‘I Was Killed When I Was 27’: The Curious Afterlife of Terence Trent D’Arby

In 1987, Terence Trent D’Arby’s debut album sold a million copies in just three days, and the music press went crazy for him. There was nowhere to go but down.

Source: New Statesman
Published: Oct 9, 2015
Length: 18 minutes (4,697 words)

Speaking in Tongues

On J.R.R. Tolkien, George R.R. Martin, and the art of invented languages.

Published: Oct 8, 2015
Length: 10 minutes (2,637 words)

In Search of a Separate Peace: Five Stories About Communes

What is the purpose, the lure, of communal living? Why have the residents of different communes in United States chosen isolation over convenience? In these five stories, you’ll meet men and women—many, members in the LGBTQIA+ community—who have chosen, with mixed results, to dedicate themselves to their chosen families.

Source: Longreads
Published: Oct 11, 2015

A Complicated Production

‘Steve Jobs’ was no easy film to get made. Galloway chronicles the high-powered spats, threats from Jobs’s widow, and Sony hack fallout along the way.

Published: Oct 7, 2015
Length: 17 minutes (4,488 words)

For the Love of Duke

A West Virginia woman falls in love with a mysterious man online, then gets roped into a global scam.

Source: Wired
Published: Oct 9, 2015
Length: 23 minutes (5,982 words)

Inside the Race to Stop the Next Mass Shooter

Mass murder is not an impulsive crime—so can threat assessment teams prevent it from happening?

Source: Mother Jones
Published: Oct 5, 2015
Length: 21 minutes (5,481 words)

How ESPN’s Fear Of The Truth Defeated “Black Grantland”

An argument about why ESPN’s tactic of appealing to as many people as possible ensured that a “well-funded black-interest site written and edited by blacks” could never exist within the company.

Source: Deadspin
Published: Oct 6, 2015
Length: 15 minutes (3,832 words)

The Senior Citizens and the Jamaican Lotto Scammers

Inside the Jamaican lottery scam industry, which targets nearly 300,000 Americans a year, most of them elderly.

Source: CNN
Published: Oct 7, 2015
Length: 20 minutes (5,082 words)

The Teachings of Don Carlos

Pulling back the curtain on Carlos Castaneda, one of America’s most secretive and popular authors.

Author: Mike Sager
Source: Longreads
Published: Oct 8, 2015
Length: 84 minutes (21,125 words)

The Passion of Nicki Minaj

Vanessa Grigoriadis meets the world’s biggest female rap superstar. (Love the ending to this one.)

Published: Oct 7, 2015
Length: 19 minutes (4,762 words)