No, I Will Not Debate You

Civility will never defeat fascism, no matter what The Economist thinks.

Source: Longreads
Published: Sep 18, 2018
Length: 15 minutes (3,795 words)

Blood-Spatter Expert in Joe Bryan Case Says “My Conclusions Were Wrong”

Pamela Colloff’s ProPublica/New York Times investigation into the murder conviction of Joe Bryant exposed huge flaws in the prosecution, and now they’re coming to light in court.

Source: ProPublica
Published: Sep 17, 2018
Length: 7 minutes (1,785 words)

Age Appropriate

A personal essay in the Fine Lines series, in which Jen Doll comes to terms with her inner teenager … or whatever.

Author: Jen Doll
Source: Longreads
Published: Sep 18, 2018
Length: 19 minutes (4,941 words)

Overdose and Punishment

The people who supply drugs that lead to overdoses are increasingly being charged with manslaughter using old drug-induced homicide laws. Why?

Published: Sep 10, 2018
Length: 18 minutes (4,604 words)

Ten Translations of Care

Mary Wang recalls the ways in which she and her family in China conspired to hide her grandmother’s cancer diagnosis from her.

Author: Mary Wang
Source: Longreads
Published: Sep 17, 2018
Length: 23 minutes (5,814 words)

How Maya Rudolph Became the Master of Impressions

Caity Weaver profiles actress and comedian Maya Rudolph upon the debut of her new series, “Forever.”

Published: Sep 14, 2018
Length: 26 minutes (6,611 words)

The Real Goldfinger: The London Banker Who Broke the World

Rowland Baring, governor of the Bank of England between 1961 and 1966, found the Bretton Woods system — which controlled the exchange of currency and used gold-backed US dollars as an “impartial” international currency — both unethical and damaging to the City of London. Many agreed. When banker Ian Fraser changed the way the global economy worked, his system allowed for the unprecedented concentration of wealth that we see today, and it created the destructive gap between rich and poor.

Source: The Guardian
Published: Sep 7, 2018
Length: 16 minutes (4,138 words)

The Miracle of the Mundane

In an excerpt from her new essay collection, Heather Havrilesky calls for tuning out the online cacophony telling us we aren’t enough, and tuning in to the soul-affirming, quiet truth of the present moment.

Source: Longreads
Published: Sep 14, 2018
Length: 15 minutes (3,976 words)

You Owe Me An Apology

“I’m a black woman in America. I have been owed plenty of apologies. I just never believed I deserved to demand one.”

Source: Elle
Published: Sep 12, 2018
Length: 6 minutes (1,610 words)

The Trouble with Uplift

Adolph Reed considers how pop culture narratives of Black “inspiration and uplift” featuring a singular (usually male) hero reflect the real-world leadership of Black gatekeepers and talking heads granted legitimacy by “elite opinion-shaping institutions and individuals.” Both, Reed claims, stifle the possibility of political change.

Source: The Baffler
Published: Sep 4, 2018
Length: 28 minutes (7,161 words)