 words)

Frequently Asked Questions About Your Craniotomy

A lifetime of exploring and repairing the human brain doesn’t bring the neurosurgeon in this darkly funny, compelling short story any closer to understanding the human mind.

Author: Mary South
Published: Jan 17, 2020
Length: 16 minutes (4,228 words)

Keeping the Country

Florida’s Myakka River Valley isn’t the Florida you expect. It’s a nearly lost world of cowboys and cattle, where ranch land has preserved a unique combination of mystery and myth. For now.

Published: Jan 28, 2020
Length: 35 minutes (8,915 words)

Heard but Not Seen

“Now that hip-hop is no longer seen as a threat, the way it was when I was growing up in the ’80s and ’90s, it’s become the default ambiance in the kinds of high-end spaces that include few Black people.”

Source: Slate
Published: Jan 27, 2020
Length: 7 minutes (1,775 words)

Behind the Scenes at Rotten Tomatoes

Despite certain criticisms people lobby against the film and TV rating website, one thing Rotten Tomatoes does well is help you get away from its website and get you in front of a good movie as quickly as possible.

Source: Wired
Published: Jan 21, 2020
Length: 14 minutes (3,530 words)