How to Lose Tens of Thousands of Dollars on Amazon

Some people, like self-proclaimed experts Matt Behdjou and Mike Gazzola, claim to make thousands of dollars selling cheap products from China on Amazon. But not everyone is successful.

Source: The Atlantic
Published: Jan 2, 2019
Length: 22 minutes (5,514 words)

The West Coast Jazz Revival

Jazz originated in New Orleans, but the jazz talents who moved near the Pacific Ocean created two thriving periods of musical activity that challenged New York as the center of jazz. Now a new generation of innovators like Kamasi Washington and Flying Lotus are breaking musical boundaries, while jazz programs and nonprofits are reinvigorating the genre.

Author: Ted Gioia
Source: City Journal
Published: Dec 31, 2018
Length: 12 minutes (3,018 words)

Cowards and Accomplices

A personal essay in which, in light of her own family’s experience during the Holocaust, Judith Hertog considers her ethical responsibilities in today’s world.

Source: Longreads
Published: Jan 4, 2019
Length: 12 minutes (3,153 words)

The Rise of the Mindful Museum

When you meditate at the art museum, you appreciate neither the meditation or the art: discuss.

Source: The Baffler
Published: Jan 3, 2019
Length: 8 minutes (2,022 words)

James Baldwin’s Harlem Through a Child’s Eyes

Gabrielle Bellot on James Baldwin’s children’s book, Little Man, Little Man, written for his nephew, Tejan: “[It] brings to life many of Baldwin’s arguments as it dissolves rigidly drawn lines between children’s and adult literature.”

Published: Jan 3, 2019
Length: 9 minutes (2,458 words)

How to Think About Empire

The Boston Review interviews author Arundhati Roy on the global rise of ethno-nationalism, digital surveillance,and political dissent.

Source: Boston Review
Published: Jan 3, 2019
Length: 28 minutes (7,050 words)

How a DNA Testing Kit Revealed a Family Secret Hidden for 54 Years

A personal essay by memoirist Dani Shapiro about discovering, accidentally through DNA testing, that the father she knew was not her biological parent. In the piece she advocates for the rights of children produced through assisted reproduction, after decades in which those of parents and donor prevailed, and children were kept in the dark about their true parentage.

Source: Time Magazine
Published: Jan 3, 2019
Length: 6 minutes (1,599 words)

The Hunted: What Happens When You Say No to MS-13

A terrifying investigation into the MS-13 gang and its effect on a Long Island town. Some teens were recruited; those who refused to join were brutally attacked with machetes, and then inexplicably targeted for deportation by ICE.

Source: Pro Publica
Published: Dec 31, 2018
Length: 10 minutes (2,650 words)

Pan Am Flight 103: Robert Mueller’s 30-Year Search for Justice

Today, Robert Mueller heads the investigation into Russian collusion in the 2016 US presidential election. At Wired, Garrett M. Graff reports on one of Mueller’s perhaps lesser known but nonetheless fascinating and insightful previous assignments: at one time, Mueller oversaw the US’ investigation into the the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.

Source: Wired
Published: Dec 27, 2018
Length: 23 minutes (5,822 words)

I Was A Cable Guy. I Saw The Worst Of America.

Lauren Hough recounts a decade of bizarre, bittersweet, and dangerous jobs she was assigned while working as a cable tech in the Virginia suburbs.

Source: HuffPost
Published: Dec 30, 2018
Length: 24 minutes (6,151 words)