Can Love Sparked at Burning Man Last in Everyday Life?

While grieving her brother’s suicide, Maria Finn went to Burning Man and fell in love. Afterward, she learned why festival regulars caution against making big decisions or commitments until at least three months back into “default life.”

Author: Maria Finn
Source: Longreads
Published: Aug 28, 2017
Length: 17 minutes (4,403 words)

The Princess Myth

“Royal time should move slowly and by its own laws: creeping, like the flow of chrism from a jar.” On the 20th anniversary of her death, Hilary Mantel performs a remarkable post-mortem on Diana, Princess of Wales.

Source: The Guardian
Published: Aug 26, 2017
Length: 15 minutes (3,900 words)

72 Women. 1250 Miles. No GPS.

Using only topographical maps to navigate, a group of determined adventurers spent seven days driving the rutted back roads of the desert West, in the US’s first all-female road rally. It’s a hell of a ride. The terrain would eat most men alive.

Source: Marie Claire
Published: Aug 23, 2017
Length: 13 minutes (3,420 words)

Wrapping the Sunday Paper for the Last Time

As a teen in Cincinnati in the 90s, Andrew Bockhold hated having to give up much of each weekend to help his father out with his paper route. In this personal essay, he looks back with new appreciation for a business than helped his family survive, before it was shut down.

Source: Longreads
Published: Aug 25, 2017
Length: 12 minutes (3,182 words)

I Want to Persuade You to Care About Other People

After successfully convincing her conservative, Jewish grandfather that affirmative action is necessary and valid, Danielle Tcholakian commits to trying to get through to people who think differently than she does — as a journalist, and as a person in the world.

Source: Longreads
Published: Aug 24, 2017
Length: 22 minutes (5,681 words)

The President of Blank Sucking Nullity

“It is not quite fair to say that Donald Trump lacks core beliefs, but to the extent that we can take apart these beliefs they amount to Give Donald Trump Your Money and Donald Trump Should Really Be on Television More.”

Author: David Roth
Source: The Baffler
Published: Aug 22, 2017
Length: 7 minutes (1,828 words)

Garni-Geghard

When a young woman returns to Armenia to reconnect with her family’s ancestral home, she discovers that her complex cultural identity has as much to do with God and her mother as her motherland.

Source: Ecotone Journal
Published: Jun 1, 2017
Length: 24 minutes (6,058 words)

Talking to My Daughter About Charlottesville

Black UVA alum Taylor Harris writes about explaining the racist violence on the Charlottesville campus to her 6-year-old daughter, who hadn’t yet personally encountered racism or ever learned about racist violence. Only a day before the “Unite the Right” protest that led to white supremacists beating Dre Harris and killing Heather Heyer, her daughter and husband had been right there, buying ice cream. Harris wrestles with informing her daughter, because she doesn’t want to rob her of her innocence.

Source: Catapult
Published: Aug 23, 2017
Length: 7 minutes (1,903 words)

The Great Pot Monopoly Mystery

Amanda Chicago Lewis tries to track down the true identities behind BioTech Industries, a company trying to secure utility patents on pot. These strict blanket patents would allow them to slap a licensing fees on anyone who grows and sells marijuana.

Source: GQ
Published: Aug 23, 2017
Length: 20 minutes (5,182 words)

The Cop Who Became a Robber

A 70-year old retired detective started robbing banks in his free time. Now his time’s no longer free. They call him the Snowbird Bandit. Why did he turn to crime?

Author: Jeff Maysh
Published: Aug 22, 2017
Length: 20 minutes (5,245 words)