The I in We

How WeWork — a company based on founder Adam Neumann’s vision of a “capitalist kibbutz” — became a sleek, dystopian, mammoth-sized tech unicorn.

Published: Jun 10, 2019
Length: 28 minutes (7,040 words)

The Day the Music Burned

“It was the biggest disaster in the history of the music business — and almost nobody knew.”

Author: Jody Rosen
Published: Jun 11, 2019
Length: 51 minutes (12,752 words)

How Indie Went Jam, a Recent History from My Morning Jacket to Vampire Weekend

One pop music critic looks at the ways indie bands have incorporated elements from bands like Grateful Dead and Phish, and he wonders whether jam bands’ influence can revitalize indie rock at a time when it seems to have nowhere else to go. Some listeners might argue that labels like ‘jam’ and ‘indie’ don’t really add anything to the conversation.

Source: Washington Post
Published: Jun 6, 2019
Length: 8 minutes (2,179 words)

Smash the Wellness Industry

Jessica Knoll calls out the wellness industry as a dangerous deceit. Masquerading as a way to increase energy or reduce inflammation, the industry’s success actually preys upon women’s self-hate by “preserving a vicious fallacy: Thin is healthy and healthy is thin.”

Published: Jun 8, 2019

Inside the black (cherry) market of vintage Kool-Aid packet collectors

“When you’re in the mood for Kool-Aid, you can walk into a grocery store and chose from about 20 different flavor packets all priced at about a quarter a piece. However, if you’re in the market for some quintessentially classic, high-grade, “Oh Yeah!”-era Kool-Aid, you’ll have to enter the fruit-flavored underbelly of one the most intriguing subsets in the world of pop culture food enthusiasts: the black market of vintage Kool-Aid packet collectors.”

Author: Will Hodge
Source: The Takeout
Published: Jun 6, 2019
Length: 8 minutes (2,141 words)

Vacation Memories Marred by the Indelible Stain of Racism

A personal essay in which Shanna B. Tiayon recalls an interaction with a National Parks Service bus driver that cast a pall on a family trip to the Grand Canyon.

Source: Longreads
Published: Jun 11, 2019
Length: 9 minutes (2,384 words)

The Rise and Fall of the Bank Robbery Capital of the World

In 1992, there were 2,641 bank robberies in Los Angeles — “one every 45 minutes of each banking day.” How did L.A. become the epicenter of the heist? Thanks to the dangerous combination of cars, convenience, and cocaine.

Source: CrimeReads
Published: Jun 11, 2019
Length: 20 minutes (5,164 words)

A Dead Humpback, a Team of Scientists, a Race for Answers

Sound is a whale’s main navigational tool. So does ocean noise pollution impair their ability to communicate, to migrate, to mate? “Answers to these questions, among others, have eluded scientists, simply because 40-ton, seemingly healthy humpback whale carcasses with very little decomposition don’t wash up on our shores very often. So when Vector did, every second counted.”

Author: Sara Rimer
Published: Jun 10, 2019
Length: 21 minutes (5,333 words)

Four Nights This Ramadan, Under the Shadow of Refugee Returns in Lebanon

For fifteen years, Syranian, Lebanese, and Palestinian refugees have found sanctuary in a neighborhood called Jabal Beddawi in northern Lebanon. Journalist Laura Gottesdiener spent time there to see how refugees, despite their differences, have forged a community under duress.

Published: Jun 5, 2019
Length: 12 minutes (3,140 words)

Meet the Money Whisperer to the Super-Rich N.B.A. Elite

“Who’s the guy Klay Thompson and other N.B.A. stars trust to manage their wealth? One who knows how to rebound with $8,000 stuffed into his underwear.”

Published: Jun 6, 2019
Length: 11 minutes (2,990 words)