My Father’s Weakness for Beer Never Lessened His Strengths

A personal essay by Pauline Campos in which she reflects on her relationship with her functional alcoholic father, whom she believes never let his drinking interfere with being a good father.

Source: Longreads
Published: Jun 15, 2017
Length: 8 minutes (2,131 words)

The Scalp from Sand Creek

In 1864, United States soldiers murdered 200 Cheyenne and Arapaho families in a small village, and they pilfered their remains as trophies. Museums and private collectors finally returned what material they had to the tribes. The questions now are: does repatriation help First Nations heal? And what else can be done?

Source: Aeon
Published: Jun 8, 2017
Length: 7 minutes (1,976 words)

In Search of Fear

High-wire artist Philippe Petit reflects on a lifetime of fear — its sound, its body language, and how to eliminate the taste of fear from your mouth: “To fear in life is human. And difficult to avoid. And a rude awakening each time. If it seizes you, be proud of your fifteen minutes of fear.”

Published: Jun 13, 2017
Length: 7 minutes (1,950 words)

A Number of Reasons I’ve Been Depressed Lately

In this day and age, this is a pretty short list.

Published: Jun 5, 2017
Length: 9 minutes (2,313 words)

David Brown’s Quiet Resilience

The former Dallas police chief is familiar with loss: Violence took his son, younger brother, and former partner. His response to the killing of five officers last July was inspiring. He’s not done giving back.

Source: Longreads
Published: Jun 14, 2017
Length: 15 minutes (3,755 words)

A Sociology of the Smartphone

Smartphones have altered the texture of everyday life, digesting many longstanding spaces and rituals, and transforming others beyond recognition.

Source: Verso Books
Published: Jun 13, 2017
Length: 29 minutes (7,433 words)

Mosul’s Library Without Books

How the Mosul University Library — once home to books and documents dating to antiquity and destroyed by ISIS militants — is becoming the epicenter of Iraq’s cultural rebirth as the homemade mines are removed, Mosul University is rebuilt, and the book drives begin.

Source: The New Yorker
Published: Jun 12, 2017
Length: 6 minutes (1,541 words)

Death Trips

Is dying alone the worst possible thing that can happen? With the onset of death doulas, you need not impose on friends and relatives in your inevitable decline or suffer the shame of kodokushi, the Japanese term for ‘“lonely death,” meaning the quiet but messy end of a solitary life.’

Source: The Baffler
Published: Jun 1, 2017
Length: 14 minutes (3,624 words)

How Wells Fargo’s Cutthroat Corporate Culture Allegedly Drove Bankers to Fraud

Between 2011 and 2015, staff at Wells Fargo banks created over 1.5 million deposit accounts and 565,000 credit-card accounts without customers approval. The practice is called ‘gaming.’ It violated company ethics, but too many employees at the company let it happen.

Source: Vanity Fair
Published: Jun 1, 2017
Length: 23 minutes (5,921 words)

The Long, Lonely Road of Chelsea Manning

The New York Times Magazine has the first interview and profile of Chelsea Manning after her release from prison after seven years: “When I asked her to draw lessons from her journey, she grew uneasy. ‘I don’t have. … ‘ she started. ‘Like, I’ve been so busy trying to survive for the past seven years that I haven’t focused on that at all.'”

Published: Jun 12, 2017
Length: 38 minutes (9,500 words)