Scott Rudin, As Told By His Assistants

“A portrait of a toxic workplace.”

Published: Apr 22, 2021
Length: 37 minutes (9,300 words)

The End of the Road

“Living in a van represented a new, glamorous ideal, unburdened from homeownership and a steady job — unmoored, even, from the physical world itself. If owning a home was no longer possible, there was endless space on Instagram.”

Source: The Drift
Published: Apr 25, 2021
Length: 22 minutes (5,559 words)

How to Map Nothing

“What if we took each sourdough selfie, each Zoom class, each Peloton ride, each Netflix binge and mapped the ecology of resources and services that have made it possible for some of us? And at the same time impossible for others?” On pandemic maps and the Great Pause.

Source: Places
Published: Mar 23, 2021
Length: 25 minutes (6,455 words)

The Rise and Fall of a Double Agent

“Cameron Ortis was an RCMP officer privy to the inner workings of Canada’s national security—and in a prime position to exploit them.”

Source: The Walrus
Published: Apr 20, 2021
Length: 17 minutes (4,388 words)

Hathi

“Millions suffered through terror and upheaval in the turbulent years following the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. One of them was a baby elephant from India.”

Source: Fifty Two
Published: Apr 15, 2021
Length: 17 minutes (4,480 words)

Searching for My Grandmother in The Heart Mountain Sentinel

Miyako Pleines explores the life of her grandmother within the pages of the Heart Mountain Sentinel, the newspaper of an internment camp for Japanese Americans.

Source: Ploughshares
Published: Feb 19, 2021
Length: 7 minutes (1,917 words)

‘Look After My Babies’: In Ethiopia, a Tigray Family’s Quest

War broke out in Ethiopia’s Tigray region at the worst possible time for Abraha Kinfe Gebremariam and his family: his wife was giving birth to twins amid a massacre.

Author: Cara Anna
Source: AP News
Published: Apr 23, 2021
Length: 8 minutes (2,221 words)

Big Dog’s Backyard Ultra: The Toughest, Weirdest Race You’ve Never Heard of

But how do runners actually get their head around not knowing whether a race will end in six hours or 60 hours? The verdict from the most successful competitors is simple: don’t even attempt to.

Source: BBC
Published: Apr 21, 2021
Length: 15 minutes (3,900 words)

Scar Stories: The Toll of Colon Cancer

“When Chadwick Boseman died from colon cancer, Ibram X. Kendi, one of the country’s most renowned historians of racism, felt moved to speak up about his own fight against a disease that disproportionately afflicts Black men. He decided to reveal the scars from his own surgery—to wear them as visible signs of triumph over adversity. Here, alongside six other patients and survivors, he bares his wounds—and reckons with the disease’s lasting effects on his body and his spirit.”

Source: GQ
Published: Apr 22, 2021
Length: 16 minutes (4,140 words)

Why Wouldn’t I Believe You?

The Leftovers makes two competing claims: that other people are mostly what gives life meaning; and that, despite guaranteed loss, we have to invest in them anyway.”

Published: Apr 21, 2021
Length: 9 minutes (2,330 words)