Longreads
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Making Meaning, One Step at a Time: A Conversation with Earl Swift
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Longreads
Longreads : The best longform stories on the web
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Longreads
• Brendan Fitzgerald
My Two Front Teeth
"Reflections on a lifetime of dental drama."
Longreads
• Seyward Darby
He Was One of the World’s Most Wanted Men. So He Bought a West African Country.
"How Jos Leijdekkers turned Sierra Leone into a drug-dealer’s paradise."
Longreads
• Carolyn Wells
Impossibility is a Myth
"Sacha Jafri sold an artwork for $62 million dollars in 2021 at an auction. But the money never changed hands. What happened?"
Longreads
• Brendan Fitzgerald
Annie Dillard and the Writing Life
"Writers aren’t born, they’re made—from practice, reading, and a lot of caffeine. And sometimes tutelage."
Longreads
• Carolyn Wells
The Incredible Journey of a Migratory Shorebird
"Godwits make the longest non-stop migration in the bird world. That might be the least of their marvels. Can they survive a changing planet?"
Longreads
• Cheri Lucas Rowlands
Where Cities and Oceans Meet
"In New Orleans, water is coming. What should we do with the time we have left?"
Longreads
• Mark Blondin and Betsy Blondin
Still On Its Way to Cleveland
Longreads
• Cheri Lucas Rowlands
On Not Being a Homeowner
"Generational wealth shapes our futures and friendships, whether we talk about it or not."
Longreads
• Krista Stevens
Tomato Cure
"The quiet medicine of small jobs, finished before dark."
Longreads
• Carolyn Wells
No, But
"What was improv?"
Longreads
• Carolyn Wells
Murder-in-Law
"The twisted story of a domestic contract killing."
Longreads
• Longreads
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Showcasing stories from J.B. MacKinnon, Daniel Kolitz, Daniel Shailer, Justin Neuman, and Hanif Abdurraqib.
Longreads
• Carolyn Wells
Shetland’s Most Wanted
"A series of encounters with an unlikely band of separatists."
Longreads
• Brendan Fitzgerald
Then They Came for the Ostriches
"Poultry and paranoia in the Great White North."
Longreads
• Longreads
The Longreads Questionnaire, Featuring Roberto José Andrade Franco
Longreads
• Brendan Fitzgerald
A True-Crime Producer Posed as an Heiress — Then Allegedly Stole $30 Million
"Mary Carole McDonnell made low-budget crime shows, but her own story was built on deceptions fit for one of her series. Now, she’s on the FBI’s Most Wanted list and the target of a global manhunt."
Longreads
• Seyward Darby
Paid Phones
"Owing the payday loan apps."
Longreads
• Carolyn Wells
The Violent Feud That Shocked the Horse World
"A prominent dressage trainer shot a belligerent student—and now maintains that he’s the real victim."
Longreads
• Longreads
Eating Alone
Longreads
• Cheri Lucas Rowlands
More Nothing Now
"We are most human when we play freely, imaginatively, pointlessly. Gamification risks atrophying that most precious capacity."
Longreads
• Brendan Fitzgerald
Studio Ghibli’s Deepest Secret Is What Comes Next
"The ambiguous future of Japan’s most prestigious group of animators won’t get clearer anytime soon."
Longreads
• Krista Stevens
There’s No Place Like Group Chats
"My old friends and I have ended up scattered across different states, in different time zones, but we’ve made our own neighborhood inside the black and blue bubbles of our phones."
Longreads
• Longreads
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
In this edition:
ㆍBefore, after
ㆍMany, one
ㆍAthlete, human
ㆍSilent, spoken
ㆍGame, mystery
Longreads
• Krista Stevens
Why Is Everyone In Tech So Sad?
"A lot of people seem to be realizing that knowledge work is mostly pointless. AI might give us the pleasure of finding out what happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers."
Longreads
• Brendan Fitzgerald
Can Andre Agassi Enjoy Pickleball More Than He Hated Tennis?
"After years of relative quiet, the public is meeting 'Andre 2.0' — a pickleball booster, an open book and a guy eager to build a less tortured relationship with competition."
Longreads
• Kanya Kanchana
Found Wanting: A Reading List on Measurement
Longreads
• Carolyn Wells
The Extraordinary Untold Story of Freddie Mercury: Mary Austin on Her Best Friend–and Love of Her Life
"He was Queen’s flamboyant frontman. She was his shy girlfriend, dreaming of marriage until they both realised he preferred men."
Longreads
• Brendan Fitzgerald
Welcome to the Age of AI Crime and Punishment
"America’s legal system is already grappling with cases where chatbots acted as lawyers and witnesses, generated the evidence, or helped plan a mass shooting. Who will be liable now that some AI agents are doing crimes all on their own?"
Longreads
• Seyward Darby
Ballroom Blitz
"Trump’s obsessive bid for architectural immortality is barreling toward completion."