Birth of a Radical

Before she followed her mentor Steve Bannon to the White House, Julia Hahn was a recent college grad from Beverly Hills who attended the liberal enclaves of Harvard-Westlake and the University of Chicago. Peter Maass attempts to unravel the mystery of what brought a 25-year-old with no distinct political leanings to become a reporter for Breitbart and a voice of the alt-right. The mystery, however, may have a simple answer: “Washington is bursting with strivers in their 20s just like her, eager to find their spot on the terrain of political power, while unsure of what their own attitudes about power really are.”

 

Source: The Intercept
Published: May 7, 2017
Length: 13 minutes (3,300 words)

The Floor is Lava

“Because children needed to play, to let their imaginations explode. Because pretending was sometimes the only way to get through the day.”

Published: Apr 5, 2017
Length: 17 minutes (4,478 words)

“Problems are just another word for life.”

Born of a piece of performance art, Sleepover is a podcast by Sook-Yin Lee now entering its second season. In the show, three strangers spend a night together, sharing their stories in a bid to solve one another’s problems. Equal parts documentary and social experiment, Sleepover is transformative as a listening experience, creating true human connection in world of constant online communication, where emojis and stickers rule, and 130 character limits often leave us merely skimming the surface of important issues.

Published: May 5, 2017
Length: 11 minutes (2,986 words)

Israel’s Invisible Filipino Work Force

Tens of thousands of Filipinos — mostly women — keep Israel’s caregiving sector afloat, while navigating homesickness, cultural tensions, and often-exploitative labor practices.

Published: May 3, 2017
Length: 20 minutes (5,011 words)

My Weekend at a Conference for the Super-Happy

In Miami, a motley crew of scientists, new-age gurus, and TED-flavored influencers join forces to help us all “choose happiness.”

Source: Outside
Published: May 4, 2017
Length: 8 minutes (2,177 words)

On the Frontline With Karachi’s Ambulance Drivers

Muhammad Safdar is an ambulance driver in Karachi, Pakistan, where religious violence, workplace disasters, and multiple explosions indicate just another day on the job. The Edhi Foundation’s ambulance service refuses state funding and donations from businesses they deem unethical. The service is funded largely by donations from “the common man.” Standard work shifts run between 18 and 36 hours and drivers earn about $1.30 US per day.

Source: The Guardian
Published: Apr 6, 2017
Length: 19 minutes (4,763 words)

Is The Gig Economy Working?

“The power to control one’s working life would return, grassroots style, to the people,” writes Nathan Heller about the neoliberal dream of a work environment in which capitalism is democratized. But the gig economy has always been about the illusion of control, and that illusion is enough to keep people outwardly satisfied, but inwardly anxious. What does it all mean, this endless, piecemeal work? If the gig economy is working us to death, it’s also doing so without the satisfaction of a job well done.

Source: The New Yorker
Published: May 8, 2017
Length: 35 minutes (8,800 words)

‘Austin Powers’ at 20: A Shagadelic Oral History

On the making of an unexpected cult classic (ill-tempered mutated sea bass included).

Published: Apr 27, 2017
Length: 14 minutes (3,678 words)

Orator-in-Chief

Even in a time of shrinking attention spans and incessant Presidential tweets, the Presidential speech still holds great power over Americans and public discourse. Former DOJ speechwriter James Santel analyzes the newly published collection of President Obama’s speeches, We Are the Change We Seek, to study Obama’s legacy, his vision of America, and see what his oratory reveals now that the current President relies on 140 characters and can’t distinguish between a colon and an em dash.

Published: Apr 28, 2017
Length: 12 minutes (3,223 words)

The Thieves Who Steal Sunken Warships, Right Down to the Bolts

How pirates are diving down to wrecks on the sea floor in search of scrap, and in the process are stealing 6500-ton ships — in their entirety — leaving only the imprint of the massive hulls on the sea floor.

Source: Outside
Published: May 2, 2017
Length: 13 minutes (3,398 words)