On the Front Porch, Black Life in Full View

From literature to identity, upward mobility to forging community, this one architectural element continues to play an important role across generations in Detroit.

Published: Dec 4, 2018
Length: 6 minutes (1,573 words)

Herschel, the Very Hungry Sea Lion

It wasn’t necessarily Herschel the sea lion outside the locks with a very hungry tummy; the decline of steelhead salmon in Puget Sound in the last couple of decades could be due to many factors including whales, hake, pollock, and sculpins, though as Katharine Gammon reports at Hakai, humans needed someone to blame for depleting fish stocks.

Source: Hakai Magazine
Published: Oct 16, 2018
Length: 14 minutes (3,700 words)

Natasha Trethewey Wants America To Have A Personal Reckoning

On the publication of “Monument,” Natasha Trethewey’s most recent collection of poetry, Hanif Abdurraqib interviews the former U.S. poet laureate about “history echoing into the present lived experience.”

Source: BuzzFeed
Published: Dec 8, 2018
Length: 17 minutes (4,492 words)

Hazardous Cravings

While working at a rural New Jersey Dairy Queen, an overweight teen had to face his troubled relationship with food and his body while keeping his bulimia quiet, and learn to navigate America’s fat-shaming, food-loving culture.

Source: Tin House
Published: May 24, 2018
Length: 31 minutes (7,769 words)

Duet for a Small Porpoise’s Extinction

A personal essay in which Kimi Eisele contemplates coherence, the near extinction of the vaquita, and the expensive bycatch of being human.

Source: Longreads
Published: Dec 10, 2018
Length: 21 minutes (5,477 words)

The Che Guevara of Abortion Reformers

“That’s crazy. People won’t talk about abortion! They’re afraid to. I’m going to talk about abortion! ABORTION!”

Source: Slate
Published: Dec 4, 2018
Length: 23 minutes (5,970 words)

An American Surfer Goes Rogue To Claim The Baltic Sea’s “Last Wave”

What a story: A Californian living in Germany discovers a ferry wake you can surf on the Baltic Sea. He was even making a movie about it. The German surfers who’d already surfed that and other Baltic waves were offended by the American’s repackaging of German history. Maybe they were talking about two different kinds of truth.

Source: Deadspin
Published: Dec 5, 2018
Length: 14 minutes (3,608 words)

Reconsidering the Jewish American Princess

A feature in which Jamie Lauren Keiles looks at the cultural history of the Jewish American Princess — and her own history of aspiring to be one.

Published: Dec 5, 2018
Length: 15 minutes (3,886 words)

150 Minutes of Hell

A harrowing and heartbreaking reconstruction of a deadly fire tornado that tore through Redding, California during the Carr Fire earlier this summer. The fire killed eight people and ruined more than 1,000 homes.

Published: Dec 5, 2018
Length: 19 minutes (4,974 words)

Life Lessons From the School of Phish

Jen Doll dives into the world of the band Phish and their followers, known as “phans.” She discovers a hippy-esque subculture of “you do you” people dedicated not only to a band renowned for live jams, but a shared appreciation for uninhibited drug consumption, joyful escapism, and making new Phish-following-friends at every show.

Author: Jen Doll
Source: Topic
Published: Dec 4, 2018
Length: 28 minutes (7,064 words)