They Call Her La Primera, Jai Alai’s Last Hope By Britni de la Cretaz Feature Three decades ago, Becky Smith wanted to become jai alai’s first woman pro. Now the sport can’t make a comeback without her. Friends: We Need Your Help to Fund More Stories
The Light Years By Longreads Feature After his parents pushed him out of their home, a teenager descended into the drug-fueled counterculture of the 1970s American West.
‘There’s Virtually No Conversation In Chicago … About the Aftershocks of the Violence.’ By Hope Reese Feature In “An American Summer,” journalist Alex Kotlowitz tries to report on gun deaths on Chicago’s South Side with the same attention to survivors, anniversaries, and aftershocks that is paid to mass shootings.
Honey Bees, Worker Bees, and the Economic Violence of Land Grabs By Melissa Chadburn Feature Melissa Chadburn challenges her own belief that environmental justice issues are reserved for people of privilege.
But You Look Fine: A Reading List About Disabilities, Accommodations, and School By Jacqueline Alnes Reading List Jacqueline Alnes brings us six stories on disability and discrimination in higher education.
Confessions of a Clinical Therapy Trainee By Krista Stevens Highlight What do you do when it’s your first day on the job and the patient can’t stop crying?
Busting Broncos and the Patriarchy By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight After nearly a century of being denied the opportunity, women are riding bucking broncos in American rodeo once again, and regaining the respect they deserve.
How Do You Move a Warhol? Really, Really Carefully By Michelle Weber Highlight We’re gonna need more bubble wrap.
If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium By Michelle Weber Highlight Let’s grab a waffle and challenge the global hegemony of U.S. culture.
Wonder Woman By Longreads Feature Of all the genes parents pass down and values they instill, how does one take hold so much stronger than the others?
I’m Writing You from Tehran By Longreads Feature A French-Iranian journalist writes a letter to her grandfather about the ten years she spent in Iran, trying to make sense of her identity and a country living very different public and private lives.
The Manhandling of Rock ‘N’ Roll History By Evelyn McDonnell Feature Less than 8 percent of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s inductees are women. Time for it to step up and induct an all-female class in 2020.
‘Intelligent Education’ and China’s Grand AI Experiment By Cheri Lucas Rowlands Highlight Seven schools in China have installed facial recognition technology in classrooms to monitor — and score — their students. At The Disconnect, Yujie Xue reports on this “intelligent education” initiative.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week By Longreads Weekly Top 5 This week, we’re sharing stories from Molly Redden, Sarah Schweitzer, Andrew Dickson, Namwali Serpell, and Lukas Hermsmeier.
Is It Ever Too Late to Pursue a Dream? By Matt Giles Feature Dan Stoddard believes there is room in the NBA for a 42-year-old rookie.
A Three-Day Expedition To Walk Across Paris Entirely Underground By Longreads Feature Journalist Will Hunt, who made the crossing with a group of urban explorers, recounts being menaced by rainwater and rats — and meeting fellow subterranean wanderers along the way.
On Flooding: Drowning the Culture in Sameness By Soraya Roberts Feature Flooding (v.): Unleashing a mass torrent of the same stories by the same storytellers at the same time, making it almost impossible for anyone but the same select few to rise to the surface.
The Problem With Nostalgia By Michael Musto Feature Michael Musto argues that wearing rose-colored glasses always leads to an unfair distortion — looking back on the best of the past while comparing it to the worst of the present.
10 Outstanding Short Stories to Read in 2018 By Longreads Reading List Must-read stories from Han Kang, Porochista Khakpour, and Min Jin Lee.
After the Tsunami By Matthew Komatsu Feature After the 2011 disaster, which killed his grandmother and laid waste to his ancestral home, an American journeys to Japan to search for what the tsunami left in its wake.
‘There’s Virtually No Conversation In Chicago … About the Aftershocks of the Violence.’ By Hope Reese Feature In “An American Summer,” journalist Alex Kotlowitz tries to report on gun deaths on Chicago’s South Side with the same attention to survivors, anniversaries, and aftershocks that is paid to mass shootings.
The Light Years By Longreads Feature After his parents pushed him out of their home, a teenager descended into the drug-fueled counterculture of the 1970s American West.
Wonder Woman By Longreads Feature Of all the genes parents pass down and values they instill, how does one take hold so much stronger than the others?
I’m Writing You from Tehran By Longreads Feature A French-Iranian journalist writes a letter to her grandfather about the ten years she spent in Iran, trying to make sense of her identity and a country living very different public and private lives.
‘Craft Is My Belief System. My Obligation To Writing Is Religious.’ By Lily Meyer Feature Nathan Englander talks about the “super-American world” of Orthodox Judaism, Philip Roth’s funeral, and training himself to write his new novel “kaddish.com” while daydreaming.
‘There’s Virtually No Conversation In Chicago … About the Aftershocks of the Violence.’ By Hope Reese Feature In “An American Summer,” journalist Alex Kotlowitz tries to report on gun deaths on Chicago’s South Side with the same attention to survivors, anniversaries, and aftershocks that is paid to mass shootings.
The Manhandling of Rock ‘N’ Roll History By Evelyn McDonnell Feature Less than 8 percent of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s inductees are women. Time for it to step up and induct an all-female class in 2020.
An American City, Inhabited Yet Abandoned By Michelle Weber Highlight “Not a single person was killed on the day of the rioting. But the following month, May, would conclude with 41 homicides — the most the city had experienced in a month since the 1970s.”
The Power of a Neighborhood’s Name By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight When Google Maps’ data renamed an African American neighborhood, it opened up residents to the looming forces of gentrification.
How the Shock Jock Became the Outrage Jock By Soraya Roberts Feature What’s the difference between Howard Stern and Tucker Carlson? There isn’t really one.
They Call Her La Primera, Jai Alai’s Last Hope By Britni de la Cretaz Feature Three decades ago, Becky Smith wanted to become jai alai’s first woman pro. Now the sport can’t make a comeback without her.
Honey Bees, Worker Bees, and the Economic Violence of Land Grabs By Melissa Chadburn Feature Melissa Chadburn challenges her own belief that environmental justice issues are reserved for people of privilege.
The Good Bad Wives of Ozark and House of Cards By Sara Fredman Feature What if a TV antihero and his wife were partners instead of rivals?
The Leaves, They Never Stop Falling By Colin Dickey Feature Colin Dickey remembers a departed friend and a tree that won’t die.
And They Do Not Stop Until Dusk By Daisy Alioto Feature I’ve never known what it means to feel Jewish, but I still have a past — I have György Román, who painted dreams and saw nightmares.
