In Conversation: Jon Stewart

An interview with the Daily Show host about making movies, the 2016 election, and why everybody loves Stephen Colbert.

Published: Nov 2, 2014
Length: 28 minutes (7,043 words)

A Shooting on Spring Grove Avenue

A detective accuses a woman of murder; the woman says the detective is the one who should be in prison.

Source: Texas Monthly
Published: Oct 31, 2014
Length: 37 minutes (9,455 words)

MetaFilter: The Internet’s First Family

Stephen Thomas on how and why a site originally intended for sharing “best of the web” links become a place where strangers help each other in real life in extraordinary ways.

Source: Hazlitt
Published: Oct 31, 2014
Length: 24 minutes (6,233 words)

The Pierre Omidyar Insurgency

The eBay founder was looking for a way to spend his time and fortune—and settled on reinventing journalism. The rest hasn’t been so easy.

Published: Nov 2, 2014
Length: 25 minutes (6,357 words)

The Myth of Chinese Super Schools

Diane Ravitch on the politics of education reform and testing in America, and a review of Yong Zhao’s book on China’s history of testing: Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Dragon: Why China Has the Best (and Worst) Education System in the World.

Published: Nov 2, 2014
Length: 16 minutes (4,094 words)

Reading List: The Witching Hour

Four pieces about witchcraft in the United States and abroad.

Source: Longreads
Published: Nov 2, 2014

The Tupperware Queen

How an Eisenhower-era single mom created the “Tupperware party,” launching a plastic food-storage empire.

Author: Jen Doll
Source: Mental Floss
Published: Nov 1, 2014
Length: 13 minutes (3,387 words)

Andy Warhol Meets Mama Cass

A reporter describes introducing Mama Cass and Andy Warhol in 1966.

Source: Hullabaloo
Published: May 1, 1967
Length: 9 minutes (2,264 words)

The Technical Constraints That Made Abbey Road So Good

How technology has changed the recording process since the Beatles, and how “option paralysis” can create new problems for engineers and bands.

Source: The Atlantic
Published: Nov 1, 2014
Length: 9 minutes (2,449 words)

#Nightshift: Minneapolis

“She loved me. I’ll probably never see her again.” Excerpts from an Instagram essay.

Source: Longreads
Published: Nov 1, 2014
Length: 6 minutes (1,500 words)