Revelations
A gospel singer comes out.
The Rise and Fall of the Biggest Pot Dealer in New York City History
How a Canadian used a Mohawk reservation’s lakes to smuggle tons of marijuana to stash houses in Brooklyn and Staten Island, resulting in nearly a billion in profits, which he laundered through the Sinaloa Cartel.
The Forsaken
On the rise in gay teens who are cast out by their families.
Fiction Pick of the Week: "Some Girl"
A woman travels with a band on the way to their next show.
For a daily short story recommendation from our editors, try Longform Fiction or follow @longformfiction on Twitter.
Medicine and Its Metaphors
On fathers, mothers, and doctors.
We Are Entering the Age of Alzheimer's
Caring for a demented father.
Power Steer
Raising a cow on an industrial feedlot.
On Bigfoot's Trail
Profiles of the true believers.
How to Get Into an Ivy League College—Guaranteed
Tony Ma will bet you as much as $600,000 to train your student for college acceptance. If the student gets into their top choice school, Ma takes the cash. Rejected? He gets nothing.
Inside the Mammoth Backlash to Common Core
How an education reform effort became the new Obamacare.
The Dying Russians
A 15-year-old Russian has a shorter life expectancy than a peer in Bangladesh, Cambodia, or Yemen.
Joan Rivers Always Knew She Was Funny
“People always ask Rivers why she doesn’t just retire, enjoy her old age. ‘But they don’t get that I love it,’ she says. ‘All I ever wanted was this. I’m lucky, you idiots.’”
The Churn
A Texas border town fails to keep up.
How St. Louis County, Missouri Profits from Poverty
On the court system’s excessive fines.
The Weirdest Story About a Conservative Obsession, a Convicted Bomber, and Taylor Swift You Have Ever Read
The case of Brett Kimberlin.
Casualties of War
A couple’s only son is killed in Iraq.
Emily Bazelon is a staff writer at the New York Times Magazine and the author of Sticks and Stones.
"There’s nothing purely, or maybe even at all, altruistic about this exchange. It’s transactional in the Janet Malcolm classical sense, but also in the emotional sense. There is a way in which I’m super open. I take in these experiences. They keep me up at night. They really get inside me. But then, I'm also using them to craft whatever I’m working on."
Thanks to TinyLetter for sponsoring this week's episode.
The Orthodox Hit Squad
One rabbi’s tactics against husbands who refuse to divorce their wives.
The Great Forgetting
On childhood amnesia, or why we don’t remember much before age seven.
Interview: Bill Hader
“I did a few days on Franco’s As I Lay Dying, and the vibe on the set was very heavy and serious. The only thing I can equate it to is tripping with a bunch of your friends.”
Why Not Kill Them All?
A dispatch from Donetsk.
They Heard the Call of Freedom, a Summons that Still Haunts
“They thought they were going to change the world,” he says of the 1964 Mississippi Summer Project volunteers. “They didn’t expect that white folks would be so vicious.”
Why I Write
An essay on motivation.
Freedom Fighter
In 1981, Mauritania became the last country on Earth to abolish slavery. The law had little effect; at least 140,000 people are still enslaved today. Their best hope for freedom is an abolitoinist named Biram Dah Abeid.
Arts Business Politics World Movies & TV
Steven Seagal's Fight for Mother Russia
The aging action star’s second wind abroad: political maneuvering, many guns and, most importantly, a market for his B movies.
