When the Cherries Run Out

On weathering the winters of our emotional lives.

Source: Defector
Published: Feb 2, 2021
Length: 9 minutes (2,480 words)

The Poet Laureate of New Orleans

“Earl King’s lyrical blues and electric stage presence set him apart. But he’s never been properly honored as a Louisiana writer who penned songs for Dr. John, the Neville Brothers, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Jimi Hendrix. New Orleans doesn’t have a poet laureate, may we suggest this posthumous honor for the King?”

Published: Feb 2, 2021
Length: 33 minutes (8,266 words)

The Nightmare Share

“She posted an ad for a roommate. What’s the worst that could happen?”

Source: The Cut
Published: Feb 2, 2021
Length: 26 minutes (6,531 words)

The Case That Made Texas the Death Penalty Capital

“As one of the first death sentences under the new law, Jurek’s case would become a test case, playing a key role in both the nationwide rise of the death penalty and Texas’s place at the center.”

Published: Jan 26, 2021
Length: 19 minutes (4,799 words)

What Can Covid-19 Teach Us About the Mysteries of Smell?

“What exactly was happening inside patients to make their sense of smell disappear in such an unusual way? Could Covid-related smell loss teach us anything new about how the virus worked? Or about how we did?”

Published: Jan 28, 2021
Length: 33 minutes (8,476 words)

The Gilded Age

Greed, grift, and murder—gold mined in the jungles of Peru brought riches to three friends in Miami, but it also carried ruin.

Author: Scott Eden
Source: The Atavist
Published: Jan 31, 2021
Length: 100 minutes (25,000 words)

The Victims Left Behind by Genetic Genealogy

“Reading the news, you might think that “young, pretty, white women are being killed at astronomically high rates,” says Amy Michael, a biological anthropologist at the University of New Hampshire who works on unidentified bodies. But it’s actually Black men and Indigenous women who are disproportionately likely to be murdered, she says. “So where is that?””

Source: The Atlantic
Published: Jan 27, 2021
Length: 9 minutes (2,327 words)

The True Story of Jess Krug, the White Professor Who Posed as Black for Years—Until It All Blew Up Last Fall

“She fabricated harrowing personal backstories, peddled gross caricatures, and spoke from perspectives she had no right to claim. And nobody stopped her.”

Source: Washingtonian
Published: Jan 27, 2021
Length: 19 minutes (4,892 words)

Luck, Foresight and Science: How an Unheralded Team Developed a COVID-19 Vaccine in Record Time

Credit for the COVID-19 vaccine “belongs to a series of uncelebrated discoveries dating back at least 15 years – and a constellation of unsung scientists.”

Source: USA Today
Published: Jan 26, 2021
Length: 35 minutes (8,808 words)

The Mirage of the Black Middle Class

“Black Americans have been shut out of stability at every turn.”

Source: Vox
Published: Jan 26, 2021
Length: 15 minutes (3,845 words)