Old Dudes on Skateboards
The death of his life-long skateboarding friend prompts Aaron Gilbreath to get back on his board — at 44, with his toddler daughter in tow.
Why You Never See Your Friends Anymore
From algorithms that set work schedules to the whims of the gig economy, too many workers are deprived of free time that overlaps with friends’ and family’s, and America’s social fabric is fraying. “A calendar is more than the organization of days and months,” Judith Shulevitz writes. “It’s the blueprint for a shared life.”
The FBI Lost Our Son
The FBI’s counterterrorism unit recruited Billy Reilly to infiltrate terror and criminal networks as a part-time confidential source. Part of a wave of workers recruited post-9/11, Billy did not receive the training, protections, or compensation of a full-time agent. After he went missing during an operation in Russia in 2015, no one inside the FBI would take responsibility.
In the Rush to Harvest Body Parts, Death Investigations Have Been Upended
Organ procurement companies can harvest body parts before medical examiners have a chance to examine a dead body and rule on a cause of death. Does that seem problematic? Yes, yes it does.
Las Marthas
Society of Martha Washington Colonial Pageant in Laredo, Texas, is a debutante ball featuring teenagers in multi-thousand-dollar Martha Washington cosplay. Mostly Mexican teenagers. But it wasn’t always that way — towns shift, and so do identities.
Happiness is Fleeting
Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell recalls learning about life’s cycles of hope and disappointment from The Peanuts.
Ronan Farrow Depicts a Chilling Cover-up at NBC
Rebecca Traister reads Ronan Farrow’s new book, Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators, and realizes that those at NBC who colluded to obstruct Farrow’s ground-breaking reporting on Harvey Weinstein remain in charge.
The Dangerously Cheesy Collectible Cheetos Market
A cheese snack shaped like a bald eagle perched on a branch? That will cost you $849.99.
I Had To Leave My Mother So I Could Survive
Elisabet Velasquez reckons with a lifetime of disharmony with her religious, mentally ill mother.
Dispatch from Puerto Nowhere
Robert Lopez examines what it means to be an assimilated American from Puerto Rico, and what was gained and lost in the process.
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