‘I Really Thought He Was Going to Kill Me and Bury My Body’
A romance author accused her husband of poisoning her. Was it her wildest fiction yet?
Bodies in Seats
At Facebook’s worst-performing content moderation site in North America, one contractor has died, and others say they fear for their lives.
The Tree With Matchmaking Powers
For nearly a century, an oak in a German forest has helped lonely people find love—including the mailman who delivers its letters.
David Epstein has reported for ProPublica, Sports Illustrated, and This American Life. His new book is Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World.
“You can’t just introspect or take a personality quiz and know what you’re good at or interested in. You actually have to try stuff and then reflect on it. That’s how you learn about yourself—otherwise, your insight into yourself is constrained by your roster of experiences.”
Thanks to MailChimp, Time Sensitive, Read This Summer, The TED Interview, and Pitt Writers for sponsoring this week's episode.
Liu Cixin’s War of the Worlds
A leading sci-fi writer takes stock of China’s global rise.
Going Overboard
“I went on a lesbian cruise and it blew up my entire life.”
Inside Backpage.com’s Vicious Battle With the Feds
For years, it was the largest portal for sex on the internet. Now its fate could shape the future of Silicon Valley.
Something Borrowed, Something Blue
Madewell’s authenticity problem, written by the great-grandson of the company’s founder.
The Man Who Was Upset
Making sense of Donald Trump’s petulant reign.
There's No Such Thing as a Free Watch
On July 2017, a visitor to the Museum of Capitalism contributed a watch (from here on referred to as 'our watch') to the museum’s artifact drive. In his form, he noted that Folsom & Co., a supposedly San Francisco-based company, used Instagram to offer the watch 'free,' but with $7 shipping.
Inside the Short, Unhappy Life of the Alliance of American Football
An upstart football league goes horribly awry during its first season,.
What Really Happened to Malaysia’s Missing Airplane
Five years ago, the flight vanished into the Indian Ocean. Officials on land know more about why than they dare to say.
The New Wilderness
For the purposes of this essay, I’ll call it ‘ambient privacy’—the understanding that there is value in having our everyday interactions with one another remain outside the reach of monitoring, and that the small details of our daily lives should pass by unremembered. What we do at home, work, church, school, or in our leisure time does not belong in a permanent record. Not every conversation needs to be a deposition.
My Father’s Fashion Tips
The writer on his father’s religious devotion to personal style. Among the maxims: “the turtleneck is the most flattering thing a man can wear”; “there is nothing like a fresh burn”; and “always wear white to the face.”
What Abortion Access Looks Like in Mississippi: One Person at a Time
With state legislatures passing new abortion restrictions, the Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Fund follows its own compass on how to best help clients.
Queer People Can’t Forget Our Own Mortality — Except In Montrose
It was a place where you could, whatever you needed could to look like, for so many folks who’d been told they could not.
The Rise of Wayne Jenkins
Ignoring warning signs of misconduct, Baltimore Police praised — and promoted — a Gun Trace Task Force leader.
Tulsi Gabbard Had a Very Strange Childhood
A profile of the long-shot presidential candidate.
Fiction Pick of the Week: "The Kings of Norway"
Homemade porn and life choices lead to deep introspection for grad students.
‘None of This Happened the Way You Think It Did’
For years, the clients of a Colorado funeral home kept their loved ones’ cremated remains. Then the FBI called.
Behind the Lines
A two-part series on America’s role in the Syrian civil war.
Driven
How a 22-year-old mother became the first woman to drive cross-country.
Michael Pollan writes for The New York Times Magazine and The New Yorker and is the author of nine books. His latest is How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence.
“I don’t like writing as an expert. I’m fine doing public speeches as an expert. Or writing op-ed pieces as an expert. But as a writer, it’s a killer. Nobody likes an expert. Nobody likes to be lectured at. And if you’ve read anything I’ve written, I’m kind of an idiot on page one. I am the naïve fish out of water. I’m learning though. The narrative that we always have as writers is our own education on the topic. We can recreate the process of learning that's behind the book.”
Thanks to Mailchimp and Pitt Writers for sponsoring this week's episode.
Man in the Window
Joseph James DeAngelo Jr., known as the Golden State Killer, is alleged to have murdered 13 people in California during the 1970s and 1980s. He also raped 50 women. He’ll stand trial for the murders only.
Journeys on the Cuyahoga
Legacy, beauty, and danger, 50 years after the river caught fire.
