In search of (more) interesting articles

MsZem

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Back in 2015, Prancer started "In Search of Interesting Articles", a thread for sharing longer articles on subjects other than politics. The original thread is in the archives, but since there are always interesting things to read, I thought I'd start a new one. Here are a few of my finds:

The Girl in the Window – a Pulitzer Prize winner in 2009, this Tampa Bay Times article tells the story of Dani, who suffered severe neglect during her first seven years of life. Last month, the Times announced that they would publish an update to the original article. It was not what I expected, or more accurately, hoped for; though in hindsight, maybe it should have been. Excellent reporting by Lane DeGregory, with photography by Melissa Lyttle and Lara Cerri.

The Life, Times and Departure of Bao Bao the Panda - this article is how I discovered Ed Yong, who writes about science for The Atlantic and is clearly both smarter and less squeamish than me. Yong has a talent for making science accessible and entertaining; he's also fun to follow on Twitter, where he recommends all sorts of interesting science writing.

The Reckoning - Pamela Colloff does amazing longform work. Here, she profiles a survivor of the 1966 University of Texas shooting.

How the Elderly Lose Their Rights - Rachel Aviv's New Yorker story on how greed and corruption ruin the lives of elderly people.

So, what else is worth reading?
 

PRlady

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her grace

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Fascinating read about fraud in "farm to table" advertisements: http://www.tampabay.com/projects/2016/food/farm-to-fable/restaurants/
https://www.buzzfeed.com/michellede...wanted-her-mom?utm_term=.vnO6kDvEr#.hx2xBqAMN
Sad "true crime" article about Munchausen by proxy: https://www.buzzfeed.com/michellede...wanted-her-mom?utm_term=.vnO6kDvEr#.hx2xBqAMN

Interesting piece on a shared genetic mutation between a muscular dystrophy patient and an Olympic medalist: https://www.propublica.org/article/muscular-dystrophy-patient-olympic-medalist-same-genetic-mutation
 
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Prancer

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I'm probably the only one who really likes this one on teaching poetry, but what the heck: All We Read Is Freaks

Another teaching-related one, this time about what it's like to be a bright kid from the inner-city attending a liberal arts college: "I'm Gonna Rise Above What I Was Doing"

A very different story about a brilliant student: The Scholar

A cautionary report on the human cost of economic growth from Japan: A Lonely Death

A little-known crisis: Lake Chad: The World's Most Complex Humanitarian Disaster

This one was posted in PI a couple of times, but not everyone reads PI and I think it's an important read: The White Flight of Derek Black

This was interesting to me because I have so many students who swear by self-help books and some of them are really into The Secret: The Untold Story of Napoleon Hill, the Greatest Self-Help Scammer of All Time

I was planning to post the story agalisgv posted above, but since she posted that one, I will post this one instead: 11,341 Rape Kits Were Collected and Forgotten in Detroit. This is the Story of One of Them

And this one: Unfounded

This one was interesting to me because I have an SIL who lives with aneurysms; one ruptured and almost killed her and she has several others that wax and wane and could kill her at any time: Aneurysm
 

MsZem

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Thanks, everyone! I'm struggling with my fiction reading lately, and non-fiction has been a great alternative, whether in article or book form. So all these recommendations are very welcome :)

Another teaching-related one, this time about what it's like to be a bright kid from the inner-city attending a liberal arts college: "I'm Gonna Rise Above What I Was Doing"
I remember that one. I really hope Tavaris is doing well.

There are so many articles for which I'd love to see a followup. Maybe none more so than Patrick Kingsley's A Refugee's Journey (even with a part 2).
 
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MacMadame

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millyskate

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I thought this was interesting commentary on the wave of MeToo: https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/sex-consent-dangers-of-misplaced-scale

And here's one on the new Museum of the Bible in DC I found fascinating: https://www.theatlantic.com/politic...symbol-of-americas-religious-identity/546650/

And this is just fun, about a board game it takes 1500 hours to play:https://kotaku.com/the-notorious-board-game-that-takes-1500-hours-to-compl-1818510912
That first article is really interesting, thanks. As too often when crucial debates happen, polarisation gets in the way of constructive progress.
 

MsZem

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Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated posted a roundup of his favorite articles/stories from the past year. Some I'd already come across, but many were new to me. A few of my favorites:

You May Want to Marry My Husband by the late Amy Krouse Rosenthal.

To Obama With Love, and Hate, and Desperation - a wonderful NYT article by Jeanne Marie Laskas on the White House mailroom.

The Adopted Black Baby, And The White One Who Replaced Her - by John Eligon, also in the NYT.

And an NYT wedding story that's really worth reading, by C. J. Chivers.
 

Vash01

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This is scary, interesting and the graphics are amazing, so don't open it on your phone: http://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/poor-millennials/

I read chapter 1 but don't have the time to read the rest. Looks like an interesting article. However, I am a baby boomer and things are not rosy for me either. I earn well below what I should, and those salaries in the article don't sound 'low' to me, even with a 6-8 percent drop off. We are All screwed, not just the millenials.
 

Prancer

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This is scary, interesting and the graphics are amazing, so don't open it on your phone: http://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/poor-millennials/

Contrary to the cliché, the vast majority of millennials did not go to college, do not work as baristas and cannot lean on their parents for help. Every stereotype of our generation applies only to the tiniest, richest, whitest sliver of young people.

This. So this.

I read chapter 1 but don't have the time to read the rest. Looks like an interesting article. However, I am a baby boomer and things are not rosy for me either. I earn well below what I should, and those salaries in the article don't sound 'low' to me, even with a 6-8 percent drop off. We are All screwed, not just the millenials.

Are by any chance a late-end boomer, somewhere in your 50s?
 

MsZem

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Longform's Best of 2017.

Of the top 10, I've read A Most American Terrorist: the Making of Dylann Roof; What Bullets do to Bodies; How the Elderly Lose Their Rights (which I've already mentioned) and My Family's Slave (which I should have mentioned).
 

oleada

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Yes! :cheer: This is one of my favorite threads of all time. I've been meaning to post in here but have been swamped with work/life.

Since you mentioned it but didn't link to it: My Family's Slave

The Uninhabitable Earth: About climate change, and what it will do to the earth and humanity. Completely terrifying.
The Last Unknown Man: On the famous Benjaman Kyle case
Invisible Child: Dasani's Homeless Life: The life of one of New York City's many homeless children.

ETA: and on the lighter side:

The Secret Lives of Tumblr Teens: "That feeling when you hit a million followers, make more money than your mom, push a diet pill scheme, lose your blog, and turn 16" :rofl:
 

MsZem

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Deliverance from 27,000 Feet: an interactive NYT article by John Branch on efforts to return the bodies of Indian climbers who died high on Mt. Everest.

More from Longform's best of 2017:

ESPN's Sam Borden on the aftermath of the plane crash that decimated the Brazilian football club Chapecoense. The Player's Tribune article by the three players who survived the crash is also worth reading. I assume it is at least partly ghostwritten, but still comes across as authentic.

Simon Akam's Bloomberg article on London clerks - what an odd profession.
 

oleada

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The Chapecoense article had me in tears :fragile:

Wal-mart's Out of Control Crime Problem is Driving Police Crazy: On how Walmart cuts security, and its effect on police departments. I am unsure if this qualifies as politics (I don't think it does) but it stuck with me as one of the Walmarts mentioned was the one closest to my college campus, which was known as the scary ghetto Walmart for a reason.

Unclaimed: The 16 year search to identify a unknown man in a hospital
 

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MsZem

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MacMadame

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The series just kind of ended. That was disappointing. But I did find a video of Dasani dancing on YouTube and also her Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/fw_deede/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3Vqu_BhZR0

Here are a few hints about what happened later from the author posted on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/jenniferweiner/status/550027661335334912?lang=en

The author is supposed to be working on a book about child poverty that will include material about Dasani. However, she got that book contract at 3-4 years ago and I haven't found any evidence that the book was ever published.
 

MsZem

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Two tough reads:

Overlooked, by Cary Aspinwall in the Dallas News. Who's responsible for the children of women who go to jail, and what happens to them? Going over the letters from incarcerated women must have been heartbreaking.

The Accusation, by Maurice Chammah for The Marshall Project. About a man who seems to have been wrongfully convicted of molesting his children, and how this affected their lives.

And something a bit lighter:

The Next Bechdel Test, from Five Thirty Eight. Several of the proposed tests strike me as absurd, but definitely some food for thought about diversity in front of and behind the camera.
 

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