We Who Are About to Die Salute You

Spending the day training with the Arkansas Defense Force, the state’s independent militia, who prepare to survive emergencies, from civil unrest to ice storms, gang war to enemy invasion, and are trying to maintain their public image. “Even if we don’t like you,” one member said, “we’ll protect you.”

Source: TriQuarterly
Published: Jan 15, 2018
Length: 18 minutes (4,690 words)

You Know the Lorena Bobbitt Story. But Not All of It.

Before she was a punchline, she was a 24-year-old Ecuadorean immigrant who was subject to years of domestic violence, including rape, at her husband’s hands.

Published: Jan 30, 2019
Length: 13 minutes (3,375 words)

I’ve Been Committed To A Psych Ward Three Times — And It Never Helped

“As Bly’s anecdotes, and my own, indicate, a primary feature of the experience of staying in a psychiatric hospital is that you will not be believed about anything. A corollary to this feature: Things will be believed about you that are not at all true.”

Source: BuzzFeed
Published: Jan 29, 2019
Length: 19 minutes (4,988 words)

Why Marlon James Decided to Write an African “Game of Thrones”

Jia Tolentino profiles Man Booker Prize-winning novelist Marlon James upon the publication of his newest book, “Black Leopard, Red Wolf.”

Source: New Yorker
Published: Jan 28, 2019
Length: 38 minutes (9,727 words)

Rome: Where Migrants Face Eviction as Fascists Find a Home

Last November, Italy passed the “Salvini Decree,” a law that eliminated the right of migrants to seek “humanitarian protection.”

Published: Jan 28, 2019
Length: 16 minutes (4,184 words)

When Even The Greatest Of Writers Grapples With Self-Doubt

For anyone that does creative work, Gabrielle Bellot’s poetic piece at LithHub is a salve for the times when we’re plagued by artistic self-doubt. In relaying her own struggles and in deconstructing the work of W.B. Yeats and Derek Walcott, Bellot finds solace and inspiration in two other writers who also sought to shed the “thick coats of impostors.”

Source: LitHub
Published: Jan 28, 2019
Length: 9 minutes (2,435 words)

The Late-Night Burrito Joint That Saved Me From Suburbia

One Tucsonan’s love letter to the 24-hour restaurant that expanded his world.

Source: Eater
Published: Jan 23, 2019
Length: 12 minutes (3,053 words)

Into the Dark

There were four options for getting the trapped Thai soccer players out of the flooded cave: the unrealistic one, the deadly one, the torturous one, and the mad one. Sometimes, madness works.

Source: Maclean’s
Published: Jan 25, 2019
Length: 48 minutes (12,246 words)

Dance Battle! Meet the Warring Milli Vanilli of Italo Disco

It was not a high point for music; even Italians try not to remember Italo Disco. Den Harrow was one of its biggest stars… but who is Den Harrow, exactly?

Source: GQ
Published: Jan 26, 2019
Length: 18 minutes (4,533 words)

Without a Trace: Missing, In an Age of Mass Displacement

Masood Hotak left Afghanistan in December 2015, hoping to make it to Europe. On January 3, 2016, he posted on Facebook that he’d reached the Greek island of Samos. And then… nothing. His big brother Javed has traveled thousands of miles trying to find him.

Published: Jan 14, 2019
Length: 35 minutes (8,959 words)