Talk Like an Egyptian

I this personal essay, Cary Barbor traverses language, culture, and class to connect with her new family.

Source: Longreads
Published: Jun 3, 2019
Length: 13 minutes (3,384 words)

The Year of the Cat

A personal essay in which Elisabeth Donnelly looks back at a relationship with a wily cat during a lonely time in upstate New York.

Source: Longreads
Published: May 31, 2019
Length: 13 minutes (3,392 words)

All-American Despair

“It’s easy to bash white middled-aged men in America. As a member of that privileged group, I’ll admit that much of the bashing has been warranted: No group in the history of the world has been given and squandered more than the white man. Yet the American white man is responsible for enough suicides annually that Madison Square Garden could not hold all the victims. And no matter how privileged, that’s somebody’s dad, someone’s friend, someone’s brother and someone’s husband.”

Source: Rolling Stone
Published: May 30, 2019
Length: 37 minutes (9,368 words)

The Billboard

When artist Stephanie Montgomery told the police that she was raped at work, neither they nor her manager helped, so she sought justice her way.

Published: May 30, 2019
Length: 33 minutes (8,330 words)

Inside the Exceptionally Shady World of Truffle Fraud

White truffles (also known as Piedmont or Alba truffles) are one of the world’s most prized culinary delicacies: When shaved atop a dish, they add a pleasantly earthy layer along with their unexpectedly fresh texture. Often, their presence—thanks to their famously high price tag—is more a status symbol, a signal of the procurer’s appreciation of the finer things in life, regardless of the cost. And perhaps not surprisingly, as with many other luxury symbols, thieves, saboteurs, and fraudsters operate an underground market that looks to cut corners wherever possible.

Source: Eater
Published: May 28, 2019
Length: 13 minutes (3,300 words)

Shady Numbers And Bad Business: Inside The Esports Bubble

“There’s big money in esports, they say. You’ve heard the stories. Teenaged gamers flown overseas to sunny mansions with live-in chefs. The erection of $50 million arenas for Enders Game-esque sci-fi battles. League of Legends pros pulling down seven-figure salaries. Yet there’s a reason why these narratives are provocative enough to attract lip-licking headlines in business news and have accrued colossal amounts of venture capital. More and more, esports is looking like a bubble ready to pop.”

Source: Kotaku
Published: May 23, 2019
Length: 32 minutes (8,095 words)

And What of My Wrath?

Cersei Lannister could have been a great antihero, but she was on the wrong show.

Source: Longreads
Published: May 30, 2019
Length: 10 minutes (2,555 words)

The Girl Who Chased Frogs

Journalist Lyra McKee submitted the first draft of this story, on the disappearance of a Honduran biologist named Meli Flores, just before McKee was killed in April while covering protests in Northern Ireland. “In some ways, she is a lost woman of troubled times, much like Lyra McKee. The SLR staff has edited and published this story in the wake of her death as a tribute to Lyra.”

Author: Lyra McKee
Published: May 29, 2019
Length: 13 minutes (3,435 words)

Beauty or Brains? A Simple Equation

“So, like the wicked stepsisters (smart) in the Grimms’ story of Cinderella (beautiful and good), I lopped toes and heels off characters to make them fit where I wanted. I jammed them into place and ignored the blood.”

Published: May 29, 2019
Length: 8 minutes (2,112 words)

Whose Eyes Are These?

A collection of mosaics looted in Turkey and sold in the US have finally returned home. But in the absence of definitive information about the unidentified ageless face called The Gypsy Girl, this so-called “Mona Lisa of Turkey” becomes a blank slate on which the viewer imposes provenance and meaning, which reflects the complex identity of Turkey itself.

Published: May 18, 2019
Length: 10 minutes (2,582 words)