The Prophets of Oak Ridge

The story of three peace activists — a drifter, an 82-year-old nun and a house painter — who penetrated the exterior of Y-12 in Tennessee, supposedly one of the most secure nuclear-weapons facilities in the United States.

Sponsor: Aeon Magazine

Our sponsor this week is Aeon, a great new digital magazine covering ideas and culture. Aeon publishes an original essay every weekday, several of which have been picked for Longform. Here are three recent favorites:

Spaced Out, by Greg Klerkx
Living in space was meant to be our next evolutionary step. What happened to the dream of the final frontier?

There’s an App for That, by John-Paul Flintoff
What to eat, when to meditate and whether to call your parents: can self-monitoring tools make a difference?

This Is Humankind, by Polina Aronson
If my grandfather could survive the Siege of Leningrad and still distinguish between a German and a Nazi, so can I.

Read those stories and more at aeonmagazine.com.

Ted Conover is the author of five books and the recent Harper's article "The Way of All Flesh."

"My identity is a rubber band. It can stretch that way and it can stretch this way. When I get home it goes mostly back into the shape it's been, but not completely. And it's that not completely that is interesting and makes me who I am."</i>

Thanks to TinyLetter for sponsoring this week's episode!

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