Never Before Was So Much of the World Fenced Off

If Google Maps were honest, it would show barbed wire everywhere – in combat zones, along national borders, around ranches, schools, and prisons: a brief history of the Devil’s Rope.

Published: Feb 5, 2016
Length: 9 minutes (2,406 words)

The Falling Man

Richard Drew’s photo of the man falling from the Twin Towers: in the United States, people have taken pains to banish it from the record of September 11, 2001. The story behind it, though, and the search for the man pictured in it, are our most intimate connection to the horror of that day.

Author: Tom Junod
Source: Esquire
Published: Sep 11, 2016
Length: 29 minutes (7,385 words)

‘We’re the Only Plane in the Sky’

An oral history of what happened on Air Force One in the hours after the 9/11 attacks. #Sept11

Source: Politico
Published: Sep 11, 2016
Length: 65 minutes (16,280 words)

All Hail the Queen: Five Stories About Pageants

In this list, you’ll find stories about drag royalty, the price of the perfect Western wardrobe, the perils of butt glue, and more.

Source: Longreads
Published: Sep 11, 2016

The Plight of the Overworked Nonprofit Employee

Timm looks at the situation that has become the norm at many mission-driven organizations with tight budgets, where staff are often required to work long, unpaid hours. But at what cost?

Source: The Atlantic
Published: Aug 24, 2016
Length: 11 minutes (2,801 words)

The Story of My Leg

How military technology saved the veteran of a different kind of war—a young man who faced a leg amputation after years of complications from spina bifida.

Source: Men’s Journal
Published: Sep 8, 2016
Length: 9 minutes (2,291 words)

Meet Charpu, the Drone-Racing Megastar Who Doesn’t Feel Like Racing

How Carlos “Charpu” Puertolas became one of the early pioneers of drone-racing, despite his aversion to actually competing.

Source: Wired
Published: Sep 9, 2016
Length: 11 minutes (2,853 words)

Little People, Big Woes in Hollywood: Low Pay, Degrading Jobs and a Tragic Death

From the early days of The Wizard of Oz to current castings as Santa’s elves and comical villains, little people have a complicated relationship with the entertainment industry. The death of the actress known as “Mini Kim Kardashian” has many people wondering why progress has come so slowly to working professionals with dwarfism.

Published: Aug 25, 2016
Length: 21 minutes (5,259 words)

My Father Was An Abusive Sociopath, And I Was The Only One He Had Left

Christina Wallace’s devastating essay about being called upon to place into a nursing home the sociopathic father she hadn’t seen in years—who’d molested her, and beaten her mother—and to then attend his funeral.

Source: Elle
Published: Sep 8, 2016
Length: 17 minutes (4,328 words)

The FBI Accused Him of Terrorism. He Couldn’t Tie His Shoes.

A disabled 18-year-old named Peyton Pruitt, who functions at the level of an 8-year-old child, is accused of becoming an ISIS recruit.

Source: Esquire
Published: Sep 8, 2016
Length: 14 minutes (3,722 words)