'People get stabbed here all the time'

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Hi 👋 

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

This. Flu. Will. Not. Leave. Me. Alone. 😤🤒

I am so over it. I miss not having to cough my lungs out. I miss being able to look at a screen for more than five minutes without getting a bad headache. I miss being able to breathe out of two nostrils. I hate this bug so much.

Aside from me being cranky, this week’s newsletter is exciting. We have just one anchor story for today, but it’s massive. Probably the longest story I’ve shared here (that isn’t a series). Definitely not something you should expect to take down in, say, a lunch break or during your morning commute.

In any case, if you missed last week’s email, feel free to head on over and read it. Otherwise, here are a few choice picks:

• Tampa Bay Times Angels & Demons

• The Atavist Angel Killer 

• TexasMonthly See No Evil

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!

There are very few things—in the journalism world, at least—that I respect more than writers who do the actual, physical, grueling work of actually reporting out a story. Experiential journalism, so to speak.

And Shane Bauer pushes that to its utter extreme here. He goes undercover in a private prison—one of the country’s most egregious private prisons, actually, which, as this story will bear out in excruciating detail, puts profits above people. Because yes, prisoners are still people who deserve their basic freedoms, necessities, and dignities.

And I guess this is a good time to warn you of two things about this story. One: It is very, very, very long. The aggregator I use estimates its read time to be around 1 hour and 40 minutes, but I definitely took way longer than that. I had to split this across three days, interspersing shorter reads (or gaming sessions… or naps) in between. Don’t let that scare you away, though. The story hits the ground running and keeps moving quickly. There is not a subsection here that was a drag to read. Which honestly is an impressive bit of work on Mr. Bauer’s part.

Two: This story can get graphic. Which may have been obvious to you, but for whatever reason, wasn’t to me. The degree of violence in some spots here, particularly deep into the second half, blindsided me and had me recoiling from the page (or from my Boox screen).

Just some things to keep in mind before you decide to commit to this piece. Because it is a commitment. But one that pays off incredibly, I assure you.

Inside the Social Media Cult That Convinces Young People to Give Up Everything | OneZero (Medium), $

One of those stories that isn’t exactly explosive in morbidness but is nevertheless scarily violent in its own right.

This piece looks deep into the machinations of an online cult, first through the eyes of someone who joined and then successfully escaped, but eventually through the words of the cult’s leaders, themselves. There’s a lot going on here, from the group’s weird language tics to their disturbing hyper-focus on sex and sexuality. It almost makes sense that the adherents plausibly believe the very obvious lies of the leaders.

The Death-Defying Secrets of the Super-Century Club | GQ, $

Not gonna lie: Tarried with this story for weeks because I thought it was going to be so boring. But it’s completely my fault that I didn’t realize that the writer of this piece is the legendary Michael Paterniti, who has this unearthly talent of making even a recipe for boiled egg seem gripping.

That said, it’s a bit unfair to say that it was his prose magic that made this article sing—though it definitely did help. But the material was definitely doing some heavy-lifting too. It was pleasantly surprising fun it was to read through the wise-cracking wisdom of some of the world’s oldest people, and how bittersweet it is when the inevitable happens.

A Home Invasion, a Torture Session, One Lawyer Nearly Killing Another—the Gruesome November Night in One of Washington’s Wealthiest Suburbs | Washingtonian, $

One of the most grisly crimes I’ve read, made worse (somehow) by the fact that the victims survived the attack. That’s good, obviously, but it also means that they had to suffer through the pain of their injuries, the difficulties of the resulting disabilities, and the terror of being toyed with by their attacker.

Aside from the staggering degree of violence here, this story also takes that extra step of digging into the personal (professional, mental) dilemmas that built up in the weeks heading up to the assault. Real nice spin on what would have been a tired template.

The Curious Case of the Pygmy Nuthatch | Slate, Free

Hmm. These types of story are always a bit difficult for me to assess. This one, in particular, I enjoyed. But I’m aware that for many people, these types of fun, light-hearted stories might seem pointless. Like they’re a waste of newsroom investment and journalistic time. And not to let others dictate my tastes but… they kind of have a point.

Still, I can’t deny that this was a pretty fun story, and the writer’s dedication to the craft is impressive.

If a Mountain Lion Didn’t Kill Christopher Whiteley, What or Who Did? | TexasMonthly, $

Went into this story expecting some sort of a whodunit, True Crime story; on that front, this only partially delivered. It does talk about a death, but it doesn’t really do much by way of chasing down a suspect. Instead, it spends much of its time dissecting how authorities were so set on blaming a lion for the killing, even when all evidence pointed away from it.

That’s not to say that that isn’t a compelling angle—not at all. I really enjoyed this story. Just wanted to right any mistaken expectations you may have.

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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! 👋