Here’s a powerful story from Rilla Askew, author of Fire in Beulah, about race and growing up in Oklahoma. Askew spoke during our night of storytelling with This Land Press in New York City. The full talk is below, and you can see all our storytellers at our YouTube page:
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Posted inEvents, Nonfiction, Video
Kiera Feldman on an Awkward Moment in Her Journalism Career
Journalist Kiera Feldman, who we’ve featured on Longreads many times in the past, told this story during our special night with This Land Press at Housing Works in New York City. Here’s her full story below. See more from the rest of our storytellers here on YouTube.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
The Moment Firestone Teamed Up with a Warlord
An excerpt from ProPublica and Frontline’s investigation into how the U.S. tire and rubber company Firestone ended up partnering with warlord Charles Taylor, who was taking over Liberia during the civil war in the early 1990s.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Tupac Shakur and the Origins of Thug Life
“My mother was a woman, a black woman, a single mother raising two kids on her own. She was dark-skinned, had short hair, got no love from nobody except for a group called the Black Panthers. “I don’t consider myself to be straight militant. I’m a thug, and my definition of thug comes from half […]
Posted inUncategorized
What the Hell Are You Doing?!
‘I’m just Tess Vigeland. And I need to figure out how she’s remarkable.’ Our recent Longreads pick, Tess Vigeland’s speech at the World Domination Summit, is now up in video form. It’s our video pick of the day. Get the Top 5 Longreads free every week
Posted inUncategorized
What the Hell Are You Doing?!
‘I’m just Tess Vigeland. And I need to figure out how she’s remarkable.’ Our recent Longreads pick, Tess Vigeland’s speech at the World Domination Summit, is now up in video form. It’s our video pick of the day. Get the Top 5 Longreads free every week
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
The Making of Citizen Kane
“I must admit that it was intended consciously as a social document. … [but] the storyteller’s first duty is to the story.” -From the 1991 documentary “The Complete Citizen Kane,” on the Orson Welles masterpiece. The film features interviews with Welles from 1960 and 1982, as well as an interview with New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael, […]
Posted inUncategorized
Two Emmys and $57,000 in Debt
‘They don’t teach us about money in high school.’ Today’s video pick is Modern Comedian’s short documentary on comedian Sara Schaefer, who fell deep into debt even while she was pursuing her dream career and earning two Emmys as a writer for Jimmy Fallon. (Schaefer now co-hosts the MTV series Nikki & Sara LIVE, which […]
Posted inUncategorized
The Secret History of Silicon Valley
‘Let’s enlist universities directly in the war effort.’ Our video pick of the day is this 2008 talk (1 hr.) by entrepreneur and Stanford professor Steve Blank about how the defense industry first shaped Silicon Valley—starting with Stanford, which after World War II “became a full partner in the military-industrial complex.” For a connection between […]
Posted inUncategorized
The Pixel Painter
“When I lost my eyesight I thought my painting days were over.” Our video pick of the day is this 8-minute documentary on Hal Lasko, a 97-year-old man whose family introduced him to Microsoft Paint 15 years ago and “he took off with it.” Lasko, who suffers from macular degeneration, works in a style that’s a […]