The Man Who Elevated the Art World

When the art world’s high-concept stars wanted to execute a seemingly impossible piece, John Bowsher was the man who made it happen.

Source: Narratively
Published: Jul 4, 2015
Length: 16 minutes (4,170 words)

The Really Big One

Scientists predict that a devastating earthquake and tsunami could destroy cities throughout the Pacific Northwest. A look at worst-case scenarios for the Cascadia subduction zone.

Source: The New Yorker
Published: Jul 13, 2015
Length: 24 minutes (6,074 words)

The Hard Truths of Ta-Nehisi Coates

A profile of Coates, whose book, Between the World and Me, has been hailed by Toni Morrison as “required reading” and given him a comparison to James Baldwin. Coates has made a name for himself by pointing out how structural racism and white supremacy continues to pervade in the U.S. today.

Published: Jul 12, 2015
Length: 22 minutes (5,590 words)

#NoShame in Mental Illness: A Reading List

On the first Monday in July, people take to social media and use the hashtag #NoShame to talk about living with mental illness and overcoming stigma and silence. Here, I’ve collected several stories about mental illness, many written by writers of color.

Source: Longreads
Published: Jul 12, 2015

The Mourning Gown

A drag queen’s final tribute to the grandmother who loved and accepted him.

Published: Jul 3, 2015
Length: 7 minutes (1,800 words)

The Mixed-Up Brothers of Bogotá

The story of how a hospital error led to two pairs of identical twins being raised as two pairs of fraternal twins—one pair in the country and the other in the city—and what happened after the four men discovered the mistake.

Published: Jul 10, 2015
Length: 47 minutes (11,800 words)

Who Is Columba Bush?

Jeb’s spouse of four decades is a mystery to many, even those close to the Bush machine. Hanna Rosin delves into the history of their relationship, and what a campaign will mean for the rare political wife who disdains the public eye.

Source: The Atlantic
Published: Jun 10, 2015
Length: 23 minutes (5,957 words)

The Toughest Ticket in Town

Forget reservations—Are dinner tickets the future of dining?

Source: GQ
Published: Jul 9, 2015
Length: 13 minutes (3,460 words)

Gravity

“My daughter doesn’t have a father, or, she has two fathers, since I don’t know which man her father is. One of her fathers says it’s like Schrödinger’s cat in there.”

Source: Hip Mama
Published: Jul 9, 2015
Length: 7 minutes (1,874 words)

Website, Profiled

The Awl finally gets the profile it has long deserved. How the independent, bootstrapped publication has remained one of the most influential sites for editors and writers since 2009. “By staying aloof from the content cycle, they’ve succeeded in creating a series of publications with coherent identities and distinct sensibilities. Those traits can be hard to maintain today, when stories are encountered alone and out of context on social platforms, and when there are huge incentives for covering viral stories that lie outside of a publication’s wheelhouse.”

Source: The Verge
Published: Jul 9, 2015
Length: 18 minutes (4,677 words)