A Whistleblower’s Horror Story

Michael Winston blew the while on Countrywide’s reckless subprime lending practices. He lost his job and has been diagnosed with laryngeal cancer.

Source: Rolling Stone
Published: Feb 18, 2015
Length: 11 minutes (2,822 words)

Brother from Another Mother

“It’s not all pathos, pathos, pathos. One sketch ponders the eternal question ‘What if names were farts?'” Zadie Smith spends time with Comedy Central stars Key & Peele.

Source: The New Yorker
Published: Feb 19, 2015
Length: 34 minutes (8,596 words)

An Unlikely Path to Jihad

A young man’s journey from a middle-class Cairo neighborhood to the ISIS killing fields in Syria.

Published: Feb 18, 2015
Length: 8 minutes (2,153 words)

The Art of Authenticity: A Conversation with PostSecret’s Frank Warren

For the past ten years Frank Warren has been collecting and publishing other people’s anonymous secrets, sent via postcard, on his blog, PostSecret. The stories behind the postcards span the entire spectrum of human drama, from tales of petty revenge to accounts of abuse and severe depression.

Source: Longreads
Published: Feb 19, 2015
Length: 13 minutes (3,354 words)

To Shill a Mockingbird

How a manuscript’s discovery became Harper Lee’s “new” novel.

Source: Washington Post
Published: Feb 16, 2015
Length: 17 minutes (4,380 words)

How Noma Took Tokyo

The Copenhagen-based restaurant Noma is regularly rated as the world’s best; Tokyo is the gourmet capital of the world, with more Michelin stars than any other city. For five overwhelming and intense weeks, Noma came to Tokyo, with a waiting list of 60,000 diners. But could a restaurant renowned for its “local” focus succeed in a foreign city?

Source: The Independent
Published: Feb 15, 2015
Length: 8 minutes (2,035 words)

Queens of the West

Horses, rhinestones, spurs and heartbreak—inside the journey to be Miss Rodeo America.

Source: Matter
Published: Oct 6, 2014
Length: 21 minutes (5,350 words)

The Hidden Story of Harley Quinn and How She Became the Superhero World’s Most Successful Woman

Riesman talks to the creators of the popular comic character, and explains how she’s evolved over the years.

Published: Feb 17, 2015
Length: 16 minutes (4,197 words)

Think of This as a Window: Remembering the Life and Work of Maggie Estep

“I moved to Lower Manhattan when I was seventeen. The only things I cared about were books and music.”

Source: Longreads
Published: Feb 18, 2015
Length: 15 minutes (3,795 words)

Terrorist or Freedom Fighter?

Adventure turns to tragedy when a troubled army vet joins the fight against Assad in Syria.

Source: The New Yorker
Published: Feb 16, 2015
Length: 37 minutes (9,470 words)