A Relationship of Mutual Exploitation

An interesting look at how Hollywood interacts with the Pentagon, and what kind of Hollywood projects get Pentagon approval.

Published: Jul 29, 2015
Length: 10 minutes (2,551 words)

The Heirs

Ochs-Sulzberger family politics. Three heirs are being considered to be the next publisher of The New York Times. Two work on the editorial side of the paper, while one has focused on business.

Published: Aug 23, 2015
Length: 19 minutes (4,978 words)

‘Space Jam’ Forever: The Website That Wouldn’t Die

In 1996, the ‘Space Jam’ website was a pioneering example of how a studio could market a film online; in 2010, it went viral.

Source: Rolling Stone
Published: Aug 19, 2015
Length: 19 minutes (4,765 words)

Our Sex Education: A Reading List

Here are nine stories about modern-day sex education and our history with bad sex ed classes.

Source: Longreads
Published: Aug 23, 2015

The Tenant From Hell

A Toronto couple unwittingly sublets their house to a serial fraudster who turns it into an illegal boarding house, cramming it with temporary walls and some fifteen tenants.

Source: Toronto Life
Published: Aug 20, 2015
Length: 19 minutes (4,820 words)

A Common Language

A profile of Ron Capps, an Army combat veteran and former Foreign Service officer who served in Iraq, Darfur, Afghanistan, Rwanda, Eastern Congo and Kosovo during his career. After returning home, Capps was suicidal and haunted by PTSD; writing brought him relief and helped him make sense of his experiences.

Source: The Believer
Published: Aug 20, 2015
Length: 26 minutes (6,550 words)

Abolish High School

(Metered paywall.) Rebecca Solnit explores the downsides of high school culture, and why we need to reconsider it.

Published: Aug 21, 2015
Length: 9 minutes (2,300 words)

Welcome to Maternity Hotel California

A look at the underground birth tourism industry, in which foreigners visit another country to have a baby. Carlson tells the story of a Chinese couple who paid $35,000 to stay at a maternity hotel in Los Angeles and have their baby and give him U.S. citizenship.

Source: Rolling Stone
Published: Aug 19, 2015
Length: 29 minutes (7,311 words)

Loving Books in a Dark Age

In the “dark ages” of Europe, people began reading silently to themselves, and a love of books and learning took hold, pioneered by Bede. An excerpt from The Edge of the World: A Cultural History of the North Sea and the Transformation of Europe.

Source: Pegasus Books
Published: Aug 20, 2015
Length: 33 minutes (8,498 words)

The Oral History of the Launch of Epicurious

Recent history: How to put together a website in 1995 when very few people understood how to put together websites.

Source: Epicurious
Published: Aug 18, 2015
Length: 22 minutes (5,646 words)