Long Reads

Post by **Shirley** » Sun Dec 04, 2016 7:22 pm

rass wrote:Wow.

That was a fun read. I could picture the author's self-satisfied grin as she typed "all the petty horseshit" in the last paragraph.

Joe K · Post by **Joe K** » Tue Dec 13, 2016 9:00 am

This could also go in one of the politics threads, but I'll post the latest from Ta-Nehisi Coates here: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/ar ... ck/508793/

It did not disappoint. I've mentioned him in other threads, but in my (not as well-read as I would like) opinion, Coates is the most important current American writer. Coates grew up in inner city Baltimore, the son of a Black Panther leader, and his perspective on race issues is incredibly valuable and all too unique among writers with the degree of mainstream acclaim that he has attained. Among many other things, this latest piece points out some distinctions between Coates' upbringing, and subsequent worldview, and Obama's.

This is also a very astute point about the latest election:

Much would be made of blue-collar voters in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan who’d pulled the lever for Obama in 2008 and 2012 and then for Trump in 2016. Surely these voters disproved racism as an explanatory force. It’s still not clear how many individual voters actually flipped. But the underlying presumption—that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama could be swapped in for each other—exhibited a problem. Clinton was a candidate who’d won one competitive political race in her life, whose political instincts were questioned by her own advisers, who took more than half a million dollars in speaking fees from an investment bank because it was “what they offered,” who proposed to bring back to the White House a former president dogged by allegations of rape and sexual harassment. Obama was a candidate who’d become only the third black senator in the modern era; who’d twice been elected president, each time flipping red and purple states; who’d run one of the most scandal-free administrations in recent memory. Imagine an African American facsimile of Hillary Clinton: She would never be the nominee of a major political party and likely would not be in national politics at all.

Pointing to citizens who voted for both Obama and Trump does not disprove racism; it evinces it. To secure the White House, Obama needed to be a Harvard-trained lawyer with a decade of political experience and an incredible gift for speaking to cross sections of the country; Donald Trump needed only money and white bluster.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Tue Dec 13, 2016 10:06 am

That's a great piece.

But man, the last two paragraphs are so depressing.

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 11:46 am

This is an absolutely fantastic piece:

http://bittersoutherner.com/lazarus-lak ... uck-morons

Post by **Sabo** » Mon Jan 09, 2017 9:35 am

Bobby is right. It's an excellent read.

rass · Post by **rass** » Mon Jan 09, 2017 9:44 am

I read that last year and could sworn I posted it somewhere in here. Guess not. Anyway, yeah, it was good.

Post by **Shirley** » Mon Jan 09, 2017 11:15 am

rass wrote:I read that last year and could sworn I posted it somewhere in here. Guess not. Anyway, yeah, it was good.

Yeah, I know I read that story before. It was probably here.

Post by **Sabo** » Mon Jan 09, 2017 11:16 am

Shirley wrote:
rass wrote:I read that last year and could sworn I posted it somewhere in here. Guess not. Anyway, yeah, it was good.
Yeah, I know I read that story before. It was probably here.

I know I'd read a story (probably from the Swamp) about the locals getting up in arms about a mosque being built in Wyoming, but I don't remember all of the details about Hot Tamale Louie.

rass · Post by **rass** » Mon Jan 09, 2017 11:25 am

found it

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Mon Jan 09, 2017 11:36 am

tennbengal wrote:This is an absolutely fantastic piece:

http://bittersoutherner.com/lazarus-lak ... uck-morons

But seriously, this one is awesome.

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Mon Jan 09, 2017 11:59 am

tennbengal wrote:
tennbengal wrote:This is an absolutely fantastic piece:

http://bittersoutherner.com/lazarus-lak ... uck-morons
But seriously, this one is awesome.

Oh, cool! I posted about the documentary on that race in the Movies thread. The doc is really cryptic about these guys... It's a great doc, but it doesn't deep dive into the characters very much.

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Mon Jan 09, 2017 12:16 pm

Nonlinear FC wrote:
tennbengal wrote:
tennbengal wrote:This is an absolutely fantastic piece:

http://bittersoutherner.com/lazarus-lak ... uck-morons
But seriously, this one is awesome.

Oh, cool! I posted about the documentary on that race in the Movies thread. The doc is really cryptic about these guys... It's a great doc, but it doesn't deep dive into the characters very much.

And after reading that I very much want to see that documentary, plenty of context for the race now.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Thu Jan 12, 2017 3:36 pm

OH man. Be careful. The first 3 paragraphs, man.

DSafetyGuy · Post by **DSafetyGuy** » Thu Jan 12, 2017 5:53 pm

The Crimes of SEAL Team 6.

rass · Post by **rass** » Tue Feb 14, 2017 5:45 pm

An older catfishing tale (old enough that it predates the term):
http://www.laweekly.com/news/the-life-a ... es-2150689

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Wed Feb 15, 2017 12:28 pm

rass wrote:An older catfishing tale (old enough that it predates the term):
http://www.laweekly.com/news/the-life-a ... es-2150689

Pretty intense stuff.

DSafetyGuy · Post by **DSafetyGuy** » Mon May 08, 2017 5:51 pm

Royce White: "I'm Fucking Weird".

A really interesting update on our favorite National Basketball League of Canada player.

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Tue May 09, 2017 11:33 am

Yep, that was great

billy22g · Post by **billy22g** » Thu May 11, 2017 12:38 am

Got my weekend reading now from catching up on this thread. Here's one for you on a woman who witnessed 278 executions: http://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-witness/

billy22g · Post by **billy22g** » Thu May 11, 2017 12:40 am

This one is really good as well: https://www.propublica.org/article/fals ... able-story

DaveInSeattle · Post by **DaveInSeattle** » Thu May 11, 2017 12:00 pm

Dwayne Johnson for President!

When Dwayne Johnson meets you (and I can assure you, he would love to), the first thing he will do is ask you six thousand questions about yourself, and remember the answers forever. If you are a child, good luck getting past Dwayne Johnson without a high five or some simulated roughhousing; if you're in a wheelchair, prepare for a Beowulf-style epic poem about your deeds and bravery, composed extemporaneously, delivered to Johnson's Instagram audience of 85 million people; if you're dead, having shuffled off your mortal coil before you even got the chance to meet Dwayne Johnson, that sucks—rest in peace knowing that Dwayne Johnson genuinely misses you. For Johnson, there are no strangers; there are simply best friends, and best friends he hasn't met yet. I've known the man for only two hours—and have been in his car now for only a few minutes, listening to the Dixie Chicks, headed to what he's luxuriously described to me as his “private gym”—and already it's apparent that I am Dwayne Johnson's greatest friend in the entire world.

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Thu May 11, 2017 12:29 pm

I'm in the middle of that profile of Johnson. Entertaining read so far. Not sure if she's roasting him or just fairly accurately capturing his persona.

rass · Post by **rass** » Tue May 16, 2017 10:04 am

My Family's Slave

Post by **Shirley** » Wed May 17, 2017 4:22 pm

rass wrote:My Family's Slave

Wow

I guessed that the woman was Filipino before I read the article. Must be something about that culture. I think there are likely lots of FIlipino slaves - or near slaves - around Asia. When my brother-in-law lived in Hong Kong years ago, lots of people her knew there - including his eventual wife - kept small Filipino live-in maids in their tiny apartments. Many (most?) apartments there actually included a small room for the maid. I assumed those "maids" were paid, but maybe not.

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Wed May 17, 2017 4:26 pm

That was a depressing story.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Thu Aug 10, 2017 10:49 am

Maybe some of you olds will like this one: MICHAEL BROOKS and the son who barely knew him

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Thu Aug 10, 2017 1:03 pm

mister d wrote:Maybe some of you olds will like this one: MICHAEL BROOKS and the son who barely knew him

Gotta wonder about guys who attended LaSalle.

Post by **Sabo** » Fri Aug 11, 2017 10:29 am

Not very long, but a good story about an American soldier returning a flag he took from a dead Japanese soldier.

https://twitter.com/AP/status/896008572747874304

govmentchedda · Post by **govmentchedda** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 10:29 pm

Holy shit, the GQ article/interview with Quincy Jones!

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 10:45 pm

govmentchedda wrote: ↑Tue Jan 30, 2018 10:29 pm Holy shit, the GQ article/interview with Quincy Jones!

High points

Post by **brian** » Tue Feb 06, 2018 12:51 pm

Spencer Hall searches for what made Sir Edmund Hillary in New Zealand.

govmentchedda · Post by **govmentchedda** » Tue Feb 06, 2018 2:53 pm

brian wrote: ↑Tue Feb 06, 2018 12:51 pm Spencer Hall searches for what made Sir Edmund Hillary in New Zealand.

Looking forward to this one.

govmentchedda · Post by **govmentchedda** » Wed Feb 07, 2018 6:18 pm

Vulture has even more from Quincy.

Read it.

rass · Post by **rass** » Wed Apr 04, 2018 6:26 pm

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/04 ... in-decades

DSafetyGuy · Post by **DSafetyGuy** » Thu Apr 05, 2018 11:31 am

Here's another one that would be very easy to see being turned into a movie:

Coronado High: How a group of hippie surfers and a former Spanish teacher built the largest weed-smuggling empire on the West Coast.

GoodKarma · Post by **GoodKarma** » Thu Apr 05, 2018 2:42 pm

rass wrote: ↑Wed Apr 04, 2018 6:26 pm https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/04 ... in-decades

Finished that story this morning. Extra sad when accidents like that are entirely preventable by taking a safer route or could have been abated by having updated life boats.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Thu May 10, 2018 5:38 am

The Weird, Dangerous, Isolated Life of the Saturation Diver

Parts of the piece made me feel incredibly claustrophobic.

Giff · Post by **Giff** » Thu May 10, 2018 7:36 am

Pruitt wrote: ↑Thu May 10, 2018 5:38 am The Weird, Dangerous, Isolated Life of the Saturation Diver

Parts of the piece made me feel incredibly claustrophobic.

Yeah, I'm one sentence in and pretty positive there's no way I'm going to be able to finish this.

govmentchedda · Post by **govmentchedda** » Thu May 10, 2018 8:13 am

Yeah, that first paragraph is a doozy.

duff · Post by **duff** » Thu May 10, 2018 8:19 am

The whole read is amazing. Never knew what they had to go through to work in those conditions. The comparison of time for an astronaut to get back from outer space to the time it takes these divers to get back to normal conditions is crazy.