Black Utopia: The Funkadelic Art of Pedro Bell

Pedro Bell, whose album cover designs helped define Funkadelic’s warped, cosmic, joyous aesthetic, has died. Here is what he accomplished in his fertile life. As bassist Bootsy Collins said: “Thxs for yr service our brother.”

Source: Afropunk
Published: Apr 29, 2019
Length: 6 minutes (1,659 words)

When Your Social Worker Thinks You’re Ungrateful

In this personal essay, Dina Nayeri’s patience is tried as she accompanies an immigrant family into a bureaucratic nightmare.

Source: Longreads
Published: Aug 29, 2019
Length: 12 minutes (3,210 words)

Teaching America’s Truth

Generations of students have been taught an incomplete (and sometimes false) history of slavery in the U.S. Some educators have been trying to change this.

Author: Joe Heim
Published: Aug 28, 2019
Length: 11 minutes (2,843 words)

Addicted to Fines

Governing, a national magazine and media platform devoted to policy, politics, and management in state and local government, is shutting down this week after nearly 33 years of public-sector reporting. For its final cover story, data editor Mike Maciag digs into the cities, towns, and counties nationwide that over-rely on fines and fees to fund local budgets. These sources of revenue have been increasing steadily in areas where the prospect of raising taxes poses political challenges, but ballooning fines are quickly becoming unsustainable as they threaten the long-term stability of local governments and incentivize conflicts of interest between public servants and their communities.

Source: Governing
Published: Sep 1, 2019
Length: 16 minutes (4,050 words)

The Last Popeyes Chicken Sandwich in America

Megan Reynolds tries the much ballyhooed (and at least temporarily unavailable) Popeye’s chicken sandwich and considers the minimum-wage workers exploited in responding to the frenzy for it, along with other problematic aspects of its popularity among bougie foodies.

Source: Jezebel
Published: Aug 28, 2019
Length: 8 minutes (2,104 words)

From ‘The Alcatraz of the Rockies’ to the Streets

Warning: this story contains detailed descriptions of self-harm.

“It’s unconscionable to put someone with serious mental illness into a segregation cell for 23 hours a day and let their demons chase them around…”

Source: Vice Magazine
Published: Aug 28, 2019
Length: 44 minutes (11,047 words)

The ‘Strange, Unduly Neglected Prophet’

Silvio Gesell had a groundbreaking idea: money that expires. Shockingly, people with lots of money were not big fans.

Source: NPR
Published: Aug 27, 2019
Length: 6 minutes (1,677 words)

Abuela, Chef, Boss: Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s Grandmother Feeds the Majors

“Altagracia Alvino may be the most popular and powerful grandmother in baseball. For about two decades, she has filled the bellies of hundreds of players, most of them Latin Americans far from home. Eating her comfort food is a tradition that has become especially popular among players from the family’s homeland, the Dominican Republic.”

Published: Aug 25, 2019
Length: 6 minutes (1,631 words)

William Ferris: The Man Who Shared Our Voices

For over fifty years, this folklorist rolled tape as Southerners talked, not only because he believed their stories should be preserved, but because listening to each other could help Southerners understand each other better. In the process, he legitimized the academic field of Southern Studies and paved the way for other curious minds.

Published: May 30, 2018
Length: 18 minutes (4,555 words)

The Great University Con: How the British Degree Lost Its Value

English universities appear to have done the impossible: attracting increasing numbers of students and graduating them with high scores. Unfortunately, lower academic standards and grade inflation are responsible for England’s so-called education miracle. Instead of selling academic rigor, universities sell degrees, and that’s what students come to buy.

Source: New Statesman
Published: Aug 21, 2019
Length: 20 minutes (5,186 words)