How Russia Let Britain Hide Its Dirty Money

Can rich Russian businesspeople, criminals and oligarchs influence British politics by investing their money in English assets? And is it too late to purge this money?

Source: The Guardian
Published: May 25, 2018
Length: 20 minutes (5,086 words)

The Face in the Waves

“Jaimee was beloved. Jaimee was struggling. And then Jaimee was gone.”

Author: Evan Allen
Source: Boston Globe
Published: May 31, 2018
Length: 21 minutes (5,458 words)

In the Shadow of a King

Micah Wimmer examines an extraordinary—and tragic—confluence of events that happened 50 years ago: on the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr and the 1968 NBA finals between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers, the first in which a black coach (Celtics great Bill Russell) guided a team to the NBA title.

Source: FanSided
Published: May 31, 2018
Length: 15 minutes (3,815 words)

The Hole in My Soul

A personal essay in which Sara Eckel recalls surprising her agnostic parents by becoming a born-again Christian at age 10. It was the first of many attempts to believe.

Author: Sara Eckel
Source: Longreads
Published: Jun 1, 2018
Length: 17 minutes (4,267 words)

They Shared Drugs. Someone Died. Does That Make Them Killers?

Rosa Goldensohn’s year-long investigation published by the New York Times is a thorough look at a new phenomenon among prosecutors all over the country: charging the friends, family and fellow users of people who overdose on drugs with murder.

Published: May 25, 2018
Length: 12 minutes (3,130 words)

Looking for Life on a Flat Earth

Alan Burdick spent two days at a North Carolina convention for Flat-Earthers. In a post-truth era, should more people shed their spherical beliefs and admit science may not be science at all?

Source: The New Yorker
Published: May 30, 2018
Length: 18 minutes (4,720 words)

How Reese Witherspoon is Flipping the Script on Hollywood

A profile of actor, director, producer, and literary taste-maker Reese Witherspoon, with a focus on her influential media company, Hello Sunshine, through which she’s creating roles and jobs for women, and changing the way movies and shows are made.

Source: Fast Company
Published: May 30, 2018
Length: 15 minutes (3,788 words)

Is The Scripps National Spelling Bee Evil?

Back in 2013, for Deadspin, Drew Magary attended the annual Scripps Spelling Bee, in which 11 million kids spell off across America in a bid to become the brainy few who land onstage for the final round, and learns how such a simple contest has been sullied by the need to keep the event exciting for ESPN’s television audience.

Source: Deadspin
Published: May 31, 2013
Length: 14 minutes (3,723 words)

The Hidden Queer History Behind “A League of Their Own”

“The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League did everything it could to keep lesbians off the diamond. Seventy-five years later, its gay stars are finally opening up.”

Source: Narratively
Published: May 30, 2018
Length: 14 minutes (3,542 words)

The ‘Sex Cult’ That Preached Empowerment

How did a former television star and a self-help guru convince women to join an organization named Nxivm that’s now being accused of running a “sex-slave cult”? It turns out that “humans are highly programmable.”

Published: May 30, 2018
Length: 34 minutes (8,632 words)