Fiction Pick of the Week: "Mercy"
A troubled man's complex acts of mercy,
A troubled man's complex acts of mercy,
David Byron Queen New World Writing Dec 2020 10min Permalink
How toxic fumes seep into the air you breathe on planes.
Kiera Feldman Los Angeles Times Dec 2020 25min Permalink
A husband’s stroke, the Australian bushfires, and a trip to the Great Barrier Reef.
Robert Moor Outside Dec 2020 25min Permalink
Nilay Patel is editor-in-chief of The Verge and hosts the podcast Decoder.
“The instant ability—unmanaged ability—for people to say horrible things to each other because of phones is tearing our culture apart. It just is. And so sometimes, I’m like, Man, I wish our headline had been: ‘iPhone Released. It’s A Mistake.’ … But I think there’s a really important flipside to that … a bunch of teenagers are able to create culture at a scale that has never been possible before. Also, a bunch of marginalized communities are able to speak with coordinated voices and make change very rapidly. And that balance—I don’t think we’ve quite understood.”
Thanks to Mailchimp for sponsoring this week's episode.
Dec 2020 Permalink
Perpetual outsiders, Mormons spent 200 years assimilating to a certain national ideal—only to find their country in an identity crisis. What will the third century of the faith look like?
McKay Coppins The Atlantic Dec 2020 35min Permalink
For years, JaMarcus Crews tried to get a new kidney, but corporate healthcare stood in the way. He needed dialysis to stay alive. He couldn’t miss a session, not even during a pandemic.
What it was like to be a rank-and-file Sony employee after the hack.
Amanda Hess Slate Nov 2015 20min Permalink
The high-tech real estate startup boasts SoftBank backing, a $1.6 billion war chest, and plenty of skeptics. Now it’s cashing in on the pandemic real estate boom.
Patrick Sisson Marker Dec 2020 20min Permalink
China is forcing hundreds of thousands of Uighurs and other minorities into hard, manual labour in the vast cotton fields of its western region of Xinjiang.
John Sudworth BBC Dec 2020 25min Permalink
After a journalist was assassinated, her sons found clues in her unfinished work that cracked the case and brought down the government.
Ben Taub New Yorker Dec 2020 Permalink
In high school, I started to become like a local legend. A hood celebrity, if you will. And you really gotta understand how poppin’ New York City basketball was at that time. I’m playing against Stephon Marbury, Skip 2 My Lou, Alimoe (rest in peace), all these guys who would become household names, they were just kids from around the way. Man, even Cam’ron was super nice!!!
I knew all these guys from when we was little kids playing church basketball, and now all of a sudden we got Jay-Z, Puff, Dame Dash — all these guys are showing up to our games. That’s how insane New York City basketball was at that time.
God Shammgod Player's Tribune Dec 2020 Permalink
Armed with a handgun, a fake ID card and disguises, Miriam Rodríguez was a one-woman detective squad, attempting to catch her daughter’s murderers in the border town of San Fernando.
Azam Ahmed New York Times Dec 2020 Permalink
The fight for female superheroes in Hollywood.
Soraya Roberts Hazlitt Dec 2020 25min Permalink
And what it lost in the process.
Ed Yong The Atlantic Dec 2020 20min Permalink
The dark secret life of The Great Zucchini, Washington D.C.’s most sought after children’s birthday party entertainer.
Gene Weingarten Washington Post Jan 2006 25min Permalink
The fathers and father figures of Michael Brown, Terence Crutcher, Daniel Prude, Rayshard Brooks, George Floyd, and Jacob Blake reflect on the violence that forever altered their families’ lives.
Mosi Secret GQ Dec 2020 30min Permalink
California’s redwoods, sequoias and Joshua trees define the American West and nature’s resilience through the ages. Wildfires this year were their deadliest test.
John Branch The New York Times Dec 2020 20min Permalink
Over three weeks, COVID-19 delivered “cheap shots.” It took hostages. And it left the Malinowski family with with pain, loss and grief.
Jennifer Pignolet Akron Beacon Journal Dec 2020 15min Permalink
A humble Scotsman saw something strange in the water—and daringly set out to catch it—only to have lecherous out-of-towners steal his fame and upend his quest.
Paul Brown Narratively Dec 2020 25min Permalink
Over the course of a few hours on April 20, a guy called Cuddles and eight of his pals from the freewheeling world of London’s commodities markets rode oil’s crash to a $660 million profit.
Liam Vaughan, Kit Chellel, Benjamin Bain Bloomberg Businessweek Dec 2020 20min Permalink
Sessions with a zombie therapist.
Julián Herbert Electric Lit Dec 2020 15min Permalink
In 1986, two lovebirds busted out of a coed prison in a hijacked helicopter. They’ve been trying to escape ever since.
David Gauvey Herbert Esquire Dec 2020 30min Permalink
It’s not just the economy, stupid.
Tommy Craggs Mother Jones Dec 2020 20min Permalink
Wright Thompson is a senior writer for ESPN. His new book is Pappyland: A Story of Family, Fine Bourbon, and the Things That Last.
“If you’re going to write a profile of someone … you have to find some piece of common ground with them so that no matter how famous or good or noble or bad—or no matter how cartoonish their most well-known attributes are—it shrinks them. And once they’re small enough to fit in your hand, I think it changes the entire experience of asking questions about their lives.”
Thanks to Mailchimp for sponsoring the show.
Dec 2020 Permalink
The ethical burdens of the ICU during Covid.
Jordan Kisner The Atlantic Dec 2020 30min Permalink