“When Mary Margaret Vojtko died last September—penniless and virtually homeless and eighty-three years old, having been referred to Adult Protective Services because the effects of living in poverty made it seem to some that she was incapable of caring for herself—it made the news because she was a professor.” So begins the dark tale of […]
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Posted inNonfiction, Story, Unapologetic Women
The Answer Is Never
Rewriting the false narrative of childlessness.
Posted inNonfiction, Reading List
The Adjunct Crisis: A Reading List
“When Mary Margaret Vojtko died last September—penniless and virtually homeless and eighty-three years old, having been referred to Adult Protective Services because the effects of living in poverty made it seem to some that she was incapable of caring for herself—it made the news because she was a professor.” So begins the dark tale of […]
Posted inCollege, Nonfiction
The Last Night in the Shelter – Our College Pick
What gets published is rarely what got pitched. Sources bail, circumstances shift, conflicts fizzle. Reporting out stories that go nowhere is a frustrating, tedious business – unless, of course, they turn into something good. Such was Wyatt Stayner’s experience in putting together a story called “Getting Out of Poverty in Oregon,” this week’s College Longreads […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
Invisible Child: Dasani’s Homeless Life
An incredible story about the system failing our children—through the eyes of one of New York’s 22,000 homeless children: Dasani’s own neighborhood, Fort Greene, is now one of gentrification’s gems. Her family lives in the Auburn Family Residence, a decrepit city-run shelter for the homeless. It is a place where mold creeps up walls and […]
Posted inCollege, Nonfiction
The Last Night in the Shelter – Our College Pick
What gets published is rarely what got pitched. Sources bail, circumstances shift, conflicts fizzle. Reporting out stories that go nowhere is a frustrating, tedious business – unless, of course, they turn into something good. Such was Wyatt Stayner’s experience in putting together a story called “Getting Out of Poverty in Oregon,” this week’s College Longreads […]
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Story
Hell—Nothing Less—And Without End: Six Days in Warsaw
“The uprising,” we told each other immediately, like everyone else in Warsaw. Strange. Because no one had ever used that word before in his life. Only in history, in books.
Posted inEditor's Pick
My State of Emergency
Reflections on life, death, and Obamacare inside Oakland’s main trauma ward. Working in the Highland ER means knowing the backstory of a part of Oakland that most of my friends and neighbors will never see. In my car, stopped at a red light, I find myself unconsciously filling in the bios and medical histories of […]
Posted inNonfiction
Longreads Best of 2013 Postscript: Monica Potts on the Homeless Families of 'The Weeklies'
The Weeklies Monica Potts | The American Prospect | March 2013 | 29 minutes (7,360 words) Monica Potts is a senior writer for The American Prospect. I did the reporting for ‘The Weeklies,’ about homeless families living in a suburban hotel outside of Denver, Colorado, a year ago. I lived with in the Ramada Inn […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
The Most Difficult Age to Be When You Work in Hollywood
“The Writer’s Guild of America has a term for my situation: They call it ‘The Gap.’ It’s the time period between when your years as a working writer end and your retirement begins. I actually have an excellent pension for when I finally retire. The Guild is a strong union and it has negotiated an […]
