Allergic to life: the Arizona residents ‘sensitive to the whole world’

High in the Arizona desert, a community of people suffering from a clinically unproven condition called “environmental illness” have gathered to seek a pure life unpolluted by modernity’s poisons, from wi-fi to plastics, car exhaust to cologne, and to support each other as they battle an infirmity many people discount. When two journalists went to report the story, they became part of it.

Source: The Guardian
Published: Jul 11, 2016
Length: 15 minutes (3,773 words)

The Very Quiet Foreign Girls Poetry Group

Migrant and refugee students write poems that tell their untold stories of loss and trauma.

Source: The Guardian
Published: Jul 14, 2016
Length: 17 minutes (4,443 words)

My Life As a ‘Sex Object’

“Just keep pointing and laughing, rolling your eyes in the hope that someone will finally notice that this is not very funny.” An excerpt from Jessica Valenti’s new memoir.

Source: The Guardian
Published: May 31, 2016
Length: 14 minutes (3,621 words)

The Enduring Whiteness of the American Media

Howard W. French reflects on the crisis of race in journalism: “For decades it has been clear that space is made in the firmament for a tiny number of black journalists at any given time, if mostly to write about race. These figures, however brilliant, find themselves transformed into unwilling emblems of inclusivity…”

Source: The Guardian
Published: May 25, 2016
Length: 22 minutes (5,712 words)

The Day We Discovered Our Parents Were Russian Spies

Alex and Tim Foley, whose family’s story partly inspired The Americans, grapple with their broken identities and their parents’ lifetime of lies.

Source: The Guardian
Published: May 7, 2016
Length: 23 minutes (5,882 words)

Ugg: The Look That Refused to Die

The story behind the footwear brand, and how they managed to transcend the usual rules of fashion.

Source: The Guardian
Published: Mar 30, 2016
Length: 20 minutes (5,249 words)

Death by Gentrification: The Killing That Shamed San Francisco

Alejandro Nieto was killed by police in the San Francisco neighborhood where he spent his whole life. Solnit examines the case surrounding his death and the disintegration of the communities displaced by “disruption.”

Source: The Guardian
Published: Mar 21, 2016
Length: 21 minutes (5,317 words)

Inside Makoko

Ogunlesi explores the uncertain future of the world’s biggest floating slum. Spread out in full view below a Lagos bridge, Makoko’s residents live under constant threat of eviction.

Source: The Guardian
Published: Feb 23, 2016
Length: 9 minutes (2,269 words)

Cancer Cons, Phony Accidents and Fake Deaths

After Taryn Wright exposed an elaborate fake tragedy on Facebook, she became an unlikely leader of an online hoax-busting squad.

Source: The Guardian
Published: Feb 18, 2016
Length: 20 minutes (5,239 words)

The Birth of Boko Haram

Andrew Walker traces the growth of Boko Haram, from the tattered remnants of an Islamist sect to a relentless terrorist army.

Source: The Guardian
Published: Feb 4, 2016
Length: 18 minutes (4,595 words)