Relapse or Homelessness
Inside the abusive “three-quarter house” industry that serves addicts.
"You Call This An Emergency?"
Investigating the death of Rikers Island women’s jail inmate Jackie Caquias, and other abuses of women prisoners’ access to medical care.
When the Family Business is Ribald Wedding Poetry
One man describes his family’s tradition of delivering rhyming couplets at celebrations.
Addy Walker, American Girl
The role of black dolls in American culture.
The Secret Sadness of Pregnancy with Depression
“We still have retrograde ideas about how pregnant women should feel, and we need to revise them — not only for depressed women but for all women.”
Jodorowsky On God, Anti-Semitism, And The Uses of Poetry
“What I do is not magical realism. I do realistic magic. Look, whenever someone does something new, people have to compare it with things they already know. So even if you innovate, you end up being connected to the past. When I began making movies people linked me to Fellini or Buñuel. Now new filmmakers are called ‘jodorowskian.’”
Fly Trans-Love Airways
Rebellious teens on the Sunset Strip.
Reprinted by Longform and available online in full for the first time, this article also appears in Adler's new collection, After the Tall Timber.
The Piscivore's Dilemma
A vegan sets out to see if there’s an ethical, sustainable way to eat fish in 2015.
Under the Skin
A West Hollywood aesthetician made headlines after allegedly trying to have a business rival killed. But the real story, involving ongoing harassment and a member of the so-called Bling Ring, may be more complicated.
Fiction Pick of the Week: "Other Gods"
A tornado causes physical and psychological turmoil in a religious community.
"The next morning, I ran through the streets in my pajamas, screaming for somebody, anybody. I finally found Daddy standing at the edge of the detention pond behind the church. It was full of all sorts of stuff: cars, tree trunks, gas grills, hot water heaters, and two bodies. The bodies were naked, and I didn’t recognize them at first. But then I saw their faces. It was Brother Mack and the second Hillyer girl. They were facing each other, impaled by a metal post from the chain link fence, pushed together like two pieces of chicken on a kebab."
"I Just Wish for People to Give Me a Chance"
Omar Khadr was 15 when he was captured in Afghanistan in 2002. He was held in Guantanamo for years without charges. He was tortured. And earlier this month, after nearly 13 years behind bars, he was released on bail.
How Do You Define a Gang Member?
If you’re in a gang, the law can impose harsh penalties. But even though the police think they’ve got all the signs of gang membership down pat, it turns out that you can’t really tell just by looking.
For the Mouth Speaks
After a member of the Church of Wells abruptly left the group (which may or may not be a cult), many held out hope. A week later she went back, and the church’s elders are eager to explain why.
Previously: Sinners in the Hands
Masha Gessen has written for The New York Times, The London Review of Books, Vanity Fair, and others. Her book about Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, The Brothers: The Road to an American Tragedy, came out in April.
“The moment she said it, it was obvious that I'd been created to write this story. I'd covered both wars in Chechnya. I'd covered a lot of terrorism. I'd studied terrorism. And I'd been a Russian-speaking immigrant in Boston, which actually is the most important qualification for writing this book. It didn't give me special knowledge, but it gave me a lot of questions that I knew to ask that other people wouldn't.”
Thanks to TinyLetter, Trunk Club, and Casper, for sponsoring this week's episode.
Off Diamond Head
Growing up among the tall waves and schoolyard bullies of Hawaii.
17 Shots in Pasco
The life of Antonio Zambrano-Montes, shot dead by the police in Washington state.
The Longform Guide to Soccer Corruption
What Was Wrong With Everything Was People
On being kicked out of Doris Lessing’s house.
The Quest for Hitler's Lost Treasures
The detective work that led to the recovery of a trove of stolen Nazi art.
Why Baltimore Blew Up
The failures of the “broken windows” approach to policing.
Mattress Day
The travails of mattress salesmen on one of the busiest weekends of the year.
Training Young Doctors
On the failing institution of the teaching hospital.
Unclimbable
Searching for the line between courage and humility on an expedition to Cirque of the Unclimbables, a remote ring of perfect rock-climbing mountains in Canada.
Monkey Day Care
The subject of a child research experiment tries to get to the bottom of what happened to her.
A City of Two Tales
The Cleveland police are still adamant that they did nothing wrong in the killing of 12-year-old Tamir Rice.
