The Suburbanization of the US Working Class

As the American working class is forced out of urban cores and into suburbia, community organizers must adapt their strategies to keep up.

Source: Jacobin
Published: Oct 1, 2014
Length: 11 minutes (2,845 words)

A Resourceful Woman

“Mary Mazur, 61, shrank into the blankets, muttering into the leaves, whispering to her only friend.” An Instagram essay by Jeff Sharlet.

Source: Longreads
Published: Feb 17, 2015
Length: 23 minutes (5,994 words)

We Shall Never Know

On money, murder and the enduring mystery of Beverly Hills’ Greystone Mansion. The estate was once home LA’s richest oil tycoon, and is now one of the city’s most-used movie locations.

Source: KCET
Published: Jul 25, 2014
Length: 15 minutes (3,870 words)

The Shape of Things to Come

A profile of Apple designer Jonathan Ive.

Author: Ian Parker
Source: The New Yorker
Published: Feb 16, 2015
Length: 66 minutes (16,540 words)

Last Man Running

A story about the Last Man competition. Last Man is a loosely organized, annual battle to be the “Last Man in America to Know Who Won the Super Bowl.”

Source: The New Yorker
Published: Feb 13, 2015
Length: 8 minutes (2,098 words)

The Trouble With Oxy

Occidental, a small liberal arts college, has been the subject of two federal complaints over the way it has handled sexual assault cases. The school is currently bitterly divided: faculty and students are fighting for justice, while the administration is battling bad publicity.

Author: Mona Gable
Published: Feb 10, 2015
Length: 26 minutes (6,563 words)

Unusual Hobbies: A Reading List

In this collection, you’ll meet folks who look at planes, at compasses, at building blocks and at each other (in full Civil War uniform, no less).

Source: Longreads
Published: Feb 15, 2015

The House Made of Sugar

“‘The House Made of Sugar,’ by the late Argentinian writer Silvina Ocampo, is a story about a woman named Cristina who is too superstitious to live in a house that had been previously occupied. Her husband deceives her and when they move into their dream home based upon his lie, strange and worrisome things start to happen that suggest Cristina’s fears were warranted. Newly translated into English by Daniel Balderston, with a preface by Borges, Ocampo’s stories are unsettling and off-kilter, revelatory and readable.”

Source: Longreads
Published: Feb 14, 2015
Length: 12 minutes (3,235 words)

Homeward

Hugo Lucitante was 10 years old when his Amazon tribe sent him to Seattle to live with a 22-year-old college student. The tribe hoped that he would return to them with a Western education and the knowledge to help guide his people through a changing world.

Published: Feb 12, 2015
Length: 23 minutes (5,903 words)

After a Teen’s Overdose, the Hunt for Someone to Hold Responsible

Can drug dealers be prosecuted for overdose deaths? One Texas city thinks so.

Source: Dallas Observer
Published: Feb 11, 2015
Length: 14 minutes (3,733 words)