The Immigration-Obsessed, Polarized, Garbage-Fire Election of 1800

A madman versus a crook? Unexpected twists? Fake news? Welcome to the election of 1800.

Source: Pantheon
Published: Mar 28, 2017
Length: 32 minutes (8,149 words)

Accidental Therapists: For Insect Detectives, the Trickiest Cases Involve the Bugs that Aren’t Really There

The psychiatric condition known as delusional parasitosis is poorly understood, haphazardly treated and on the rise. Public entomologists like Gale Ridge work on the front lines of treatment, where the limits of science and medicine meet.

Source: STAT
Published: Mar 22, 2017
Length: 17 minutes (4,484 words)

The Wildest Party on Earth

Eva Holland profiles the sweaty, rhino-skinned, costumed competitors of Horseshoe Hell — a competitive rock-climbing race in Arkansas, in which participants attempt to complete as many climbs as they can in a 24-hour period in blazing temperatures.

Source: Outside
Published: Mar 21, 2017
Length: 17 minutes (4,358 words)

‘We’re Creating a World That Feels True’

“Getting television from an idea in someone’s head to the screen in your living room (or on your laptop) is difficult, fast-paced, and complicated work.” Caroline Framke shadows the crew of FX’s The Americans during the production of season four and offers a closer look at how a TV show is made.

Source: Vox
Published: Jun 9, 2016
Length: 25 minutes (6,487 words)

Inside Alabama’s Auto Jobs Boom: Cheap Wages, Little Training, Crushed Limbs

A powerful in-depth look at the human costs of bringing auto parts factory jobs to Alabama — with inadequate training for employees and unreasonable expectations for output. “American consumers are not going to want to buy cars stained with the blood of American workers.”

Published: Mar 24, 2017
Length: 14 minutes (3,588 words)

Excerpts from Taxi

A selection of Khaled Al Khamissi’s short story collection Taxi appears in the International Writers edition of the literary magazine Ninth Letter. A bestseller in Egypt, Taxi contains fifty-eight fictional monologues of Cairo cabbies, and paints a rich portrait of North African life through the voices of the people.

Source: Ninth Letter
Published: Oct 1, 2016
Length: 13 minutes (3,292 words)

A Thousand Feet Per Second: OK Computer’s Sublime Velocity

On the 20th anniversary of Radiohead’s OK Computer, Anwen Crawford writes an analysis of — and love letter to — the album that “manages to suspend time at the speed of sound.”

Source: Pitchfork
Published: Mar 22, 2017
Length: 8 minutes (2,070 words)

A Culinary Legend’s Next Fight

Paula Wolfert’s groundbreaking cookbooks changed the way we eat. An Alzheimer’s diagnosis changed her life, but not her outlook.

Source: Longreads
Published: Mar 23, 2017
Length: 9 minutes (2,256 words)

Trump, Trolls, and Rediscovering My Jewish Identity

A personal essay by Eve Peyser about overcoming her reluctance to identify as Jewish, and coming to terms with her heritage, in the face of increased antisemitism ushered in by our 45th President.

Author: Eve Peyser
Source: Vice Magazine
Published: Mar 23, 2017
Length: 6 minutes (1,622 words)

Like Art

Making art is hard. For some people, it isn’t hard deciding to make art for commercial purposes.

Published: Feb 27, 2017
Length: 9 minutes (2,310 words)