Gentrification X

Until relatively recently, gentrification was a term used by academics and housing activists. Hancox surveys how it entered the mainstream, and became a rallying cry.

Author: Dan Hancox
Source: The Guardian
Published: Jan 12, 2016
Length: 19 minutes (4,811 words)

Will One Doctor’s Radical New Vaccine End the AIDS Epidemic?

At Portland Monthly, Jennifer Abbasi profiles Louis Picker, a vaccine researcher at Portland’s Oregon Health & Science University who is working toward an AIDS cure within the next two decades.

Published: Dec 21, 2015
Length: 12 minutes (3,092 words)

Mr. (Swipe) Right?

A profile of Tinder co-founder Sean Rad; the formerly ousted frontman is now back in charge of the company.

Published: Jan 11, 2016
Length: 23 minutes (5,873 words)

Narcissiana: On Collecting

An entomologist reflects on fly-hunting, an outhouse of distinguished provenance, and the narcissism of collectors. An excerpt from Fredrik Sjöberg’s The Fly Trap.

Source: Longreads
Published: Jan 13, 2016
Length: 13 minutes (3,476 words)

The Trials of Alice Goffman

Alice Goffman’s controversial first book fueled a fight within sociology over who gets to speak for whom. Lewis-Kraus delves deeply into her story, negotiating larger issues about the distinction between journalistic and academic practices, and the meaning of sociology today.

Published: Jan 12, 2016
Length: 33 minutes (8,485 words)

How the Klan Got Its Hood

A brief but chilling history of the imagery behind the Ku Klux Klan, and an explanation of how the group’s white hood came to be an icon of hatred.

Published: Jan 8, 2016
Length: 8 minutes (2,227 words)

My Right to Die

More Americans are supporting the right of the terminally ill to end their own lives on their own terms, and more states are considering legalizing physician-assisted suicide. For Kevin Drum, this is personal.

Author: Kevin Drum
Source: Mother Jones
Published: Jan 11, 2016
Length: 17 minutes (4,346 words)

The Great British Curry Crisis

Britain’s traditional curry houses are in crisis; can a new generation of entrepreneurs save the nation’s tandoori?

Source: Financial Times
Published: Jan 8, 2016
Length: 15 minutes (3,871 words)

David Bowie, 1947-2016

The legendary musician died on Sunday of cancer. At the Awl, Alex Balk writes: “If you are under the age of 40 you live in a world he helped make, whether you’re aware of it or not. His importance transcends his work in a way that only a few other artists of his generation can claim.” Here are six stories about the rock star who left a mark on music, fashion, and art.

Author: Mike Dang
Source: Longreads
Published: Jan 11, 2016

Inside the Snitch Tank

Edward Humes painstakingly reconstructs the events surrounding the worst mass shooting in Orange County history, and then examines how prosecutorial misconduct and the misuse of jailhouse informants have delayed justice in this masterful, multi-part investigation.

Published: Jan 1, 2016
Length: 77 minutes (19,430 words)