Beauty and the Beast at the “World’s Largest Rattlesnake Roundup”

Why does a small Texas town insist on hosting a huge annual celebration around the public slaughter, beheading, skinning, and eating of thousands of rattlesnakes? Well, $8.4 million in revenue doesn’t hurt. Oh, and “kids enjoy it.”

Published: Mar 29, 2019
Length: 16 minutes (4,000 words)

Other Rachel Lyons

Having a fairly common name gives Rachel Lyon occasional glimpses into the lives of her doppelgangers — and the roads she has not taken.

Source: Longreads
Published: Apr 5, 2019
Length: 23 minutes (5,849 words)

Can the world quench China’s bottomless thirst for milk?

In China, milk represents modernity and progress. But the radical plan to triple the nation’s consumption has serious environmental consequences.

Source: The Guardian
Published: Mar 29, 2019
Length: 22 minutes (5,619 words)

Fifty Shades of White: The Long Fight Against Racism in Romance Novels

“I’m writing to let you know how much I enjoyed Whispers of Love. It’s my first African American romance. I guess I might sound bigoted, but I never knew that black folks fall in love like white folks.”

Source: The Guardian
Published: Apr 4, 2019
Length: 31 minutes (7,932 words)

An Overdose and a Mother’s Search for Truth

“It’s clear my daughter died because of these drugs coming through our border,” Susan said afterward, to a bank of TV news cameras, and then she returned to North Carolina, where the more complicated truth was that nothing about Toria’s death seemed clear. Susan, a former private investigator, was trained to work a case and then solve it, but this time, she kept going back over the story, looking again for causes, reassigning blame, interrogating her own mistakes as she tried make sense of one drug death in a national epidemic.

Author: Eli Saslow
Source: Washington Post
Published: Mar 31, 2019
Length: 14 minutes (3,700 words)

Philip Roth, Landlord

When you rent one of the Pulitzer winning author’s New York apartments, you can listen to his life through the wall. Just don’t ask him about his work.

Source: The Yale Review
Published: Feb 11, 2019
Length: 5 minutes (1,405 words)

A Brief History of the Ball Pit

“How the indoor playground became a staple in our safety-obsessed culture.”

Published: Apr 4, 2019
Length: 7 minutes (1,798 words)

Marriage: An Investigation

A multi-article package looking at the institution of marriage from a variety of angles, and through the experiences of an assortment of couples.

Published: Mar 31, 2019
Length: 76 minutes (19,013 words)

How Does a Person Lose Track of Their Diary?

An illustrated personal essay. Stumbling upon someone’s lost journal in a used book store leads Sophie Lucido Johnson down a path she couldn’t have expected.

Source: Longreads
Published: Apr 4, 2019
Length: 8 minutes (2,226 words)

Queens of Infamy: Josephine Bonaparte, from Malmaison to More-Than-Monarch

“When they got home, Josephine refused to move her beloved dog Fortuné off the bed to make room for Napoleon. When his mistress’ new husband tried to push him aside, the pug bit him. Sometimes dogs just know.”

Source: Longreads
Published: Apr 4, 2019
Length: 23 minutes (5,836 words)