Youth From Every Quarter

A teacher at an elite boarding school confronts her own confused leap up the ladder of class privilege.

Source: Longreads
Published: Jul 17, 2017
Length: 9 minutes (2,390 words)

Why Are Humans So Curious?

Mario Livio on his new book about human curiosity, his work as an astrophysicist, and why we shouldn’t fear our expanding universe.

Source: Longreads
Published: Jul 18, 2017
Length: 18 minutes (4,600 words)

The Louisiana Environmental Apocalypse Road Trip

Louisiana serves as a terrifying example of what can become of a state that shortchanges science and environmental regulations to boost industry and infrastructure.

Source: Longreads
Published: Jul 13, 2017
Length: 16 minutes (4,000 words)

My Parents Said I Bruised Easily

An excerpt from Estranged: Leaving Family and Finding Home, by Jessica Berger Gross.

Source: Longreads
Published: Jul 1, 2017
Length: 12 minutes (3,194 words)

Becoming Estranged from My Family ‘Was the Best Thing for Me’

Jessica Berger Gross on what it means to sever ties with your family.

Source: Longreads
Published: Jul 11, 2017
Length: 20 minutes (5,000 words)

My Grandfather’s Fateful Goodbye, Reimagined

A personal essay in which Karissa Chen tries to reconstruct the moment her grandfather, at 19, left Shanghai for Taiwan on a supposed vacation — a decision that would alter his life forever.

Source: Longreads
Published: Jul 7, 2017
Length: 23 minutes (5,772 words)

When it Takes Being Thrown to Learn How to Land

Just after her 40th birthday, former aerialist Joanne Solomon was thrown from her bicycle while riding on the Manhattan Bridge, and it set her life on a different course.

Source: Longreads
Published: Jun 30, 2017
Length: 10 minutes (2,527 words)

Father of Migrants

Alice Driver visits a migrant shelter in Juárez, Mexico where she meets migrants who appear to be in simultaneous state of movement and limbo, desperate to escape violence, poverty, and other misfortunes in their lives. Their desire for a better life often leads them to become victims of human trafficking.

Source: Longreads
Published: Jun 29, 2017
Length: 22 minutes (5,698 words)

After Marriage Equality, to Party or to Protest?

Two years after the passage of the Marriage Equality Act, Spenser Mestel looks back on his mixed emotions that day and his difficulty celebrating, particularly in light of four Supreme Court Justices dissenting.

Source: Longreads
Published: Jun 26, 2017
Length: 16 minutes (4,021 words)

My Father’s Adventure Was My Terror

Diana Whitney recalls traveling to Pakistan with her father at 13, and the dangers of a day trip to Peshawar that he was cautioned against taking.

Source: Longreads
Published: Jun 18, 2017
Length: 8 minutes (2,009 words)