In a recent piece for Outside, Tim Zimmermann spoke at length with three former animal care workers about their experiences at SeaWorld. Animal care workers, who are responsible for the health of mammals at marine parks, are privy to the best and worse that goes on, with unique access and responsibilities. In the excerpt below, […]
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College Longreads Pick: 'When NCAA Schools Abandon Their Injured Athletes,' by Meghan Walsh, UC Berkeley
Every week, Syracuse University professor Aileen Gallagher is helping Longreads highlight the best of college journalism: This week’s pick is by Meghan Walsh, a recent graduate of UC Berkeley’s journalism program. Though there are plenty of outraged-laced stories about exploitation in college athletics, Walsh’s tale of Stanley Doughty—a former defensive tackle for the University of […]
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Caterpillar’s Doug Oberhelman: Manufacturing’s Mouthpiece
Portrait of an American company with billions in profits, and questions about how much it should be sharing that wealth with its own workforce: “Oberhelman’s activism has also made him a target of criticism from those who say Caterpillar is thriving at its workers’ expense. Last year, as the company racked up a record $66 […]
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Schizophrenic. Killer. My Cousin.
Deinstitutionalization moved thousands of mentally ill people out of hospitals and into the prison system. States are cutting mental-health funding. A look at America’s mental health care crisis: “‘Homelessmentallyilldeinstitutionalized was one noun in the media at the time,’ says SAMHSA’s Roth, who is the source of the oft-cited data point that a third of America’s […]
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If This Was a Pill, You’d Do Anything To Get It
A Medicare experiment is facing possible shutdown, despite its proven effectiveness. The secret? It’s nurses making frequent house calls to those with chronic diseases: “But Health Quality Partners, with its emphasis on continuous nurse-to-patient contact, did work. Of the 15 programs, four improved patient outcomes without increasing costs. Only HQP improved patient outcomes while cutting […]
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Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us
An investigation into the complicated and costly world of medical billing in the U.S.: “Out of work for a year, Janice S. had no insurance. Among the hospital’s charges were three ‘TROPONIN I’ tests for $199.50 each. According to a National Institutes of Health website, a troponin test “measures the levels of certain proteins in […]
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The Shooter
The man who killed Osama bin Laden is now out of the Navy, without health care, pension or protection for himself and his family: “Since Abbottabad, he has trained his children to hide in their bathtub at the first sign of a problem as the safest, most fortified place in their house. His wife is […]
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Living the American Dream in the West Bank
Meet the families who have moved from America to West Bank settlements: “In 2010, 269 Jews moved from America to West Bank settlements, many of which are marketed as ‘bedroom communities’ to families and white-collar professionals in the US. The migration is called ‘making aliyah,’ which translates roughly from the Hebrew as ‘movin’ on up.’ […]
Posted inNonfiction
The Dolphin Trainer Who Loved Dolphins Too Much
Dolphin trainer Ashley Guidry loved her job and the animals she worked with—in particular, a dolphin calf named Chopper. But years of seeing how business was done behind the scenes at a small marine park made her come to the painful conclusion that she had to walk away from it all.
Posted inNonfiction
A Meditation on Pain
“Once, when the pain came, I grabbed for a knife, my fist tight around it, contemplating digging out my right eye. I was twenty-one.”
