Mainline Street
How heroin grabbed hold in the small town of Laramie, Wyoming, thanks to a drug dealer named Ory Joe Johnson, who started selling after getting addicted to prescription pain medication.
‘Chris Harrison Is One of the Smoothest Motherf—ers I’ve Ever Met’
A very funny, thoughtful profile of The Bachelor‘s longtime host, now divorced and pondering the meaning of relationships.
The Dark Side of the Moon
What life is like today for Buzz Aldrin, a war hero, MIT rocket scientist, and the second man to walk on the moon.
Dave Chappelle Is Back (This Time We’re 100% Sure It’s Maybe Totally for Real)
An interview with the comedian, who is back in the business after a long sabbatical. Things discussed: Kanye’s surprise performance at one of Chappelle’s shows, Rob Ford, mean critics, what it’d be like to hang out with Chappelle at a BBQ.
The Great Paper Caper
Wells Tower talks to Frank Bourassa, the “most prolific counterfeiter in American history” who reproduced more than $200 million in nearly flawless fake twenty dollar bills.
Zimmerman Family Values
Amanda Robb meets George Zimmerman’s family and learns about their paranoia and get-rich-quick schemes.
The Man Who Hid from the World for Nearly 30 Years
Michael Finkel tracks down the man known as the North Pond Hermit: Christopher Thomas Knight lived in a secret camp in the woods of Central Maine, stealing food and supplies from nearby homes. “I never felt lonely. To put it romantically: I was completely free.”
The New Face of Richard Norris
Richard Norris became disfigured after he accidentally shot himself in the face when he was 22. He successfully received a full face transplant with the help of Eduardo Rodriguez, a Baltimore reconstructive facial surgeon, but life after the surgery has brought up some unexpected burdens.
Kanye West: A Brand-New Ye
“I just want to do crazy, colorful shit like that that has more nudity.” An interview with Kanye West.
Who Wants to Shoot an Elephant?
The writer joins a Texas couple on an elephant hunt in Botswana and questions whether a regulated hunting industry could help the elephant population in the country:
“If he charges, I’m gonna shoot him,” Robyn says. The entourage begins a dainty heel-to-toe march into the spiky undergrowth. As it turns out, it is not one elephant but two. One is the big, old, shootable bull. The other is a younger male. Elephants never stop growing, a meliorative aspect of which (elephant-hunt-misgivings-wise) is that the mongo bulls that hunters most want to shoot also happen to be the oldest animals, usually within five or so years of mandatory retirement, when elephants lose their last set of molars and starve to death.
For the record, this detail does not soothe me as the guns make their way toward the elephants under the tree. I have not yet figured out how to dislike elephants enough to want to see one shot. In private treason against my hosts, I am thinking, Not now, not now. Let it please not get shot today.