The Crazy Story of the Professor Who Came to Stay—and Wouldn’t Leave

It’s not easy to evict someone in California. Usually that’s a good thing. (And also, don’t mess with Judith Butler.)

Author: Ian Gordon
Source: Mother Jones
Published: Dec 29, 2016
Length: 12 minutes (3,061 words)

Beyoncé’s Year of Peace and Misunderstanding

An analysis of the ways in which Beyonce’s “Formation” and “Lemonade” bore reflections of America’s divisions, and of the polarized views of those works held by people and politicians on the right.

Source: The Atlantic
Published: Dec 29, 2016
Length: 8 minutes (2,092 words)

Rewriting the Code of Life

Can we eliminate diseases like Lyme and malaria by rewriting DNA? Specter walks us through a powerful new biological tool capable of altering the genetic destiny of a species.

Source: The New Yorker
Published: Dec 26, 2016
Length: 28 minutes (7,159 words)

OxyContin Goes Global — ‘We’re Only Just Getting Started’

Part three of an investigation by the Los Angeles Times looking into OxyContin’s role in the opioid epidemic.

Published: Dec 18, 2016
Length: 16 minutes (4,022 words)

Can a Gun Victim and a Gun Advocate Change Each Other’s Minds?

Gun advocates and victims of gun violence meet together to participate in a “story exchange” in which they pair up to share personal stories, and then tell their partner’s story in the first person in front of the group. The process, organized by Narrative 4, is supposed to engender “transformative empathy,” to get two people with opposing points of views to understand the other side.

Published: Dec 26, 2016
Length: 25 minutes (6,443 words)

Fuck Work

Economists believe in full employment. Americans think that work builds character. But what if jobs aren’t working anymore?

Source: Aeon
Published: Nov 25, 2016
Length: 12 minutes (3,021 words)

What to Do When Grandma Has Dementia

“Running is a great way to stay celibate. Plus, it helps you clear your mind after being called names by Grandma during her demented fits. Your prayer life gets better when you run marathons. It’s important to keep your mind sharp and your body strong. You have to lift a fully grown adult into a bath tub. You have to think for two people, you and her.”

Source: Rivet Journal
Published: Oct 5, 2016
Length: 22 minutes (5,644 words)

Carrie Fisher’s ‘Fresh Air’ Interview

“Oh, I think I do overshare, and I sometime marvel that I do it. But it’s sort of – in a way, it’s my way of trying to understand myself. I don’t know. I get it out of my head. It creates community when you talk about private things and you can find other people that have the same things. Otherwise, I don’t know – I felt very lonely with some of the issues that I had or history that I had. And when I shared about it, I found that others had it, too.”

Source: NPR
Published: Nov 28, 2016
Length: 24 minutes (6,000 words)

The Rejection

Writing is not farming or surgery or road construction, but it isn’t easy either. Rejection stings. It undermines, and it’s unavoidable. When a talented, respected memoirist attends a literary event with a poet who left a painful mark on her, she reconciles with her past and questions not only what sort of marks she’s left on her peers, but what she’s made of her old injury.

Source: Kenyon Review
Published: Nov 1, 2016
Length: 16 minutes (4,105 words)

Russians at the Gates

After WWII, Russian forces occupied east Germany. The soldiers and their barracks became part of the fabric of life, though still separate from it, as was the forced camaraderie between citizens of each nation, “the sort acted out at parades rather than genuinely felt.” Here’s what one child’s life was like in occupied Germany beside some of those barracks, and what it means to stay cordial, curious but proud, living beside your occupiers.

Published: Oct 1, 2016
Length: 20 minutes (5,039 words)