Hi 👋 

Growing a newsletter is hard work! 😮‍💨

I’ve never been one for self-promotion, so I’m having to unlearn all of my ickiness about it now. I’ve also never really been good at social media (it so easily overwhelms me), so I’m needing to learn a lot about it.

I won’t say that it’s been coming easy for me, but at least I’m enjoying the process. And I’m learning a lot, which I will most probably be able to use in the near future…… when I launch another newsletter 👀

(Stay tuned!)

Anyway, this week’s lineup turned out to be darker and more serious than I expected. I didn’t mean to read so many stories about death and abuse and crime, but I guess that’s just what the algorithm fed me this week.

With that in mind, please take a little bit more care reading through our list this week. It might start weighing on your soul without you noticing. Remember to take breaks (from reading and from work) and go for walks when you can! ✨

Happy reading and see you again next Sunday!

One long read…

I will be upfront: This is a very intense and truly disturbing story and can be very triggering for some. It has graphic depictions of self-harm, extortion, and pedophilia, as well as physical, mental, and sexual abuse of children.

Please be careful when reading.

You may want to skip this. There are many other incredible stories in the next section.

That said, this is one hell of an investigation. Four media groups—WIRED, The Washington Post, Romania's Recorder and Germany's Der Spiegel—all joined hands to look into one of the most depraved online networks.

What they found was shocking and disgusting. Men, most of whom are young, preying on even younger girls and asking them to do sexual and violent things on camera. Mostly for pleasure and the sense of power.

What’s scariest to me is that this is all fairly recent. Typically, these types of investigations take several years, and when they come out, they talk about the crime with a certain sanitized distance because so much time has passed. That isn’t the case here. Some of the perpetrators were just caught and have yet to file their pleas.

Also scary is that these aren’t exactly highly sophisticated, tech-savvy crime rings. Many are young adults working from home networks. Yet they still somehow continue to dodge bans from the social networking sites, and it’s taken authorities years to track them down and arrest them.

Whether that’s because they’re some sort of masterminds or because these tech companies and law enforcement are inept… well… that’s up to you to decide. 🤔🤔

🕓 This is a difficult and long read. Easily 1 hour and 30 minutes, maybe 2 hours, including the distractions and all the breaks you might need to take.

I’m also linking to the WaPo story here. It’s just as impressive—and distressing.

And for our friends who can read these languages, here are the stories from Recorder and Der Spiegel.

… and then some

1 - I Always Believed My Funny, Kind Father was Killed by a Murderous Teenage Gang. Three Decades on, I Discovered the Truth | The Guardian, Free

This is an incredible story. I almost made it my spotlight for this week. At its core, it really is just a story about how the truth is rarely as clean and easy as we think it is. Which, I admit, is not really groundbreaking as far as longform stories go. But what really sells this story for me is the prose. It’s easy and flowy and personal (I guess that’s part of the beauty of first-person writing). It really makes the article fly by.

🕓 This one is long, but like I said, it flies by. It took me an hour at most, distractions included.

2 - The “Disney Adult” Industrial Complex | The New Statesman, Free

I’m sure we all know, on some level, that Disney🐭 flexes its massive corporate muscles to shape our preferences, experiences, and even our consciousness. But it’s easy to ignore and second-guess our own understanding of it because it’s a very tough truth to face. This story really lays it out in thorough detail, showing how Disney meticulously and intentionally created the Disney adult class. It leaves it up to you to decide what to do with that knowledge.

🕓 This one is long but it really pulled me in. It took me a bit over an hour.

3 - Internal Memos of the Upper Class’: Gary Younge Says Journalism is Out of Touch | Press Gazette, Free

I’m a sucker for really smart takes, and this one is exactly that. It might sound weird coming from me but… I’ve been a bit disillusioned with the Media for quite some time now. Maybe it’s because I work within it and see all the ways in which it’s rotten. But Gary Younge nails it: The Media has gotten lazy 😒 It settles for whatever it already thinks the truth should be and doesn’t look at things critically anymore. And given how many of us in the industry are privileged, upper-middle class folks, it’s unsurprising that our sensibilities often align with those in power. It just defeats the point of the Media.

🕓 Not terribly long and the arguments pull you in. I’d say 10 to 15 minutes.

4 - ‘I’m Sorry to Have to Announce that My Cancer Situation has Developed not Necessarily to My Advantage’ | Jersey Evening Post, Free

Okay… I’m also a sucker for really emotional and heartwarming essays, and this is a perfect example. It’s not necessarily a story per se, but it evoked in me such complex, warm feelings that I just knew you’d want to read it, too. There’s no point in me trying to explain this one because the beauty of the story is in how raw and yet simultaneously wise it is. 🙏

🕓 This one isn’t terribly long at all. Maybe 5 to 10 minutes. Definitely no excuse to not read it. I promise it’ll be worth your time.

5 - A Teen’s Fatal Plunge Into the London Underworld | The New Yorker, $

I also wanted to make this the spotlight story for the week, but I’m a bit late to it. It went mini viral on X a couple of weeks ago—and for good reason. It’s a classic story of the dark underbelly of organized crime spilling out into normal, everyday life, but really well-told and deeply reported. Patrick Radden Keefe does an incredible job of layering details and interviews to paint something coherent and linear out of a very confusing and chaotic event.

🕓 This is a massive story. Probably set aside 1 hour and 30 minutes for it.

6 - Could Baird’s Tapirs Be a New Conservation Ambassador? | The Revelator, Free

This one is about a big cute mammal with an adorable long nose. But it’s also about conservation and learning to live with endangered animals and coming to the realization that the environment does so much for us. We only need to respect it and (in the case of the Baird’s tapir), help it recover.

🕓 Not particularly a long one. Maybe 35 to 45 minutes?

7 - The Meditation Start-Up That’s Selling Bliss on Demand | The Atlantic, $

I work in biotech news, so everyday I have to suffer through all the annoying tech lingo and founderspeak and Silicon Valley jargonness of the corporate world and It. Is. Insufferable. I didn’t expect that it could become even more insufferable when combined with the often too-vague, often highly-exoticized language that dominates much of wellness culture. It helps that the author Ross Anderson brings a healthy serving of skepticism to the story and is not afraid to somehow poke fun at his subjects (in a semi-respectful way, I promise!). If you’re into tech and wellness and are a bit cynical as a person, you’ll enjoy this one.

🕓 I’d say 40 to 45 minutes. Not particularly long, but also not as gripping as, say, a crime thriller would be.

Bonus reco!

If you’re on the market for another newsletter to try, I’ve got an amazing recommendation for you.

(If not, you should still at least consider this one!)

Now I Know is a free daily newsletter that helps you become smarter. What could be better than that?

Dan sends one interesting factoid-slash-story everyday, which itself is already an impressive feat, given that he’s been running this newsletter since 2010. I might just be obtuse but I find it shocking that there’s 10 years worth of facts interesting enough to keep Now I Know going.

In any case, I’ve been enjoying my time with Dan’s newsletter so far. His emails give me that tiny pocket of sanity break in my day, something else to occupy my mind when it’s too fatigued from work.

Definitely worth a sub!

(This is not sponsored, too. It’s really just an interesting newsletter I thought you might enjoy).

Around the world

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

1 - The Oscars happened this week, and John Cena walked out onstage wearing almost nothing. That envelope was doing so much heavy lifting.
+ Of course, social media has taken the bit and spiraled it into its own online discourse. Some are saying that it’s part of a humiliation ritual, sort of an initiation into Hollywood or something.
+ Here are some of the other big things that happened during the Oscars.

2 - Akira Toriyama, who created the legendary anime Dragon Ball, has passed away. He was 68.
+ It was never my anime of choice, but I still grew up watching Dragon Ball and I still see its echoes in the anime that I continue to watch until today. It’s always sad when a pillar of an industry passes. Rest well, king. 🙏😔

3 - Apparently, bumblebees can learn—and learn from each other. We aren’t the only intelligent creatures on Earth. (Not by a long shot, actually). 

4 - More Kate Middleton news: Amid all the rumors surrounding her prolonged absence from the public eye, she posted a badly edited photo of her with her kids. 💀
+ She has actually admitted to posting and editing the photo, which has since been taken down and pulled from major news wires.
+ Since then, she has been photographed with the prince in a car.

5 - The Internet is worried about Jackie’s and Shadow’s eggs, which should have hatched a few days ago.
+ If that headline confused you, don’t worry. There’s a bit here. Jackie and Shadow are sort-of-celebrity bald eagles that every year lay and warm eggs.
+The entire thing is live-streamed by the Friends of Big Bear Valley, which also helps protect and preserve the natural habitat of Jackie and Shadow. The eagles have amassed a cult following online, some of whom obsessively monitor the cameras.
+ This year, they had three eggs, though at this point it’s unlikely that any of them will hatch 😔

6 - Another reason to stop doomscrolling in bed: Having too little sleep could worsen your risk of type 2 diabetes, according to a study from the University of Uppsala in Sweden.

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, please feel free to share The Lazy Reader with friends or family who you think might want to join us in reading more.

Until next Sunday! 👋