Life as the most famous children’s musician on earth.

An investigation of the infamous alleged assault.

Inside the world of 10-and-under competitive cheerleading.

A profile of Carmelo Anthony, newly anointed savior of the New York Knicks.

The author comments on the medium of the graduation cliché while still advancing it:

Of course the main requirement of speeches like this is that I'm supposed to talk about your liberal arts education's meaning, to try to explain why the degree you are about to receive has actual human value instead of just a material payoff. So let's talk about the single most pervasive cliché in the commencement speech genre, which is that a liberal arts education is not so much about filling you up with knowledge as it is about "teaching you how to think". If you're like me as a student, you've never liked hearing this, and you tend to feel a bit insulted by the claim that you needed anybody to teach you how to think, since the fact that you even got admitted to a college this good seems like proof that you already know how to think.

The life and death of Anna Nicole Smith.

An oral history of The Simpsons.

The surreal existence of an AOL content writer:

I was given eight to ten article assignments a night, writing about television shows that I had never seen before. AOL would send me short video clips, ranging from one-to-two minutes in length — clips from “Law & Order,” “Family Guy,” “Dancing With the Stars,” the Grammys, and so on and so forth… My job was then to write about them. But really, my job was to lie.

On the prosecution of former hedge fund star Raj Rajaratnam.

A profile of the late singer.

On the writer and his impact on his subjects.

On the life and afterlife of Che Guevara.

A profile of the art world’s most notorious dealer dynasty.

A journalist on the lingering effects of escaping a kidnapping.

The barely monitored use by cops of flashbangs, or military-style grenades.

What one sergeant says he saw before the alleged suicides of three detainees.

The singer-songwriter has a calico cat named Nietzsche.

Even an “obstructionist bloc” can’t resist handing prosecutors the indictments they want.

The writer’s obsession with a genus of snake known as “indigo.”

The sheriff of Putnam County, Georgia, finally meets a case he can’t solve.

The ups and downs of a beloved British pop band.

The last trip of a dedicated wanderer.

On the post-shooting life of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

The psych hospital life of John Hinckley Jr., Ronald Reagan’s would-be assassin.