Hi 👋 

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

Is it just me or… has the news been extra exhausting lately? 😮‍💨

Everytime I open X (formerly Twitter) or Reddit or any one of my reader apps, it’s all Biden and Trump. The Media can’t seem to talk about anything else—which sucks because there are at least two wars raging right now, both of which involve one heavily-armed invader up against a smaller, mostly helpless nation.

Of course, that’s not to downplay the importance of the U.S. elections. But come on. 😒

(BREAKING: Biden has dropped out of the race. I’d already written this newsletter before he made his announcement and didn’t want to change things up last-minute.)

If you also feel overwhelmed by the headlines on dementia and campaign rallies and bloody ears and tangerine martyrdom (really???) and would you please just step down… then maybe our weekly reading list can offer you some respite.

Instead of doomscolling through your feeds and feeling progressively worse about yourself and the world, why don’t you dive into a longform story?

I’m sure you’ll find your next longread in this week’s edition of The Lazy Reader:

• A cautionary tale from someone who was sucked into and eventually thankfully excaped Andrew Tate’s online scam-slash-cult.

• An honest look at the Human Genome Project—and the ethical loopholes that could discredit the entire thing.

• This story about America’s complicity in the brutal deaths of environmental and indigenous activists in the developing world.

• This deep dive into the quiet right-wing, Christian cabal using millionaire dollars to swing the election in Trump’s favor.

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Happy reading and see you again next Monday!

Story in Spotlight

If you’ve been a longtime reader of TLR, then you know that I’m not the biggest fan of essays.

And you also probably know that that’s slowly been changing in recent months. With all the reading that I do to assemble this newsletter every week, I’ve stumbled upon some absolutely fantastic essays—just like this one.

The writer realizes that, despite her successful career and loving family, she feels painfully lonely. So she embarks on this month-long challenge to make just one friend. What ensues is a funny, sometimes-desperate, often cringe-worthy adventure that, at many turns, facilitates introspection.

And it’s an absolute delight to read.

This story is actually funny, too. Enough to make me laugh to myself in the gym (where I typically read these longform stories in between sets). Making readers laugh, in my opinion, is much, much more difficult to manage than, say, making them angry or sad or hopeless. The writer pulls off humor so well.

The subject of the essay itself is very compelling. I’m a quintessential Millennial adult in that way—I have friends (very close friends, even), but I still find myself feeling lonely relatively frequently. On more than one occassion, I’ve also thought of joining local clubs or weekend groups, or taking up a new hobby, in an effort to find new friends.

In fact, I think this story might have inspired me to start my own 30-day make-a-friend challenge.

Reasonably long, but not extremely so. But it’s a very enjoyable read, so it shouldn’t take too long. Maybe 30 minutes tops?

The Longform List

🪶 The Death Squads Hunting Environmental Defenders | In These Times, Free

I’m not sure if people living in the U.S. understand just how vast the military complex is. America’s armed influence reaches far and deep, even affecting the most far-flung provinces in the Philippines. This story lifts the veil a bit on that, showing how the U.S. provides weapons and training to Philippine army units, which in turn execute indigenous environmental activists for private companies. It’s a grisly cycle that keeps communities silent and poor—and keeps the money flowing between energy and oil companies, and weapons contractors.

As someone who sees how bare-faced this contradiction is, it’s difficult for me to see the U.S. parade itself as the foremost defender of human rights when this is the reality.

Very long, but very important. I’d argue that this is essential reading for anyone who lives in the U.S., especially those who want to learn more about the country’s foreign policy. Could take well over an hour.

✊🏿 'Colonialism Had Never Really Ended': My Life in the Shadow of Cecil Rhodes | The Guardian, Free

This is a timely essay about the enduring pains of colonialism. Timely not only because of current affairs—the U.S. elections, Israel’s and Russia’s pointless wars, and the continuing bare-faced extraction of resources and talent from Global South—but also because this subject appears to be en vogue again for the pop culture wardens. I’m currently reading R.F. Kuang’s Babel during my off time, and the similarities between this essay and that book are incredibly uncanny.

Pretty long, and I always feel like these types of essays can feel extremely slow and tough to read if it’s not something you find interesting. So it could go either way for you. I personally enjoy this subject, so it only took me 20 ish minutes.

⛪ Inside Ziklag, the Secret Organization of Wealthy Christians Trying to Sway the Election and Change the Country | ProPublica, Free

Speaking of the elections, this story is also extremely timely and ProPublica continues to do impressive investigative work. Here, the outlet exposes a mostly behind-the-scenes group of millionaires who want to swing the election rightward—while hiding behind the guise of a charity. Which is illegal. This story had gone viral in several of my online circles, but I’m not sure if it will have a concrete impact on the polls.

Reasonably long and can become unwieldy in some spots because of all the names and events. But it’s also a very important story, especially if you live in the U.S. and plan on voting in the coming elections.

🚩 Leaving The Real World: How I Escaped Andrew Tate’s Get Rich Quick ‘Cult’ | VICE, Free

As someone who strives to not be chronically online, I’m happy to report that I don’t know who Andrew Tate is. I see clips of him sometimes on my TikTok feed, but I always just swipe past them. That said, I’m not surprised at all that he is a right-wing meninist nut who scams his followers and is proud about it. This is a really scathing look at Tate’s online operations and his destructive effect on the lives of the young men who fall for his rhetoric.

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I wish it were an essay instead. A first-person POV would have made for a compelling story.

🩹 The Kidnapping I Can’t Escape | The New York Times, $

I will be upfront: I have mixed feelings about the writer (which I will explain in a bit), and I’m not completely on-board with how this is essentially a really long personal essay dressed up like a feature. But there’s truly no denying a good story. And this is an incredible telling of two different and deep traumas and how people learn to grow around wounds. It’s heavy and difficult, but I enjoyed every bit of it.

Very long, and I felt that some parts could have been cut out. But the prose is easy so it shouldn’t take too long to read through. Maybe 45 minutes, with distractions.

💲If I Made $4 a Word, This Article Would Be Worth $10,000 | Longreads, Free

This is why I have mixed feelings about Taffy Brodesser-Akner. A few years ago, she was at the center of a big debate about fair pay in Media (especially for freelancers), and she sort of became the face of a type of highly connected writer that got paid an extremely aspirational amount. And the industry celebrated this fact about her, justifying it as a natural consequence of her talent. (As if less-connected freelancers weren’t just as good; and as if the establishment didn’t tell us at every turn that there isn’t money left to pay us with).

In any case, this essay was written in 2019, in the heat of that controversy, but it’s still sadly, painfully relevant today. The vast majority of freelancers continue to get paid dirt, while the syndicated writers at the top bring in rates to the tune of $10 per word. It’s inequitable and unfair, and for an industry that supposedly stands for what’s right, it’s also very hypocritical.

Sorry for the rant.

Not too long. Maybe 20 minutes, distractions included.

🛎️ The Shocking Scale of Sex Trafficking Allegations at Red Roof Inn Hotels Across the United States | The Independent, Free

Quick content warning: This includes accounts of child sexual abuse, manipulation, and violence. Please read with care.

This is… wild. It’s infuriating and unbelievable (in the worst possible way) that adults would do this to kids and that a multimillion-dollar business chain would just let it happen. It’s also alarming that this is happening at such a large scale, and that it took the incredible courage of the victims to get a case going. The (spoiler alert!) settlement feels like it fails the victims.

Not too long, but a very difficult read. I speed-read through this but I’d say you can give yourself more than an hour so you can take breaks in between as needed.

🕵️ The Dark Origins of the True-Crime Frenzy at CrimeCon | Vanity Fair, $ (if you’ve burned your free articles)

I am a self-confessed fan of True Crime, but I’ve also been very leery of how the genre spins people’s (often women’s) tragedies into entertainment. This story doesn’t explicitly engage that tension, but it did end up feeling extra real for me. The women in this story, including the writer, had all experienced fearsome trauma that, if things had not gone their way, could have ended up in True Crime-esque tragedy. Moving through the world as a woman is so tough.

Not too long, and reasonably interesting. If you’re into True Crime, this will fly by for you. This one took me 20 ish minutes.

🧬 Haunting the Human Genome Project: A Question of Consent | Undark, Free

For those of you in the know, I used to be a scientist in a previous life. I’ve always been bothered by how most of those around me didn’t seem… interested in doing things ethically—or even just studying the science of ethics. As long as we get the data. Apparently, that’s an enterprise-wide problem. The Human Genome Project, which has become foundational for modern science, was apparently assembled despite shoddy consent from donors and using questionably sourced material. Unfortunately, this isn’t the first (nor do I expect that it will be the last) case of scientists foregoing basic ethics in big, landmark studies.

I wonder how many scientists will speak out against this—and how this oversight will hurt the public’s already-poor image of science.

Not too long, but in my opinion a very important story, given how The Human Genome Project undergirds almost all cutting-edge medicines. Probably 25 minutes, at most.

Bonus reco!

I want to highlight something a bit unorthodox here this week.

A friend of mine once told me that doing a PhD was simultaneously the best and worst decision of his life.

He was still in the throes of his dissertation then—and he hadn’t yet experienced the job market—so I’m not sure if his sentiments have changed one way or the other.

I also once dreamed of collecting my own set of post-graduate degrees, and a PhD was of course one of my academic goals. The years have worn me down, though, and now I’m perfectly happy with my measly Bachelor’s.

That means I’m probably never going to experience the pure joy of writing out my dissertation’s acknowledgement. So this article from the Australian National University will have to do.

Good thing it’s such an incredible project. It’s very interactive and the writer did a great job at stringing together snippets of acknowledgements from dozens (hundreds?) of theses. It’s such an easy, uplifting read. A nice break-of-pace from our usual fare of dark, depressing stories.

Not long at all. But a very delightful experience. Took me 10 minutes.

Around the world

1 - On needless wars:
+ FINALLY the ICC has found that Israel is illegally occupying Palestine and must end the occupation ASAP.
+ The ICC is set to issue warrants against Netanyahu and a defense minister Gallant in the coming weeks.
+ Meanwhile, fearing the very real possibility of a Trump presidency, Zelensky appears to be slowly warming up to negotiations with Russia.
+ Still, NATO warns that the war will stretch through the end of the decade.

2- Speaking of a Trump presidency: Tech Bro-in-Chief Elon Musk is allegedly pumping $45 million a month into Trump’s campaign, according to The WSJ.
+ He has since denied this.
+ Lots of firsts for the Trump campaign last week, too: First rally since the botched assassination, and the first event where he was joined by his official running mate JD Vance.
+ On the other side of the political aisle, Biden was diagnosed with COVID-19 and has had to cancel his Vegas rally.

3 - Were you affected by the worldwide Microsoft meltdown? Apparently it’s because of some faulty software update from a cybersecurity company… which is just the juiciest bit of irony.
+ Another explainer!

4 - More geopolitical conflict… because why not, right? 🙄
+ North Korea has started flying balloons willed with poop over the border again, to which South Korea has responded with its own audio propaganda.
+ A new “axis powers” is emerging—Russia, Iran, China and North Korea—presumably to counter the long-entrenched dominance of the U.S. and its allies.

5 - Elsewhere in Asia, protests have washed over the streets of Bangladesh as frustration over job quotas grow. The government has, predictably, responded with violence and impunity.

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! 👋