The End of the Trail

The strange saga behind The End of the Trail, one of the most recognizable sculptures of Western art, and the “odyssey of chutzpah and horse-trading” that brought it to Oklahoma’s National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.

Author: Mark Brown
Source: This Land Press
Published: Dec 3, 2014
Length: 24 minutes (6,162 words)

The New Arcadia

How a sleepy Los Angeles suburb became the “Chinese Beverly Hills.”

Published: Dec 3, 2014
Length: 7 minutes (1,799 words)

Leaving Fraternity Culture Behind: Our College Pick

In an essay he wrote about leaving his fraternity, Wesleyan University senior Scott Ellman considered his school’s sexualized culture and his own discomfort within it.

Source: Longreads
Published: Dec 5, 2014

My Great-Great-Aunt Discovered Francium. And It Killed Her.

On the life of Marguerite Perey, the personal technician for Marie Curie, who sacrificed her life studying radiochemistry.

Published: Dec 3, 2014
Length: 14 minutes (3,575 words)

Saved

There is a drug that can reverse an otherwise fatal heroin overdose within minutes. So why has it been such a struggle to get it into the hands of addicts?

Source: Mosaic Science
Published: Nov 28, 2014
Length: 13 minutes (3,398 words)

Confessions of a Mortician

A vivid profile of a sixth-generation funeral director.

Source: Matter
Published: Nov 30, 2014
Length: 23 minutes (5,942 words)

The Carlton Complex Fire: A Harvest of Ashes

When the largest wildfire in Washington state history engulfed one of its oldest orchards.

Source: Seattle Met
Published: Dec 1, 2014
Length: 14 minutes (3,575 words)

Jason Molina’s Long Dark Blues

The Songs: Ohia and Magnolia Electric Co. front man was talented, prolific and a “balladeer of heartbreak.” Max Blau chronicles his career and tragic descent into alcoholism.

Author: Max Blau
Source: Chicago Reader
Published: Oct 1, 2014
Length: 28 minutes (7,000 words)

Life Sentence

On the complicated reality of surviving a life-threatening disease.

Source: Maisonneuve
Published: Nov 28, 2014
Length: 14 minutes (3,639 words)

What Happened to All the Music Blogs?

“The list of music publications that have either folded entirely or gone online-only in the past decade is long and storied: SPIN, Blender, Paste, Vibe, Venus, Urb (some, like Magnet and Relix, went out of business and were revived). Online, with a few notable exceptions, music coverage vacillates between celebrity gossip, slideshows, and endlessly recycled discussion of the same few (extremely popular) acts.”

Published: Dec 1, 2014
Length: 12 minutes (3,023 words)