TheNewsGal, Edition No. 97
What a week! These are the standouts.
All the things
172 runners started this ultramarathon. 21 of them never came back. Holy schnikees. (Will Ford, Runner’s World, ~17 min.)
Katie Couric Is Not for Everyone: The legendary anchor has written a wild, unflinching memoir. Does that make her a bad person? Only this writer could keep my attention on this celebrity subject for this length of time. (Rebecca Traister, The Cut, ~32 min.)
A Very Big Little Country: For the past two decades, the micronation of Westarctica has grown in prominence — and is now using its power for something other than Antarctic domination. Wait, what? (Katherine LaGrave, Afar, ~17 min.)
How An Adoption Broker Cashed In On Prospective Parents’ Dreams: In just a few years, a Michigan woman took in millions of dollars, faking adoptions and ruining families’ lives along the way. This is why we can’t have nice things. (Sheelah Kolhatkar, New Yorker, ~31 min.)
Gary Paulsen Understood That Children Live In The World. A perfect tribute to the late, best-selling author of Hatchet. (Jonah Walters, Gawker, ~9 min.)
Dwayne Johnson Lets Down His Guard: A no-holds-barred talk with the megastar and entrepreneur about his volatile childhood, his heartbreaking relationship with his dad, and Vin Diesel’s “bullshit.” I’ve seen maybe one of his movies, ever, but no matter. (Chris Heath, Vanity Fair, ~35 min.)
A Jim Crow–Era Murder. A Family Secret. Decades Later, What Does Justice Look Like? Wowza. (Samantha Michaels, Mother Jones, ~26 min.)
He calls himself the “American Sheriff.” Whose law is he following? What an asshole. (Jessica Pishko, Politico Magazine, ~20 min.)
I Was On Tinder In Israel. I Swiped Right On A Man In Palestine: This is what it taught me about the fraught relationship between tech and geopolitics. I swear, every day I learn something new that troubles me deeply. (Yona Golding, Wired, ~9 min.)
Victim No. 79: America’s homicide crisis claimed my childhood friend. A story of family, friendship, and failure of institutions. (Dwayne Bray, The Undefeated, ~36 min.)
Corporate Transition: When presenting as a man, this “tech bro” entrepreneur was the toast of Silicon Valley — until she stepped into boardrooms as a woman. UGH. (Stephanie Clifford, Elle, ~14 min.)
The Hard-Learned Lessons Of History: California’s last boarding school for Indigenous students moves toward embracing — not disgracing — tradition and culture. Awesome. (Robert Ito, Alta, ~12 min.)
Have Sperm, Will Travel: Amidst a historic shortage at sperm banks nationwide, a new means of donation is on the rise: Facebook groups. Meet Ari Nagel, aka the Sperminator, a superdonor with nearly 100 biological children and counting. This. Story. (Rachel Monroe, Esquire, ~30 min.)
The Enumerator: Dispatches from a broken census count. Good grief, America. (Jeremy Miller, Harper’s, ~25 min.)
A data sleuth challenged a powerful COVID scientist. Then he came after her. 1) This shit kills me. 2) She’s a badass. (Stephanie M. Lee, BuzzFeed News, ~22 min.)
How the TV adaptation of Alex Haley’s Roots sparked a cultural awakening. I’d never known quite how it all came together. (Wil Haygood, LitHub, ~19 min.)
Tom Morey, inventor of the Boogie Board, wanted everyone to experience the ocean. What a cool guy. (Vivian Ho, The Guardian, ~4 min.)
Destroying Comedy: The 9–Percenter rule. The creator of Airplane! on the comedy culture of 2021. (David Zucker, Commentary, ~13 min.)
If you read one thing this week
A River Reawakened: Ten years of rewilding the Elwha Watershed. Look, Ma — no dams! (Jessica Plumb, Orion Magazine, ~9 min.)