Fugitive Justice

After stumbling upon the scene of the capture of an escaped murderer, clinical social worker Jennifer Lunden grapples with the polarities of innocence and guilt, social neglect and social justice.

Source: Longreads
Published: Sep 6, 2019
Length: 25 minutes (6,331 words)

Geel, Belgium Has a Radical Approach to Mental Illness

“The family-care program isn’t miraculous; it is as profoundly human as Dymphna’s life story. It’s proof of how well we can love each other when we practise radical acceptance.”

Source: Broadview
Published: Sep 5, 2019
Length: 15 minutes (3,845 words)

The Rejection Lab

Alison Kinney visits a Stony Brook University laboratory where the physical and emotional effects of social rejection are studied, and becomes a subject herself.

Source: Gay Magazine
Published: Sep 4, 2019
Length: 14 minutes (3,663 words)

King of Pop

Tyshawn Jones made a name for himself in the skateboarding world by performing spectacular tricks on the chaotic streets of New York. At 20, he’s already opened a restaurant, founded his own hardware company, and was named Thrasher’s “Skater of the Year.”

Published: Aug 29, 2019
Length: 21 minutes (5,293 words)

Magic Eraser Juice

“I’ve Narcan’d the same guy twice in a shift. Some days everyone is just dying and coming back left and right like junkie whack-a-mole…It’s a strange feeling, knowing that there’s an oops button on an overdose. We don’t always get there in time. If you’re by yourself, or if you took a particularly strong blend, or if your friends suck at calling 911, sometimes you die all the way. But a lot of the time, you die most of the way, and then we pop you full of magic eraser juice, and you come stumbling back from the edge.”

Source: Hazlitt
Published: Sep 2, 2019
Length: 9 minutes (2,390 words)

Twelve Words

For a vivacious, disabled man with a limited vocabulary, his twin brother’s name came to communicate a range of ideas and emotion. But when it came time to decide his fate, who could really speak for Danny?

Source: Kenyon Review
Published: Sep 1, 2019
Length: 28 minutes (7,183 words)

Céline Dion is Everywhere

“As she leaves Vegas and heads back into the world, nearly four decades into her career, a full-blown Célinaissance has been declared. But why is her celebrity suddenly so pressing, so meaningful, so of this moment? Céline isn’t exactly new—just about everyone already knows the basic story: born and raised outside Montreal, a preteen singing sensation by fourteen….She’s been around for so long that much of the world has no conscious memory from the Before Céline era: she has always been the soundtrack to grocery store aisles, cab rides, the corniest parts of every cornball movie you hate to love.”

Source: The Walrus
Published: Aug 29, 2019
Length: 23 minutes (5,957 words)

The Book of Prince

“On January 29, 2016, Prince summoned me to his home, Paisley Park, to tell me about a book he wanted to write…Prince had always embodied dualities. Here was one more: he had told me that he was O.K., and he was not O.K. There was nothing false in the way he spoke to me, and nothing false in the way he spoke during his darkest moments.”

Source: The New Yorker
Published: Sep 2, 2019
Length: 28 minutes (7,025 words)

Theodore McCarrick Still Won’t Confess

He’s living at a friary in Kansas (the only place that would take him) on the condition that he not leave the grounds, still insists he hasn’t harmed anyone, and life goes on in the small town that surrounds him: it’s the best and worst of Catholicism in a microcosm.

Source: Slate
Published: Sep 3, 2019
Length: 15 minutes (3,844 words)

The Mad Rush to Bulletproof American Schools

With no help from Congress, architects and school administrators are now responsible for redesigning schools to stop mass shootings. Unfortunately, not everyone agrees that the best approach is to make buildings safe without making them resemble prisons.

Source: Slate
Published: Aug 27, 2019
Length: 7 minutes (1,890 words)