Blood Gold

In Brazil, indigenous people and illegal miners are engaged in a fight that may help decide the future of the planet.

Source: The New Yorker
Published: Nov 4, 2019
Length: 35 minutes (8,900 words)

My Friend Mister Rogers

Tom Junod remembers his friendship with Fred Rogers 16 years after Fred’s death and considers how Fred would have responded in today’s world, filled with regular mass violence and a growing lack of civility in political discourse and protest.

Author: Tom Junod
Source: The Atlantic
Published: Nov 7, 2019
Length: 28 minutes (7,113 words)

Cult of the Literary Sad Woman

If sadness once struck me as terminally hip, then I’ve arrived on the far side of 35 with a deepening appreciation for the ways pleasure and satisfaction can become structuring forces of identity as well.

Published: Nov 7, 2019
Length: 10 minutes (2,500 words)

The Big Bitcoin Heist

Think of it like Ocean’s 11, but in Iceland and with cryptocurrency.

Author: Mark Seal
Source: Vanity Fair
Published: Nov 4, 2019
Length: 20 minutes (5,050 words)

Undercover in the Orthodox Underworld

“Here, in the parallel city, boys who have never heard of Sandy Koufax trade rabbi cards and tape beards of white cotton balls to their chins on the holiday of masquerades. In this city, where the old ways will always outlive the latest lifestyle, it is said that every outsider hates Jews, even those who pretend not to.”

Author: Dan Slater
Source: GEN
Published: Nov 4, 2019
Length: 29 minutes (7,378 words)

An Oral History of Blade Runner’s 2019 Los Angeles, Because the Future Has Arrived

But we still don’t have flying cars.

Author: Mike Roe
Source: LAist
Published: Nov 5, 2019
Length: 26 minutes (6,621 words)

America’s Largest Health Insurer Is Giving Apartments to Homeless People

“There are more than half a million homeless in the U.S., about a third of them unsheltered—that is, living on streets, under bridges, or in abandoned properties. When they need medical care or simply a bed and a meal, many go to the emergency room. That’s where America has drawn the line: We’ll pay for a hospital bed but not for a home, even when the home would be cheaper. Jeffrey Brenner is trying to move that line.”

Author: John Tozzi
Published: Nov 5, 2019
Length: 14 minutes (3,717 words)

As Seas Rise, Miami’s Black Communities Fear Displacement From The High Ground

“Regardless of what it’s called—’climate gentrification’ by academics and activists,  ‘regular gentrification’ by some community members and city officials or ‘smart planning’ by developers and urban planners —there is an increasing push to build on high-ground in [Miami]. ”

 

Source: WLRN
Published: Nov 4, 2019
Length: 11 minutes (2,850 words)

Lessons in Survival

“My grandmother was a refugee. She prized community over property. By cleaning the homes of white people — by dusting their bookshelves and scrubbing their toilets down on her knees — she was able to raise her three children in Michigan. They all lived well into old age. She ensured their survival by running. This required sacrifice, humility, strength, and faith. This is what Mabel knew, and she knew it from people like Harriet Tubman. When something is going to kill you, you run.”

Published: Nov 21, 2019
Length: 18 minutes (4,554 words)

The story of Tunnel 29

In 1961, Joachim Rudolph escaped from one of the world’s most brutal dictatorships. A few months later, he began tunneling his way back in. Why?

Source: BBC
Published: Oct 21, 2019
Length: 22 minutes (5,524 words)