Why My Guitar Gently Weeps

The slow, secret death of the six-string electric. And why you should care.

Source: Washington Post
Published: Jun 22, 2017
Length: 11 minutes (2,838 words)

Twelve Seconds of Gunfire

The shooting at the elementary school lasted just 12 seconds, but the damaging effect it had on a group of first-graders continues to endure months later.

Source: Washington Post
Published: Jun 9, 2017
Length: 19 minutes (4,946 words)

The Painful Truth About Teeth

The divide between rich and poor in this country may be a sharp line between those who can care for their teeth and those who can’t. Thirty-five percent of American adults don’t have dental insurance, and even those who do may only be able to afford cleanings, and little else. The Washington Post visits a free dental clinic on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, which for two days provided over a million dollars in free care to those who couldn’t afford it.

Source: Washington Post
Published: May 13, 2017
Length: 10 minutes (2,600 words)

Inside Trump’s anger and impatience — and his sudden decision to fire Comey

Thorough reporting by the Washington Post on the decisions inside the White House that led to the firing of FBI Director James Comey, and the chaos that ensued afterward.

Author: Staff
Source: Washington Post
Published: May 10, 2017
Length: 9 minutes (2,300 words)

Our Messed-Up Relationship with Food Has a Long History. It Started With Butter.

Our on-again, off-again, on-again relationship with the holy (yes, holy) fat.

Source: Washington Post
Published: Mar 21, 2017
Length: 8 minutes (2,142 words)

In Japan, an archery quest leads to unexpected lessons

Leigh Ann Henion was drawn to archery by her grandfather’s passion for it. She travels to Japan to improve her archery skills by learning Kyudo — a form of archery that is one of Japan’s oldest martial arts. In her short, yet intense course, sensei Kazuhisa Miyasaka helps her realize that achievement with the bow and arrow comes only after mastering one’s mind.

Source: Washington Post
Published: Mar 16, 2017
Length: 12 minutes (3,064 words)

‘What kind of a childhood is that?’

The story of Zaine, Arianna, and Zoie Pulliam — three kids under 17 living in South Charleston, West Virginia. Deemed “opiate orphans,” they exemplify a generation of children whose parents have died of drug overdoses as a result of the opioid epidemic.

Author: Eli Saslow
Source: Washington Post
Published: Dec 16, 2016
Length: 15 minutes (3,770 words)

Norma McCorvey, Jane Roe of Roe v. Wade Decision Legalizing Abortion Nationwide, Dies at 69

An obituary of Norma McCorvey, aka “Jane Roe,” the plaintiff in the Supreme Court case that yielded the legalization of abortion. McCorvey later became a born-again Christian, had a change of heart, revised parts of her story including recanting the part about having become pregnant while being raped, and became an anti-abortion activist.

Source: Washington Post
Published: Feb 18, 2017
Length: 7 minutes (1,777 words)

Read the Letter Coretta Scott King Wrote Opposing Sessions’s 1986 Federal Nomination

On Tuesday, February 7th, Elizabeth Warren was silenced by Republicans at Jeffrey Sessions’s confirmation hearing as Attorney General, because she read aloud Coretta Scott King’s March 19, 1986 letter to Senator Strom Thurmond opposing Sessions’ appointment as a Federal Judge for the Southern District of Alabama. King’s objection stemmed from Sessions’ alleged attempts to intimidate elderly black voters from voting, via a 1984 voter fraud case he prosecuted. In the letter, she writes, “Civil rights leaders, including my husband and Albert Turner, have fought long and hard to achieve free and unfettered access to the ballot box. Mr. Sessions has used-the awesome power of his office to chill the free exercise of the vote by black citizens in the district he now seeks to serve as a federal judge. This simply cannot be allowed to happen.” (Many news outlets have since published links to the letter, but most credit the Washington Post with having it first.)

Source: Washington Post
Published: Feb 7, 2017
Length: 7 minutes (1,878 words)

The First Days Inside Trump’s White House: Fury, Tumult and a Reboot

“At the center, as always, is Trump himself, whose ascent to the White House seems to have only heightened his acute sensitivity to criticism.”

Source: Washington Post
Published: Jan 23, 2017
Length: 6 minutes (1,589 words)