They Know How to Prevent Megafires. Why Won’t Anybody Listen?

Why is California burning? “We dug ourselves into a deep, dangerous fuel imbalance due to one simple fact. We live in a Mediterranean climate that’s designed to burn, and we’ve prevented it from burning anywhere close to enough for well over a hundred years.

Source: ProPublica
Published: Aug 28, 2020
Length: 13 minutes (3,327 words)

The Eco–Yogi Slumlords of Brooklyn

They built an empire of yoga studios and homes with ‘living walls.’ Now they’re pandemic villains.

Published: Aug 31, 2020
Length: 18 minutes (4,530 words)

The Free and the Brave

“A patriotic parade, a bloody brawl, and the origins of U.S. law enforcement’s war on the political left.”

Source: The Atavist
Published: Aug 31, 2020
Length: 32 minutes (8,000 words)

The “Flying Feminist” Who Was the First Woman to Design, Build, and Fly Her Own Plane

“Lilian Bland was the first woman in the world to design, build, and fly her own plane — before Amelia Earhart had even become a teenager. So why don’t more people know her name?”

Source: AFAR
Published: Aug 26, 2020
Length: 8 minutes (2,237 words)

The Shooting of John T. Williams, 10 Years Later

“A decade ago, Seattle police officer Ian Birk shot and killed a well-known Native woodcarver in the community — because he carried a pocketknife. Today, his older brother Rick Williams reflects on his unjust death.”

Source: Seattle Met
Published: Aug 26, 2020
Length: 15 minutes (3,887 words)

What They Saw

“In all likelihood they will come for you at night, after you’ve gone to bed.” Part of a special Buzzfeed investigation into China’s detention camps for Uighurs.

Source: BuzzFeed
Published: Aug 27, 2020
Length: 12 minutes (3,200 words)

How the Spirit Mediums of New York Are Dealing with Mass Death

“A few months into the pandemic, I started contacting spiritual mediums….As we go forward attempting to rebuild our country and our communities in the wake of this destruction, that will not just involve burying the dead—it will involve finding the means and the rituals to make sense of this loss.”

Published: Aug 24, 2020
Length: 8 minutes (2,025 words)

A Transit Worker’s Survival Story

“Driving a New York City bus during a pandemic and an uprising.”

Source: The New Yorker
Published: Aug 24, 2020
Length: 27 minutes (6,800 words)

Escape from 2020

“Six tales of road tripping, camping, staycationing, and eating during the summer that wasn’t.”

Source: Eater
Published: Aug 19, 2020
Length: 60 minutes (15,000 words)

What Happened In Room 10?

“The Life Care Center of Kirkland, Washington, was the first COVID hot spot in the U.S. Forty-six people associated with the nursing home died, exposing how ill-prepared we were for the pandemic — and how we take care of our elderly.”

Published: Aug 23, 2020
Length: 64 minutes (16,178 words)