Diseases of Despair: A Small Ohio City Fights an Epidemic of Self-Destruction

These women are trying to survive an epidemic of self-destruction in small-town and rural America. Death rates have risen sharply among whites, particularly women, particularly those with a high school education or less — the white working class that played a key role in the November election. Last year, overall life expectancy in the United States fell for the first time since 1993, when HIV was rampant.

Today there is no emergent virus running amok. Instead, Americans are dying from a rash of pathologies, sicknesses and addictions that experts call “diseases of despair.”

Source: Washington Post
Published: Jan 2, 2017
Length: 11 minutes (2,775 words)

‘Something is happening that is amazing,’ Trump said. He was right.

As America waits to see who will be our next President, one journalist traces Trump’s campaign from its comical beginnings to its revealing present, trying to make sense of the 170 Trump rallies she reported from to understand why people like Trump and answer the question: how did we get here?

Source: Washington Post
Published: Nov 7, 2016
Length: 12 minutes (3,204 words)

The White Flight of Derek Black

How the 27-year-old son of white nationalist leaders quit following his parents’ footsteps and began building bridges with the communities he previously worked to eliminate.

Author: Eli Saslow
Source: Washington Post
Published: Oct 15, 2016
Length: 25 minutes (6,254 words)

The Cobalt Pipeline

This investigation shows how small-scale “artisanal” cobalt mining in Congo fuels the industry of smartphones, laptops, and electric vehicles that rely on rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.

Source: Washington Post
Published: Sep 30, 2016
Length: 22 minutes (5,536 words)

In Bed With the Enemy: The Untold Story of Japanese War Brides

They either tried, or were pressured, to give up their Japanese identities to become more fully American. A first step was often adopting the American nicknames given them when their Japanese names were deemed too hard to pronounce or remember. Chikako became Peggy; Kiyoko became Barbara. Not too much thought went into those choices, names sometimes imposed in an instant by a U.S. officer organizing his pool of typists. My mother, Hiroko Furukawa, became Susie.

Source: Washington Post
Published: Sep 22, 2016
Length: 19 minutes (4,842 words)

‘How’s Amanda?’

A story of a mother and daughter facing heroin addiction.

Author: Eli Saslow
Source: Washington Post
Published: Jul 23, 2016
Length: 23 minutes (5,892 words)

13, Right Now: Growing up in the age of likes, lols and longing

The story of a child in 2016, whose life revolves around her phone and social networks.

Source: Washington Post
Published: May 26, 2016
Length: 12 minutes (3,178 words)

The Sociology of Online Dating

A fascinating conversation with Michael Rosenfeld, a Stanford sociologist who has been conducting a long-running study of online dating.

Source: Washington Post
Published: Mar 23, 2016
Length: 12 minutes (3,190 words)

A Marine’s Convictions

A Naval Academy teacher fights to prove he’s innocent of sexual misconduct. Then a lost cell phone is found.

Source: Washington Post
Published: Mar 16, 2016
Length: 31 minutes (7,949 words)

Time Off the Bench

On the social lives of Supreme Court justices.

Source: Washington Post
Published: Mar 1, 2016
Length: 8 minutes (2,100 words)