'I was praying for death.'

Hi 👋 

Welcome back to The Lazy Reader, a weekly rundown of some of the best longform articles from across the Web ✨

So I’ve been feeling like the newsletter has gotten stale over the last few months. And I don’t pay much attention to my analytics (I’m doing this on the side of a very hectic day job, after all), but the numbers seem to ay the same thing: things have stalled and new subs have slowed to a trickle.

So what do you guys say we shake things up? What other types of content would you want to see from TLR?

Anyhoo: some choice picks from last week, if you missed that email:

• GQ Is This Man Serving a Life Sentence Because of a Mistaken Identity?

• Cipher Magazine Big Food, Big Problems

• Tampa Bay Time Despite Warnings, All Children’s Kept Operating. Babies died.

As always, 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!

This piece has drummed up a lot of controversy. There have been protests at the NYT, and people who’ve shared this online have gotten pretty strong pushback. I don’t care.

I think there is a clear correct moral side here, and that’s to stand against systematic sexual abuse. Against any population, yes, but especially if it’s just civilians caught in the crossfire. And in this case, there’s been overwhelming evidence from all quarters—trusted international organizations, media, people on the ground—that the Israeli forces have been, almost as a course of policy, been abusing their prisoners. There have been videos. There have been photos. And we’ve all seen the depravity of it, as if the soldiers see the Palestinians as subhuman, as animals, as things to play with.

Again, I think there is a clear correct moral side here.

PS - It’s telling, too, that the NYT brands this piece as an opinion even though there’s clear comprehensive reporting around it.

This is an interesting one. It starts with a triple-murder and then slowly unfurls into a thought-provoking story about our carceral approach to justice, raising questions about rehabilitation and forgiveness.

The writer here is very much involved in the story, which is something that I don’t typically appreciate in a piece of journalism, but at least he doesn’t attempt to mask his biases. Instead he tackles them head-on and makes it the underlying premise of the article: His mom believed that the murderer has done his time and has repented enough. He should be set free.

Is that a belief that the writer shares? Does the gunman’s only surviving family member—his daughter—believe the same thing? Where does penance fit in our idea of justice?

I’ve previously shared a story about Fenn’s treasure on The Lazy Reader before, many months back. At the time, I was captivated by the hunt itself. People were putting so much of themselves into the search, and while I would never do something like that myself… I do understand the compulsion, on some level. After all, it’s an actual treasure hunt, complete with cryptic clues and the promise of not just riches but also of glory. It’s the stuff of TV shows and fantasy novels.

This story veers away from that. Slightly. It digs into the psyche of Fenn himself and tries to piece apart his reasoning, his thinking behind running the hunt in the first place. Is the piece successful? I honestly can’t tell.

Here’s another Fenn story, about the person who found the treasure and the questions that raises. Where does that leave Fenn’s legacy? What about those who dedicated so much of their lives to the hunt?

Animal lovers beware: This story gets graphic. So much so that I had to step away from it for a bit.

This is an infuriating story. There’s so much heartlessness here, but there is a special place in hell for that one vet who decided that cattle-prodding a sick horse hundreds of times is quality care. Especially since she seems to show no remorse. She even fights hard against the the allegations, choosing to save her professional skin instead of recognizing that she was responsible for so much suffering.

And while there may be an argument to be made that this is an isolated case, I’m not sure I buy it. Other professional vets in the story actually stand with this witch, claiming that only vets would understand why she did the things she did. So arrogant, so cruel.

Really heartfelt essay about a transman joining a camp for transmen—and discovering the beauty and liberation that comes with shamelessly taking space. I’m queer myself, though I admit that I don’t see my gender identity as the crux of who I am. Still, this story resonated with me on a deep level. How nice must it be to be regarded by society as the “normal” one, as the “default.”

How freeing must it feel to not have every bit of you dissected and scrutinized and intellectualized and demonized and whatever else it is.

Fun little story here that really takes you back to a time when there was so much more whimsy on the Internet. It was possible to just run a deeply reported story about nothing really consequential and have it do well. I miss it so much.

The main conceit of this article is that an American and a Chinese man were brought together by a funny twist of fate (or by counterfeit phones and Apple’s weird cloud system at the time), kicking off an unlikely friendship that at one point became big enough to appear on the Ellen show. Lessons abound: About cross-cultural relationships, about the Internet, about a flash of fame. Take your pick.

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! 👋