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Hi 👋 

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

I welcomed last week with a crazy stiff neck—the kind that stretches far into your cranium and up to the crown of your head—and was nursing an awful headache all week long. (There’s still a bit as I write this, actually). So reading was quite the challenge for me, especially since I already give myself a lot of eye strain from all the writing I do as a freelance entrepreneur.

That’s in no way an excuse, though. I mostly had to steer clear of the novella-length stories, but I think I still managed to put a pretty good list for you this week. Plus I’m proud of how I pushed through the headache 💪

In any case, here’s what you can expect in this week’s edition:

• An inside look at how law enforcement dumps millions into largely useless sting operations.

• This story about transphobic school policies and the heroic mom who wouldn’t give up on her daughter.

• This story about how ghosts from your past will always catch up to you.

• And an essay about the dangers of being a woman—and what we can learn from the deeply interconnected nature of woods.

Also: I’ve hit a wall in trying to grow the newsletter, and I need your help. Aside from TLR, where else do you get your longform recommendations? And what social media platforms do you frequent?

Let me know by replying to this email, or by filling out this form:

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

Happy reading and see you again next Monday!

PS - This week’s edition of TLR is supported by 1440 Media, the knowledge company for the intellectually curious. 1440 is the best supplement for TLR (and I believe vice versa, too) because they curate news from a wide variety of sources, spread all across the ideological spectrum.

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Story in Spotlight

I’m so sorry to hear that large swathes of the U.S. are being battered by a once-a-century hurricane. My prayers and thoughts are with you 🙏 

And I know that many of you might already be tired of all the Helene news. Maybe you’ve even grown numb from all the reports of damages and deaths. This story, hopefully, takes you in the opposite direction. The writers take on the massive task of diving really deep into the shock and the denial and the grief and the (hopefully soon-to-come) acceptance that typically attends a disaster—and do a magnificent job at it.

The story was very intelligently structured, tracing Helene’s warpath alongside the emotional trajectory that often follows environmental catastrophes. The stories they tell are raw and very heavy, and more than once I found myself wincing in pain alongside the people in the story. I take that to mean that the writing is impressive: the story depicts injury honestly, bluntly, but also with compassion and respect for the victims. That’s talent.

Very important: The writers also make clear links between Helene—and other generational typhoons and catastrophes—and the climate crisis. The science, though just briefly touched upon, was presented in a clear and accurate way, without dumbing it down too much. And as a trained science writer, I can say that that, too, is talent.

Now: That’s not to say that this article is perfect. Would I have wanted it to be deeper? Sure. Would the story have benefited from deeper, more extensive reporting? Definitely. Could the writers have drawn more direct and explicit connections between Helene and the climate crisis? Absolutely.

But by golly. It’s been about a week. I’m sure the writers themselves are grappling with their own struggles because of Helene. Putting a deeply reported and well-written longform piece this quickly is an impressive feat on its own. They did incredible work here.

Long, but not excessively so. That said, this is about the immediate aftermath of a catastrophe, so expect it to be a difficult read. If you or your loved ones were directly affected by Helene, this might be triggering for you. Consider skipping. Otherwise, allot 40 minutes.

The Longform List

📖 The Elite College Students Who Can’t Read Books | The Atlantic, $

Quick disclaimer: This one is a bit short, and I’m not sure it even qualifies as longform, exactly.

But I think it’s important for The Lazy Reader to run this story, given our overt focus on reading. Plus, it strikes at a very worrying trend, which I have to admit hasn’t spared me. I’d be lying (and a hypocrite) if I said that that I find it inconceivable that college kids aren’t used to reading books anymore. Because the truth is I also spent many, many years away from books. Even from longform stories.

In fact, that’s the origin story of this newsletter—me wanting to expose my eyeballs to more sentences and fewer skibidi TikToks. (Is that what the kids these days say?)

So yeah. I recognize that there are very big institutional forces behind this. But I really, truly hope that we start moving back toward reading. And hopefully TLR helps with that even just a tiny bit.

Not long at all. I think I knocked this out in 10 minutes, with distractions.

👮 The Long Con | The Stranger, Free

This one makes a pretty strong case for the TLR signature Infuriating Story of the Week™. I mean… I’m nowhere near Seattle and nor is my tax money funding anything that the city does, but I was still pretty miffed by how easily local law enforcement dumped hundreds of thousands of the people’s money into what was essentially a pointless and failed operation.

I will say, though, the entire firestorm made for one hell of a story. There’s a twist pretty early on that caught me off guard, and its fallout was very fun to watch. I feel sorry for all everyone that got swept up in this ridiculously expensive and mostly useless sting, but at least even they seem good-natured about it (at least from how the story describes them).

And I know that this story is from 2011, but I think one of the central questions that it asks is still very much relevant today. What the hell is the government doing with my tax money?

Pretty long, but the storytelling is good, and the story itself is exciting. I’d set aside 40 to 50 minutes for it.

🏳️‍⚧️ Her Trans Daughter Made the Volleyball Team. Then an Armed Officer Showed Up. | The Washington Post, $

Okay now this is an infuriating story.

A trans girl teenager just wants to play on her high school volleyball team. She’s not even particularly good at the sport, and nor is her team sweeping competitions. What the hell is the school district board (and local leaders, for that matter) so afraid of? Huge, massive kudos to the mom though. She’s the undeniable hero in all of this, refusing to be cowed by conservative clamoring, and insisting that she stand up for her daughter.

Just want to point out that this is a very recent story, published last week. For queer people like me, it’s a painful reminder that even in a supposedly progressive country like the U.S. (though much of it is self-professed anyway), we’re still not safe.

Not excessively long. This will fly by if you rage read like I do. I finished this in 20 ish minutes, breaks included.

🪖 The Nazi of Oak Park | Chicago, Free

This… is complicated.

Going into this story, I was a firm believer that there is no place for nazis (especially those who were actively involved in the horrors of Hitler) in any civilized society. And I still do feel that way. But wow does this story does its absolute best to shake your convictions.

If anything, that’s just a testament to how well the story was written. Writer Michael Soffer builds the central figure up, giving us a peek at his dark past but also doing enough to drum up solid sympathy for him and respect for his work. So what, the story asks, that he was a nazi decades ago? He does so much good work now, and is loved by everyone. Doesn’t that not mean anything?

And then, like an absolute genius, the writer subtly shifts his tone and slowly takes a sort of aseptic approach to the proceedings that follow the fallout. It seems like that’s his way of forcing us to answer those questions for ourselves, regardless of which way the community itself swung.

Very long, but also very gripping. I think I took 40 minutes. 

🦦 The Detective of Northern Oddities | Outside Magazine, $

You know what, I was baited and switched (bait-and-switched?) by this story. I went in fully expecting a whodunit-type piece about animal deaths in Alaska, but instead I got a profile of a one-of-a-kind veterinarian who attends to some of the most outlandish animal diseases there are.

Good thing the story didn’t disappoint. It’s the opposite, actually. The writer does an incredible job of showing just how odd the cases that Kathy Burek handles—and how rudderless she typically is. Science has yet to establish standards and baselines for many wild animals in Alaska, so Burek often has to go by her professional intuition, which she painstakingly built through decades of experience.

And, to be fair, there is some bit of mystery in this story, too. Many of the diseases and injuries that Burek encounters out in the cold aren’t clear-cut. The vet books don’t quite have them detailed out. And so Burek often has to piece things together, figuring out the most likely scenario that led to an animal’s demise.

Pretty long, but not dragging. If you like odd animals (bonus points for otters) and find the gruesome interesting, then you’ll enjoy this. I took 45 minutes, distractions included. 

🖼️ The Art of Stealing | NRC, Free

This is a massive story about a not-so-massive crime that, ironically, made massive waves in the public’s mind.

Straight away, I want to highlight how well this story was structured. It might seem a bit basic, but it really does wonders for people like me who tend to dip in and out of longform articles, and makes it incredibly easy to find my way back.

But more to the point of storytelling, the way the writer ordered the subheads allowed for two stories to be told in parallel somewhat, before converging somewhere down the line. That decision made for some really interesting juxtapositions early on, which really helped in keeping me hooked.

Of course, all of that is nothing to say of the story’s subject matter, which in itself is incredible.

Very long, but a really easy read. Sentences are quick and the entire thing is very fast-paced. Not too big of a time sink; I’d say… 1 hour at most?

🥀 The Art of Dying | The New Yorker, $

You might be put off by this essay at first, but trust me and stick with it. For the first few paragraphs, it’s going to sound like the ramblings of an old, dying man, like the writer isn’t making much sense.

And honestly, I don’t think that changes much throughout the story. But at least for me, something flipped partway through, and I stopped caring about the entire narrative flow of the essay, and instead marvelled at this entirely new (to me) writing style. No other essay has had that effect on my before. And that’s something I can definitely get used to.

Plus it makes sense, too—Someone on their deathbed (or at least months away from their demise) looks back on their lives and sees fragments, not a contiguous story. Thinking of it in that way, this quickly became one of my favorite essays of all time. Absolutely stellar experience.

Very, very long. But a really smooth read. I didn’t even notice that I’d already made it halfway through. I took more than 1 hour to finish this.

🌲 Woman in the Woods | Bitter Southerner, Free

This is a quick essay that I knocked out fairly quickly.

That’s not to say that it’s an easy read. In fact, the writer dives into some very sensitive topics, talking about gendered violence and sexual abuse against women. And she puts this against the backdrop of walking through the woods alone in search of a sense of freedom, of being untamed. Ironic, then, that the relative seclusion of the woods itself poses a life-threatening dnager to women. Away from CCTV cameras and witnesses, men are emboldened to do the unthinkable and just dump the body wherever convenient.

Women (and everyone else, honestly) need to start seeing these assaults and murders as interconnected, much like how things are in the forest. We need to see patterns beyond the isolated cases, and to make people in power see them, too, so that we can start moving toward concrete change.

Not too long, but a pretty difficult read. If this is something that triggers you, please consider skipping this story. Otherwise, you might need to allot 15 ish focused minutes.

Thanks for reading! Please, please reach out if you have feedback, suggestions, or questions. Alternatively, you can fill out this super quick survey form. I promise it won’t even take five minutes of your time, and it’ll be a HUGE help!

ALSO: I know some of the stories I recommend might be behind paywalls, and maybe I can help you with access to those. Send me a message and let’s see what we can do 😊

Until next Monday! 👋