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Hi 👋 

We’re back again with another reading list of some of the best longform journalism across the internet ✨

Lots of fascinating picks in this week’s edition, including some standout ones from years ago.

I’ve recently developed an interest for reading old longform stories and then trying to see how things have changed (or, as is more often the case, not changed at all) in the intervening years. It’s been quite an exercise in understanding the human psyche and the broader social and political forces that govern us.

Plus, as I always say: A good story is evergreen.

Here’s what’s in store for you in this week’s email:

• A tragic story of a kind-hearted mom, a dead orphan, and a criminal justice system that values convictions more than justice.

• This essay-slash-investigation that looks deep into the writer’s personal history to better understand the mind of a serial killer.

• A profile of a chef who makes gourmet masterpieces from commonplace (or extremely weird) seafood—and whose life mission is to preserve the ocean and its bounties.

• This story about tech bros starting their own media companies because… they hate the media.

As with last week, please let me know what you think of the list this week by voting in the poll below.

ORRR you can also fill out this super quick survey 🙏 It’ll only take a few minutes at most. I promise! And it’ll be a huge help to us in improving The Lazy Reader.

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Happy reading and see you again next Monday!

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Story in Spotlight

I want to confess something: China confuses me. Even (or maybe especially) its alleged human rights abuses.

And that’s after spending some three years reporting on politics across Asia while working with a non-profit.

There’s so much that’s being said about the CCP—but mostly only in recent years. In the late 2000s and early 2010s, there really wasn’t much global outrage over China, or at least there hadn’t been much media noise over it. And I find it unlikely that what everyone paints to be a ruthless autocratic government could only have committed its atrocities in recent years.

(That’s not to say, of course, that the abuses haven’t been getting worse. They have.)

It just feels as if it’s suddenly en vogue to talk about China, and all these agencies and non-profits and hawkish commentators are riding that wave.

But of course, I understand that this plays right into the hand of the CCP. The Communist government wants people to be apprehensive about all the criticisms. My ambivalence (and I imagine that of others like me worldwide) will only benefit the Xi admin, which demonstrably has been committing various atrocities.

I’m just being purely academic in my desire to find the correct middle ground between what the Chinese government is actually doing versus what it’s being projected to be doing by various actors for various agendas. But I know—being academic is a luxury that many people (especially those on the receiving end of China’s abuses) can’t afford.

This has been a very long ramble and it’s only tangentially related to our spotlight pick, but I hope it helps you understand the headspace I was in when I read this story. And how this entire scheme adds another layer to the confusion I have regarding China. How many more con men—who have become media darlings for speaking out against the CCP—are out there?

Not too long and honestly pretty easy to read. NPR came with receipts, so it sometimes reads as a juicy exposé. I’d give it maybe 20 minutes of commitment.  

The Longform List

👦🏻 Hannah and Andrew | Texas Monthly, $

If you’re familiar with Pamella Colloff’s body of work, then you’ll know why this story is leading this week’s Longform List.

A great crime story, I’ve grown to believe, follows the humanity behind the tragedy. Of course, this isn’t to excuse a crime, but just to better understand how people are pushed to the brink of committing something so heinous. Often, the juxtaposition between this and the legal spectacle that follows is a really simple but effective way of revealing the gaps in the justice system. As expected, Pamela pulls this off to incredible effect.

That’s nothing to say of how heartbreaking and (at times) infuriating this story is.

Very long, but definitely a worthwhile time investment. 1 hour at least.

🛻 The Truck Stop Killer | GQ, $

I’m going to contradict everything I just said: This one doesn’t interrogate the humanity behind the serial killings. And at some point, isn’t there supposed to be a limit to how much humanity we should afford someone who commits—and derives satisfaction from—such inhuman acts?

But, I would argue (though maybe weakly), this isn’t exactly your typical crime story. Instead, the writer investigated a series of murders by mining her own history. The result is a very compelling essay that explores personal struggles as much as it illustrates the prevailing attitudes in a quintessentially American subculture.

Long and honestly difficult to read in some spots because of the subject. But likewise a very worthwhile time sink. Will take you more than an hour.

🤑 The One-Hour Nurse Visits That Let Insurers Collect $15 Billion From Medicare | The Wall Street Journal, $

The U.S. healthcare system really never fails to surprise me in all the worst ways possible. It seems like the entire thing is set up to be intentionally convoluted to siphon money from sick Americans—and not actually to provide them with quality care.

This story lays out in painful, infuriating detail just one facet of the U.S. healthcare machinery, but it already shows how much contempt the businesses have for their customers. To deploy an “army” (the writer’s word, not mine) of nurses to drum up fake diagnoses just so insurers can collect more money from Medicare? Absolutely ghastly.

Not too long. If you like to rage-read like me, this one will fly by. I finished it in 15 minutes, distractions included.

👮 Secret DEA Files Show Agents Joked About Rape in a WhatsApp Chat. Then One of Them Was Accused of It | AP, Free

From one anger-inducing longread to another!

There’s so much to say about these federal agencies but let’s just stick with this: So many of them, the DEA included, are still very much boys’ clubs. There have been efforts in recent years to improve diversity (whether those efforts are genuine is debatable), but, as this story so clearly illustrates, there’s much work to be done yet. I mean—the only reason that anyone ever dared to speak up against the chat group was to try and save their own asses. Not out of respect for the women victims.

Not too long but difficult to read. Might be a bit triggering to some. Maybe 30 ish minutes.

😎 Meet the Young Men Paying to Attend Mogwarts, an Online School for Becoming Hot | GQ, $

Okay—I know I just spoke so much shit about the boys’ club or whatever, but this one is actually pretty sad. As a (queer) man myself, I know how crippling insecurities can get for us, and how easy it is to exploit them. So I really feel for the young boys in this story who shell out money they don’t have just to join an exclusive online clique that, as it turns out, doesn’t really offer them anything of value.

Long but an overall easy read. Probably 20 minutes, with distractions. 

🍚 Cocaine Incorporated | The New York Times, Free

From 2012, this story (from the PRK himself) bears out in really painstaking detail the complex and dangerous web of illegal drug trade running from Central America to the U.S. At the time that this story was published, it seemed that the entire system was on the brink of big changes—but I’m not sure how the entire thing looks like now. From what I’ve been reading, though, it seems like the addiction crisis in the U.S. has only gotten worse. Maybe there’s something else that we need to address rather than just the supply?

Very long but also very compelling. Probably 50 minutes if you stay focused. 

🪸 Seeding the Ocean: Inside a Michelin-Starred Chef’s Revolutionary Quest to Harvest Rice From the Sea | TIME, Free

I’m not the biggest fan of food stories, but I’m convinced that its nearly impossible to not find this one fascinating. It tells the story of a wayward student who finds his peace in the shore and, after years of training in various kitchens abroad, ends up establishing the most avant-garde restaurant in Spain (winning three Mitchelin starts to boot!).

But his expertise extends far beyond the kitchen: Ángel León is also an ardent environmentalist. He works with a scientific research group based in a nearby university to find ways to grow and make crops out of sea plants, with the goal of making them culinary staples. It’s a very compelling approach to sustainability and really shows just how passionate León is about the ocean.

Long, but I honestly adored it so much that I didn’t feel the story passing by. I think I took 20 minutes.

🥀 A Life-or-Death Situation | The New York Times, Free

My parents and I have a long-standing agreement. When it’s their time to go, they don’t want any of those highly invasive medical procedures performed on them—no CPRs, no intubations. They don’t want to fight death when it comes knocking.

I’ve always respected that, so I never really questioned it. I want the same thing for myself, too, after all.

This story made me realize that it’s not that simple. I was tempted throughout the story to judge the woman at the center of it all: a career academician who, for decades, has defended individual agency over their own mortality. But when it came to her own husband’s death—when the stakes got too personal—it seemed like she was incapable of pulling the plug, literally and figuratively.

But somehow, I can understand. Would I be able to carry out my parents’ wishes when their time comes?

Long and can be heavy if you’re the type that easily reflects on your own life based on things that you read. I went slow because of that exact reason, so I took an hour ish.

🏭 It’s Oil That Makes LA Boil | NOÉMA Magazine, Free

I imagine this would be a really impactful read if you lived in LA. I mean, I don’t live in LA (or in America, even) but it wasn’t all that difficult for me to imagine: What if the megacity I lived in had all these oil drilling operations just scattered around, hidden behind flimsy barriers and by nondescript buildings? It would make all the climate catastrophes we suffer through make so much more sense.

I just wish it went somewhere bigger, though. Knowing what’s happening across the planet, I couldn’t truly appreciate the feel-good tone that the story took toward the end.

Pretty long and can honestly get a bit slow in some spots. Give it an hour, with distractions. 

🕵 He Was an FBI Informant—and Inspired a Generation of Violent Extremists | WIRED, $

I only know of criminal informants through popular TV Shows (White Collar, specifically, which is the show that helped me survive college). But this story, which is decidedly non-fiction, convinces me that truth—at least in the realm of law enforcement and intelligence and security—really is stranger than fiction.

Okay, I’m sorry for the cliche, but you have to give this to me: How come the FBI not only works with but possibly even cultivates and protects this specific informant (and presumably others like him) who clearly is a threat to public safety, and who obviously espouses some worrisome (to put it very lightly) ideas?

Not too long. I’d say 15 minutes.

📰 Inside the ‘Broletariat Revolution’ | Business Insider, $

The underlying idea here is something that I can sympathize with, especially as a journalist: the Media establishment, as it were, is plagued with problems. Reporters and writers are underpaid and execs at the top don’t truly care about the craft. The result is poor, often highly-biased articles that seek to sensationalize instead of delivering genuine and balanced information.

But I’m not about to be a cheerleader for some fragile-egoed tech bros who can’t take level-headed critique of their industry. It’s not journalism if it doesn’t hold power to account, and that’s what separates the Media from industy and trade publications.

Not long at all. Probably 10 minutes if you can stay focused.

Around the world

Here are some of the most important/interesting/infuriating news bits from around the world last week:

1 - On needless wars:
+ Ukraine hits back, launching an invasion into Russia’s southern region.
+ Despite the rising body count and mounting international admonition, the U.S. gives $3.5 billion more to Israel.

2 - Speaking of international admonition: Nagasaki has decided to not invite Israel to its yearly commemoration of when the U.S. bombed the Japanese city.
+ ALL G7 countries (except Japan, of course) blasted the decision. The U.S. and U.K. will skip the ceremonies. Really shows where their priorities lie, don’t you think?

3 - Cindy Ngamba, originally from Cameroon, has won the first ever Olympic medal for the refugee team.
+ In other Olympics news, Imane Khelif won the gold medal after receiving a torrent of sexist hate.
+ Meanwhile, U.S. track and field bronze medalist Noah Lyles apparently had COVID-19 but still chose to compete.

4 - After weeks of protests that had turned bloody, Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina has resigned and fled the country.

5 - Japan warns citizens of possible “megaquake” after a 7.1 magnitude earthquake.

6 - A plane crash in Brazil has killed 61 passengers, leaving no survivors.

Thanks for reading! Please, please reach out if you have feedback, suggestions, or questions. I know some of the stories I recommend might be behind paywalls, and maybe I can help you with access to those, too!

Also, I’d appreciate it so much if you help me grow by sharing The Lazy Reader with friends or family who you think might also enjoy a good longform story 🫶

Until next Monday! 👋