Mr. Bad News
A profile of New York Times obituary writer Alden Whitman.
Why Are Sports Bras So Terrible?
The first sports bra was invented in 1977. It was two jockstraps sewn together.
One Day at Panda Express
How a fast-food restaurant does business.
Lunch With the FT: Sepp Blatter
The disgraced former FIFA president tries to defend himself while eating boiled beef.
Stand Brave, Life-Liver
An interview with Joanna Newsom.
The Riddler
A profile of Henry Hook, the world’s best crossword puzzler, who died this week.
The State v. Robertson
How one woman’s sexual assault by four University of Oregon football players in 1980 unwittingly led to the state’s expansive free speech protections.
Fiction Pick of the Week: "Delira"
A depressed young woman takes a serving job alongside ominous, creepy co-workers.
The Revenge of Marwencol
Mark Hogancamp nearly died after being jumped by five men in 2000. After waking from a coma with no memories, he developed an extraordinary coping device: he built a miniature town in his garden where he gets his revenge.
Zola's Story
A stripping trip to Florida gone horribly astray told across 158 tweets.
Lena Dunham, the creator and star of HBO's Girls, is the co-founder of Lenny and the author of Not That Kind of Girl. A special episode hosted by Longform Podcast editor Jenna Weiss-Berman.
“Writing across mediums can be a really healthy way to utilize your energy and stay productive while not feeling entrapped. But at the end of the day, the time when I feel like life is most just, like, flying by and I don't even know what's happening to me is when I'm writing prose. It's such an intimate relationship that you're having. When you're writing a script, you're making a blueprint for something that doesn't exist yet. But when you're writing prose, the thing exists immediately. And that's really satisfying. It's the best place to go for my deepest and most in-the-now concerns.”
Thanks to MailChimp, Prudential, Casper, and The Great Courses for sponsoring this week's episode.
American Horror Story: The Cecil Hotel
She was a Canadian student whose travels brought her to the cheap hotel on Skid Row. The only clue in her disappearance was a strange elevator video in which she peeks and then gestures with her hands down an unseen hallway.
The Hateful Life and Spiteful Death of the Man Who Was Vigo the Carpathian
“Norbert Grupe—a Nazi soldier’s son, boxer, professional wrestler, failed actor, criminal, and miserable human being who was never so happy as when he could make someone hate him—was once a man so beautiful that other men wanted to paint him.”
The Deputy Who Disappeared
In 1998, a cop named Jon Aujay went for a run in the desert. He never came back. The department decided it was suicide, but that is not the only theory.
Highway to Hell
A trip down America’s most haunted road.
The Black-White Sleep Gap
When they go to bed tonight, white people will be five times likelier to get a good night’s sleep than African-Americans.
Mary Karr: The Art of Memoir No. 1
“People who didn’t live pre-Internet can’t grasp how devoid of ideas life in my hometown was. The only bookstores sold Bibles the size of coffee tables and dashboard Virgin Marys that glowed in the dark. I stopped in the middle of the SAT to memorize a poem, because I thought, This is a great work of art and I’ll never see it again.”
The Lost Girls
On the gender gap in diagnosis and treatment of autism.
Who's the Alpha Male Now, Bitches?
On the manifestos that mass shooters leave behind.
Who's to Judge?
The ridiculousness of trying to rank the best restaurants in the world.
The Laughs, Pathos, and Overwhelming Talent of Jan Hooks
A year after her death, a tribute to the Saturday Night Live star who didn’t want to be on TV.
Karachi Vice
Life as a crime reporter in one of the most violent places in the world.
Forces of Character
What Gregg Popovich, 5-time NBA champion coach, looks for in players.
Death of a Playmate
Dorothy Stratten was the focus of the dreams and ambitions of three men. One killed her.
The winner of the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing, available online for the first time.
Terry Gross and the Art of Opening Up
What the Fresh Air host has learned after 13,000 interviews.
