Fiction Pick of the Week: "Good Looking Out"
The psychology, interactions, and sadness of a fringe NBA player.
Quincy Jones Has a Story About That
“Your dreams always have to be big. And mine were huge.”
Felix Salmon, "Fusion Money," and Floating Upward
The story of one journalist’s giant salary and why his company could no longer pay it.
Seth Wickersham is a senior writer for ESPN. His latest article is "For Kraft, Brady and Belichick, Is This the Beginning of the End?"
“You want to write about something real. I hate stories that are, the tension of the story is, talk radio perception versus the reality that I see when I’m with somebody. I can’t stand those stories because to me, you’re just writing about the ether versus a real person, and that’s not a real tension to me. The inner tensions are the best tensions. You can’t get to them with everybody, but you try.”
Thanks to MailChimp and Mubi for sponsoring this week's episode.
A Protest Divided
How infighting splintered a group of players once unified in the movement started by Colin Kaepernick.
The Trippy, High-Speed World of Drone Racing
Flying straight from the future.
Evictionland
What happens when you get evicted.
Iron Manhattan
Two men. Five days. Five boroughs. Five 140.6-mile triathlons.
What Does It Mean to Die?
A 13-year-old girl was declared brain-dead, but her family disagreed. Her case challenges the very nature of existence.
Dirty Gold, Clean Cash
A 5-part series on how drug lords make billions smuggling gold to the U.S. for your jewelry and phones.
In Memoriam: Lil Peep
The outsized legacy of the emo rapper who always said he would die young.
Twirling at Ole Miss
A day after William Faulkner’s funeral and a few weeks before James Meredith became the first African-American student to register at the University of Mississipi, the author arrived in Oxford to cover the Dixie National Baton Twirling Institute.
Losing Sight
A 4-year-old girl was the sole survivor of a U.S. drone strike in Afghanistan. Then she disappeared.
The Trenchcoat Robbers
Ray Bowman and Billy Kirkpatrick, who began boosting together as teenagers, were arrested only twice during their prolific partnership. The first time was for stealing 38 records from a K-Mart in 1974. The second arrest came in 1997. In between, Bowman and Kirkpatrick robbed 27 banks, including the single biggest haul in United States history: $4,461,681 from the Seafirst Bank in suburban Tacoma.
The Astronaut Who Might Actually Get Us to Mars
Franklin Chang Díaz immigrated to the U.S. at 18, became an astronaut, tied the record for most spaceflights, and now might hold the key to deep space travel.
Michigan State Secrets Extend Far Beyond Larry Nassar Case
An investigation into widespread denial, inaction, and information suppression of sexual assault and violence allegations at Michigan State.
The Noose Beneath the Waves
Fishing gear can pose a deadly threat to whales—and to those who try to save them.
Make Yourself Up
On RuPaul and Drag Race.
The Disaster Tourist
Inside the world of dark tourism, where for just $2,500 you too could be responsible for a geopolitical calamity.
Fiction Pick of the Week: "Re-Stitched"
Two sisters; a grotesque religious ritual.
Can Planet Earth Feed 10 Billion People?
Humanity has 30 years to find out.
Wreck Found By Reporter May Be Last American Slave Ship
It was burned and sunk to hide the crime. Now its probable remains have been located.
Nathan Thornburgh is the co-founder and co-publisher of Roads & Kingdoms.
"You have to remain committed to the kind of irrational act of producing journalism for an uncaring world. You have to want to do that so bad, that you will never not be doing that. There’s so many ways to die in this business."
Thanks to MailChimp, Mubi, and Rise and Grind for sponsoring this week's episode.
How a New Technology Is Changing the Lives of People Who Cannot Speak
The same “Stephen Hawking voice” is used by little girls, old men, and people of every racial and ethnic background. Inside the quest to give people a voice of their own.
Interview: Ursula K. Le Guin
“There’s always room for another story. There’s always room for another tune.”
