The Food of My Youth

“When my media stream fills with the sound of children crying out for their parents, that distinct wail that only a broken-hearted child can make… it’s then that I reach for the food of my youth. Corned-beef hash. Spam. Fried Bologna sandwiches.”

Published: Jul 9, 2018
Length: 7 minutes (1,750 words)

How George Clinton Made Funk a World View

Hua Hsu considers the heirs and influence of P-Funk founder George Clinton on the eve of Clinton’s retirement from performing.

Author: Hua Hsu
Source: The New Yorker
Published: Jul 9, 2018
Length: 9 minutes (2,406 words)

Conjuring Spirits in Florida

“In Sarasota, there is a community surrounding a litany of roadside psychics and more than 100 mediums and spiritual guides. Why?”

Published: Jun 30, 2018
Length: 7 minutes (1,840 words)

Should We Hide the Locations of Earth’s Greatest Trees?

When everyone wants to photograph themselves beside the world’s biggest coastal redwoods, the trees’ roots get trampled, soil compacted, and visitors damage the objects of their affection. So can the National Park Service protect certain ancient trees by concealing them?

Published: Jul 5, 2018
Length: 8 minutes (2,016 words)

A Crime and a Pastime

On skateboarding’s libertarian paranoia.

Source: The Baffler
Published: Jul 3, 2018
Length: 13 minutes (3,442 words)

How to Tell the Bad Men From the Good Men

It wasn’t so simple at age 18, writes Caitlin Moran. (And often, it’s still not.)

Source: The Cut
Published: Jul 5, 2018
Length: 10 minutes (2,735 words)

Japan’s Vegetable-Eating Men

Recent cultural and policy shifts in Japan have made a previously hard-to-find species far more common: the stay-at-home dad.

Source: Topic
Published: Jun 29, 2018
Length: 13 minutes (3,312 words)

My Adventures at a Camp for Transgender Men

“It was one of the most special times in my life; it was just unreal.”

Author: T Cooper
Source: Mother Jones
Published: Jul 5, 2018
Length: 8 minutes (2,172 words)

A Visual History of the U.S. Census

Vulnerable communities are bracing for an undercount in 2020. It’s a familiar story that traces back to the Articles of Confederation.

Source: CityLab
Published: Jun 29, 2018
Length: 4 minutes (1,240 words)

Can Andy Byford Save the Subways?

The new president of the New York City Transit Authority is smart, seems almost unfailingly polite, and is very English. Whether that’s enough to enable him to wrangle the system he’s been tasked with fixing remains to be seen. William Finnegan paints a deft portrait of Andy Byford settling into his new job and getting his C train legs.

Source: The New Yorker
Published: Jul 2, 2018
Length: 37 minutes (9,389 words)