The Living Disappeared

During Argentina’s military dictatorship, some 500 babies were born in secret torture centers or kidnapped. A group of grandmothers spent the next four decades searching for them. This is the story of one missing boy, named Martín.

Published: Apr 22, 2017
Length: 26 minutes (6,557 words)

What Bullets Do to Bodies

What exactly does a bullet do to flesh as it careens through the body? Jason Fagone profiles Philadelphia trauma surgeon Dr. Amy Goldberg, a woman on the front lines of gun violence as she attempts to repair the broken bodies that arrive daily at Temple University Hospital.

Source: HuffPost
Published: Apr 26, 2017
Length: 31 minutes (7,799 words)

How Hollywood Remembers Steve Bannon

It was always hard to believe Steve Bannon found a certain kind of success in Hollywood—a success that wasn’t measured by the kind of art he produced, but the third or fourth tier deals he managed to push through, often with Hollywood hardly knowing he was even there.

Source: The New Yorker
Published: Apr 24, 2017
Length: 35 minutes (8,800 words)

My Aryan Princess

In this epic, seven-part feature, Scott Farwell tells the story of Carol Blevins, a heroin addict and “Aryan Princess featherwood” (property of a gang member) who became the FBI’s most important confidential informant in a massive, six-year investigation into the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas — an organized crime syndicate responsible for over 100 murders and a huge drug trade. Blevins’ keen eye for detail helped take down 13 members of the gang, and they’ve signalled the “green light” on her assassination in a bid for revenge.

Published: Apr 25, 2017
Length: 85 minutes (21,375 words)

Pro-Wrestling Fans Are Experts on Authenticity

What if the WWF became an entertainment juggernaut not despite its artificiality, but because of it?

Source: Quartz
Published: Apr 25, 2017
Length: 8 minutes (2,238 words)

Why Poverty Is Like a Disease

The emerging science of epigenetics takes the concepts of “meritocracy” and “pulling yourself up by the bootstraps” to task.

Source: Nautilus
Published: Apr 20, 2017
Length: 15 minutes (3,858 words)

A New Day Dawning: How ‘Check Your Head’ Invented the Beastie Boys

“While they were creating the album, the Beastie Boys were also creating themselves.” After Paul’s Boutique was released and viewed as a failure, the Beastie Boys had total freedom to work on their next album. The result—1992’s Check Your Head—presented their most ambitious vision yet, and allowed the trio to finally come into their own.

Source: Flood Magazine
Published: Apr 19, 2017
Length: 11 minutes (2,987 words)

This Lawsuit Goes to 11

This Is Spinal Tap is a comedy classic, but its creators made practically no money from it. Robert Kolker looks at the legal battle over what Hollywood owes Harry Shearer, Rob Reiner, Michael McKean, and Christopher Guest.

Published: Apr 22, 2017
Length: 13 minutes (3,428 words)

I Got Hacked So You Don’t Have To

It happened to John Podesta. It happened to Paul Manafort’s daughter: a type of computer hack called “spearphishing.” Spearphishing differs from typically clumsy mass-mail attempts to gain your online credentials. Social engineers target you alone — masquerading as someone you know — using your natural proclivity to trust against you to gain access to your online accounts. At GQ, Sarah Jeong willingly got spearphished in a bid to understand and share the latest shady tactics of computer baddies, so it doesn’t happen to you.

Source: GQ
Published: Apr 25, 2017
Length: 13 minutes (3,439 words)

In Tijuana, The Recently Deported Are Trapped In Purgatory

In southern California, ICE is deporting people of Mexican descent who have lived most of their lives in the U.S. and feel only a vague connection to the Mexico they’re sent “back” to. “Trump says he’s up there removing criminals,” José Armando Guerrero said from a Tijuana hotel. “I was working. I’m not a criminal.”

Source: LA Weekly
Published: Mar 28, 2017
Length: 17 minutes (4,436 words)