The Sanitized Words of Complicated Women

Essayist Dianca London Potts wonders whether our culture’s tendency toward turning the words of writers and theorists we admire into soundbites and affirmations easily consumed on Twitter, coffee mugs, and tote bags helps us avoid truly reading and absorbing their work.

Source: Shondaland
Published: Apr 12, 2018
Length: 6 minutes (1,603 words)

A Voyage Along Trump’s Wall

With a group that includes Teddy Roosevelt’s great-grandson and Senator Tom Udall, New Yorker writer Nick Paumgarten floats the most rugged section of the Rio Grande to see the canyon lands and wilderness experience that Trump’s border wall would destroy.

Source: The New Yorker
Published: Apr 23, 2018
Length: 32 minutes (8,109 words)

‘I Expected to Have a Day Job for the Rest of My Life’

How Philip Glass went from driving taxis to becoming one of the most celebrated composers of our time.

Source: The Atlantic
Published: Apr 20, 2018
Length: 12 minutes (3,096 words)

How Janelle Monáe Found Her Voice

Jenna Wortham profiles actress/singer/songwriter Janelle Monáe on the eve of the debut of her newest album, “Dirty Computer.” With many sounds vetted by the late Prince, and an accompanying film, the album will the be artist’s first release without the use of her alter ego, the android Cindi Mayweather, and will touch on themes of non-binary gender identity and female sexuality.

Published: Apr 19, 2018
Length: 33 minutes (8,296 words)

Oregon Grew More Cannabis Than Customers Can Smoke. Now Shops and Farmers Are Left With Mountains of Unwanted Bud

It’s, like, market forces, man.

Source: Willamette Week
Published: Apr 18, 2018
Length: 10 minutes (2,672 words)

To Hug, Or Not to Hug

In this personal essay, Emily Meg Weinstein considers the complexities of meeting and greeting in this #MeToo moment.

Source: Longreads
Published: Apr 20, 2018
Length: 14 minutes (3,682 words)

Inside the Black Market Hummingbird Love Charm Trade

“Catch a hummingbird. Kill it. Wrap it in underwear, cover it with honey—and sell it to arouse passion in a lover.” On the booming black market for dead hummingbirds to be made into Latin love charms called chuparosas.

Published: Apr 18, 2018
Length: 20 minutes (5,154 words)

It’s OK to Say if You Went Back in Time and Killed Baby Hitler

“When you say to people in the street ‘time travel,’ what do they say? They say ‘kill Baby Hitler.'”

Source: Big Echo
Published: Apr 15, 2018
Length: 11 minutes (2,792 words)

Databodies in Codespace

As the bioengineering of people and cities converges, where do we locate the public sphere?

Source: Places
Published: Apr 19, 2018
Length: 20 minutes (5,141 words)

The $100 Laptop That Was Going to Change the World—Then It All Went Wrong

One Laptop Per Child was the vision of MIT Media Lab founder Nicholas Negroponte, who unveiled the small, green, affordable hand-cranked laptop in 2005. The marketing touted a laptop that would cost $100—except Negroponte quickly learned that creating that was impossible

Source: The Verge
Published: Apr 16, 2018
Length: 21 minutes (5,300 words)