215 Of The Best Longreads Of 2015
...all written by women. (via Autostraddle)
Investigative Reporting (25)
Seafood From Slaves, by Robin McDowell, Margie Mason, Martha Mendoza and Esther Htusan for The AP
Journalists spent over a year working on this story, aiming to expose the widespread use of forced labor in the Southeast Asian fishing industry. Includes the stories of some of the 2,000 fisherman rescued as a direct result of this investigation.
Drugging Our Kids, by Karen De Sa for The San Jose Mercury News
Foster kids in the California system live psychologically complex lives to begin with — lives that are becoming increasingly complicated by the litany of risky psychiatric medications dispensed to them at alarming rates. A five-part, multi-media interactive feature.
Laying Waste, by Sasha Chapman for The Walrus
Theres enough food on the planet to feed the 795 million people currently going without, but were throwing out over 6 million tons of perfectly good groceries every year. A Canadian food writer investigates her own consumption and waste, and the countrys.
Beyond Punishment, by Julie K. Brown and Casey Frank, photography and video by Emily Michot for The Miami Herald
An extensive multimedia report of the heinous conditions and life-threatening situations faced by the prisoners at Lowell Correctional Institution, the countrys largest womens prison — including sexual assault, abuse, corruption, cover-ups, woefully inadequate healthcare and possibly even murder.
The Threat To Detroits Rebound Isnt Crime or the Economy, Its The Mortgage Industry, by Anna Clark for Next City
Redlining as its traditionally defined doesnt happen anymore, but the mortgage industry still finds ways to keep minority homeowners out.
Failure Factories, by Cara Fitzpatrick, Lisa Gartner and Michael LaForgia and photographed by Dirk Shadd for The Tampa-Bay Times
A multi-part year-long investigation into how Pinellas County School District leaders have neglected the students who most need their support.
Welcome to Beautiful Parkersburg, West Virginia, by Mariah Blake and Emily Kassie for The Huffington Post Highline
A seven-chapter investigation of Duponts brazen corporate gambit — where the company poisoned a slice of Appalachia with the help of local regulators.
Out of the Shadows, by Jenifer McKim for The New England Center for Investigative Reporting
A four-part series on child abuse and neglect in Massachusetts, where many cases of death by child abuse havent even been investigated, let alone solved.
Police Withhold Videos Despite Vows of Transparency, by Kimberly Kindy and Julie Tate for The Washington Post
The Posts own data revealed 760 police shootings nationwide in 2015 at press time, of which 49 incidents were captured on camera — and less than half of those videos have been publicly released. An extensive multi-media work of reportage.
10 Years After Katrina, New Orleans All-Charter School System Has Proven a Failure, by Colleen Kimmett for In These Times
Other cities are looking to New Orleans in hope of erecting all-charter systems of their own, but theres just one problem: In interview after interview, people said the same thing: The system doesn't put children's needs first.
Rape on the Night Shift, by Bernice Yeung for Reveal News
The female night shift janitors working alone after the office has gone home are often subject to rape and assault — and reporting the abuse is more likely to get them fired than it is to get them justice.
Bees at the Brink, by Josephine Marcotty with photos and video by Renée Jones Schneider for The Star-Tribune
One-third of our food system relies, in some way, on the existence of the honeybee. Unfortunately, that same food system is killing the honeybee.
Left Behind: The Unintended Consequences of School Choice, by Jennifer Berry Hawes, Adam Parker and Amanda Kerr for The Post & Courier
A multimedia five-chapter look at students in Charleston County, home to the best and worst high schools in South Carolina, where the students most in need of quality teachers are being stranded in half-empty schools filled only 38% to capacity. Includes interactive graphics and all kinds of fascinating stuff.
Your Son is Deceased, by Rachel Aviv for The New Yorker
An unarmed mentally ill boy was murdered in his backyard by the Albuquerque police department, a department which is basically an endless nightmare. The Forgotten Students, and Eroding School Districts, of Californias Drought, by Maressa Nicosia for The Seventy-Four
In the Central Valley of California, schools are losing students — many the children of immigrant parents who came to the area to work on farms — which means losing heaps of state aid, which means small, rural school districts struggling harder than ever to stay above water in towns without any.
Abortion Foes Use Misleading Videos to Pressure Planned Parenthood Contractors, by Sofia Resnick for RH Reality Check
The Center For Medical Processs high-profile video campaign against Planned Parenthood isnt the first time videos like this have been used by abortion opponents. Theres a long history of this strategy being used to shut down existing clinics and to intimidate contractors out of opening new ones.
Death on Sevenmile Road, by Melissa del Bosque for The Texas Observer
Militarizing the border between Texas and Mexico has resulted in the Texas Department of Public Safety using lethal force with abandon, determined to stop immigration by any means necessary.
The Shooting Gallery, by Dana Liebelson for Huffington Post Highline
In Nevada, prison guards are allowed to carry guns, and the results have been gruesome and deadly.
Children of the Tribes, by Julia Scheers for Pacific Standard
The Twelve Tribes, a controversial religious sect in Plymouth who consider themselves direct descendants of the Puritans, run a nice little bakery, abuse children and might be more of a cult than a religion.
Till Death Do Us Part, by Jennifer Berry Hawes, Natalie Caula Hauff, Doug Pardue and Glenn Smith, for The Post and Courier
In South Carolina, a woman is murdered by a man every 12 days and the state does nothing. It does less than nothing. A seven-part, multimedia, interactive feature.
A River of Booze, by Karin Fisher and Eric Hoover for The Chronicle of Higher Education
Part of a series on college drinking, this article looks at alcohol culture from all sides at The University of Georgia in Athens.
Undrinkable, by Neena Satija and Alexa Ura for The Texas Monthly
Over 90,000 people living along the Texas-Mexico border live without running water, and many tens of thousands more have running water of such poor quality that they cannot know what poisons or diseases it might carry.
The Long Reach of Childhood Trauma, by Arielle Levin Becker for The CT Mirror
Research has linked exposure to abuse, neglect and other forms of severe adversity in childhood to a wide range of mental and physical diseases and disorders. Can understanding this make a profound change in the way we prevent illness?
A Changing Mission, by Carolyn Said and Joe Garofoli for The San Francisco Chronicle
An assemblage of stories and multi-media from the citizens of the rapidly-gentrifying Mission Neighborhood — some whove been there forever, some who arrived more recently — asking the question to whom does San Franciscos oldest neighborhood belong?
What Some Pregnancy Centers Are Really Saying to Women With Unplanned Pregnancies, by Meghan Winter for Cosmopolitan
A year-long investigation found that these sweet grannies and medical pros offering impartial advice in a crisis are anything but.
Unvarnished, by Sarah Maslin Nir for The New York Times *Longform Best of 2015*
One of the years most influential stories, this exposé on the conditions of nail workers in New York led to actual political action and a city-wide consciousness raising. But, too much less fanfare, rebuttals appeared in The New York Review of Books, which were handily rebuked by The Times, and again by Reason Magazine, leading The Times Public Editor Margaret Sullivan to write of the investigation that its findings, and the language used to express them, should have been dialed back — in some instances substantially. Chava Gourarie of The Columbia Journalism Review caught up with Nir, her editor at The Times, and some of the women in the story this month to talk about changes in the industry since the storys release and the impact the story has had on the industry, as well as a balanced look at challenges to its veracity.
Prison Kids, by Alissa Figueroa, Connie Fossi-Garcia, Alice Brennan, Cristina Costantini, Alcione Gonzalez, Adam Weinstein, Ani Ucar and other members of the Fusion Investigative Unit for Fusion
A Fusion Investigation featuring multiple articles, documentaries and interactive features about the growing problem with youth incarceration in the United States.
An In-Depth Look At Multilevel-Marketing, by Laura Rena Murray, Kate Kilpatrick and Alia Malek for Al Jazeera America
A five-part investigative study on the programs and the specific disenfranchised people they exploit, including Herbalife and its devastating effect on Hispanic immigrant communities.
Surviving Street Harassment in Mexico City, by Anna Holmes and Tatyana Fazlalizadeh for Fusion
Stop Telling Women To Smile is an extensive interactive multi-media piece that aims to amplify the voices of Mexican women who are challenging the ways in which their communities turn a blind eye to harassment and violence against women.
Feature Journalism (31)
I'm No Longer Afraid, by Noreen Malone with photography by Amanda Demme for New York Magazine *Longform Best of 2015*
An extraordinary assemblage of true stories from 35 women who were sexually assaulted by Bill Cosby: the world fell in love with a man who hurt them irrevocably and got away with it, and the anguish never really let up.
Prison Born, by Sarah Yager for The Atlantic
Whats the best way to raise children born to incarcerated mothers?
The Earthquake That Will Devastate the Pacific Northwest, by Kathryn Schulz for The New Yorker
*Longform Best of 2015*
#1 on Longforms list of the Top 10 articles of the year, about the inevitable earthquake we should probably start worrying about right now.
This is How Fox News Brainwashes Viewers, by Heather Hogan for Autostraddle
This in-depth multi-year investigation of the Fox News propaganda cycle won a 2015 Plain English Media Award.
Reckoning With Rosie, by Alexa Garcia-Ditta for The Texas Observer
Looking at a woman who got an illegal abortion 38 years ago, which unfortunately is all-too-relevant today.
Whats It Like To Be Poor at An Ivy League School? by Brooke Lea Foster for Boston Magazine
Figuring out how to pay for college is just the beginning — being in college, itself, offers myriad opportunities for lower-class students to be excluded from all the experience has to offer.
Insomnia That Kills, by Aimee Swartz for The Atlantic
Fatal familial insomnia, or FFI, is a very rare genetic disease that results in increasing insomnia and sleeplessness and, eventually, death.
No, Native Americans Arent Genetically More Susceptible to Alcoholism, by Maia Szalavitz for The Verge
the myth obscures the real causes of addiction and the starring roles that trauma and the multiple stresses of inequality can play in creating it.
For Trans Individuals, Seeing Medical Care Can Be A Minefield, by Kari Mugo for Bitch Magazine
I had been living my life as a trans man, going by my chosen name for almost 10 years, and asking my friends to use male pronouns, and then I get into this situation where who I really am completely disappears. I felt invisible. That person I had been living as—Ajay—didn't exist in that hospital setting. I became this female who was called by my old name and was treated as such.
Homes For The Homeless, by Susie Cagle for Aeon
Utah is leading the way with a simple strategy: give homes to homeless people.
The Long and Winding Detainment of Diana Ramos, by Christie Thompson for The Marshall Project
How an undocumented immigrant from El Salvador ended up spending four years in detention.
Its Not A Blank Slate, by Britany Robinson for Mashable
Mixed feelings about the evolution of Detroit and the (mostly white) entrepreneurs relocating there.
How to Survive a Footnote, by Emily Bass for n+1
LGBT Activism and HIV/AIDS activism was inexorably linked throughout the 80s and 90s, but now, not so much — a state of affairs that wouldve seemed unimaginable back then. So this piece goes all the way back until we get back here, and talk about why.
The Irrationality of Alcoholics Anonymous, by Gabrielle Glaser for The Atlantic
Why is Alcoholics Anonymous pushed as the only option for addicts when its not the best one, let alone the only one, for most of them?
Meet Marilyn Mosby: The Baltimore Prosecutor In The Eye Of the Storm, by Heidi Mitchell for Vogue
A profile of the 35-year-old prosecutor, raised in a house full of cops, who became a national figure after only 100 days in office by doing what no lead prosecutor in America had done in many turbulent months: bring swift and severe charges against police officers in the death of a black man.
There Are 44 NFL Players Who Have Been Accused Of Sexual or Physical Assault, by Broadly Staff for Broadly
This isnt longform as its typically categorized, but its visual innovation should be noted and it certainly contains enough words — arranged as a series of football cards.
The Lost Girls, by Apoorva Mandavilli for Spectrum
An incredibly in-depth multi-chapter analysis of why girls with autism struggle to get diagnosed, treated, or even understood.
How to Burn What Cant Catch Fire, by Danielle C. Belton for The Root
The first of a four-part series on the growing social justice movement, from traditional players to #BlackLivesMatter, examining where the movement has been, where it is now, and where its going.
What If Everything You Knew About Disciplining Kids Was Wrong? by Katherine Reynolds Lewis for Mother Jones
Practices that meet short-term needs, like peace in the classroom, are turning into long-term failures for the kids who need help the most.
Pro-Choice For Christ, by Reina Gattuso for Feministing
Inside the Religious Institute, a mutli-faith organization that advocates for access to contraceptives as well as for sexual health and education, refusing to pit bibles against birth control.
The Disappeared, by Sophie Anmuth for Latterly
Hundreds of young Egyptian men have vanished, turning up days or months later in prison — this is the story of the mother of one of those captured, who refused to accept his disappearance as absolute.
Landlocked Islanders, by Krista Langlois for Hakai Magazine
Life in the Marshall Islands is defined by the ocean, and its natives managed to survive Japanese occupation during the Second World War, followed by US nuclear testing between 1946-1958 — but now climate change is forcing Islanders to relocate. Many have already done so, in landlocked rural America.
Isis Enshrines a Theology of Rape, by Rukmini Callimachi for The New York Times
A Pultizer Prize-winning journalist on the embrace and promotion of sex slavery in the Islamic state.
The Life and Times of Strider Wolf, by Sarah Schweitzer for The Boston Globe *Longform Best of 2015*
Abused nearly to death, Strider was rescued from the terror of his mothers boyfriend and given to his grandparents, both dependent on multiple medications and struggling with homelessness and poverty themselves. But he survived, and he is surviving.
Finding Solidarity in Fields of Color, by Nicole L. Garner for The Riveter
Noting the diminishing presence of black farmers, Nicole Garner talks to Natasha Bowens, the biracial author of The Color of Food: Stories of Race, Resilience and Farming, about their shared dream of an industry with more diverse portrayals and realities.
Hear Them Roar: Meet the Honey Badgers, The Women Behind The Mens Movement, by Jen Oritz for Marie Claire
Theyre here, theyre real, and theyre terrible: women who agree with the men who think feminism is the problem.
Sample posts, headlines, and tweets by Honey Badgers include: You werent raped. Youre a whore. Join the club; Going Mental: She Might Be a Crazy Bitch If ... Red Flags!; The #feminist draft is fully operational. If you have a vagina or mangina youre [sic] forced to obey. #WomenAgainstFeminism.
On Menopause, by Rose George for Mosaic
A few things science doesnt know about menopause: what its for, how it works, and how best to treat it.
Death of a Valley, by Lauren Markham for Guernica
Because it keeps getting later and heres one California town that remains inescapably thirsty.
Whale Fall, by Rebecca Giggs for Granta
That the whale had re-stranded, this time higher up the beach, did not portend well for its survival but so astonished were the crowd and such a marvel was the animal that immoderate hope proved difficult to quash.
Exporting Clothes, Importing Safety, by Amy Yee for Roads & Kingdoms
A look at factories in Bangladesh who seem to be working on improving factory safety conditions, in a limited manner, after the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory in 2013 — but still wont budge on most issues relating to workers rights.
The Condition of Black Life Is One of Mourning, By Claudia Rankine for The New York Times
though the white liberal imagination likes to feel temporarily bad about black suffering, there really is no mode of empathy that can replicate the daily strain of knowing that as a black person you can be killed for simply being black: no hands in your pockets, no playing music, no sudden movements, no driving your car, no walking at night, no walking in the day, no turning onto this street, no entering this building, no standing your ground, no standing here, no standing there, no talking back, no playing with toy guns, no living while black.
The Mixed-Up Brothers of Bogotá, by Susan Dominus for The New York Times *Longform Best of 2015*
The fascinating story of two pairs of Colombian identical twins who were raised as two pairs of fraternal twins due to a hospital error. This piece was the #2 pick on Longforms 2015 Reader Poll.
Secondhand Stories In A Rusting Steel City, by Robyn K. Coggins for The Wilson Quarterly
Once upon a time, Braddock, Pennsylvania, was the place to be. Now, its one of many towns propped up and let down by the steel industry, and this is the story of the pawn shop that survived.
I Thought You Would Help Me, by Ali Smith for The Guardian
Listening to the stories of immigration detainees, and telling them.
Swallow Your Pride, by Christina Cauterucci for Washington City Paper
When did San Francisco Pride become so corporate and so straight?
History (12)
A Look at the Legacy of African Americans in Opera, by Alison Kinney for Hyperallergic
The 2015-2016 season will be the first in which the Met will not employ blackface, which is a grand occasion to look back on the tumultuous history of racism and anti-blackness in opera performances and audiences.
Why Rape Was Impossible, by Therese Oneill for Jezebel
A look at the terrifying medical logic of 18th century law.
The Divorce Colony, by April White for The Atavist
How Sioux Falls, South Dakota, became a safe haven for women seeking a divorce in the 19th century, including East Coast socialites.
How Americans Bought and Sold Racism, and Why It Still Matters, by Lisa Hix for Collectors Weekly
A look at our countrys ugly legacy through the material objects and media stories it bought and sold in order to reinforce the ideology of white supremacy and black inferiority.
Who Is It That Afflicts You? By Rachel Kincaid for Autostraddle
From a childhood obsession with the Salem Witch Trials to the witch hunts we observe (and engage in) every day.
Where Brooklyn At? by Banna Desta for Seven Scribes
Brooklyn, home to so many hip-hop kings and queens, is losing its community and that communitys incredible music with the rise of gentrification.
A River Runs Through It, by Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah for The Believer
The story of Jimi Hendrixs Electric Lady Studios.
The History of Lesbian Bars, by Nicole Pasulka for Broadly
The history of lesbian bars is also the history of where women could and could not go or be alone — or with each other.
Dixie is Dead, by Tracy Thompson for The Bitter Southerner
A journey through every annal of history towards seeing the ever-shifting South as it really is, not as what people imagine it to be.
Satan in Poughkeepsie, by Alex Mar for The Believer
The Church of Satan sprang up during the '60s counterculture movement in California and most assumed then, and even assume now, that the church was a group that practiced "Satanic Rituals," worshipped the devil, and killed things — but its actually just atheists with melodrama.
The Mystery of Sacagawea, by Natalie Shure for Buzzfeed *Longform Best of 2015*
The famed Shoshone heroine who helped Lewis and Clark journey to the West has become greater and more mythical than the sum of her recorded parts because there arent many recorded parts, when it all comes down to it.
Ghosts of the Midway, by Megan Shepard for This Land
In Tulsa, Oklahoma, many amusement parks boomed, busted, and caused their fair share of controversy. A look back at the areas most successful parks and one in particular, Crystal City, of which only a marquee sign remains.
Essays & Opinion (25)
A Girls Youngstown, by Jacqueline Marino for Belt Magazine
The Youngstown of my past is two cities: One safe, leafy, and full of promise, the other scary, dirty, and stifling. In my memories, in me, both remain.
Scary Negroes With Guns, by Messiah Rhodes for The New Inquiry
American guns are meant to represent the white man's freedom to protect himself from government and from the colored hordes that surround him.
Those Drunk Indians, by Evie Ruddy for Briarpatch Magazine
The thought of getting stranded in rural Saskatchewan hadn't crossed my mind, and if we were to get stuck, I could depend on the kindness of a stranger or a police officer. My partner couldn't.
How to Write About Trans Women, by Gabrielle Bellot for Autostraddle
Images of hairy legs in high heels or emerging from tutus are classics you can't go wrong with, like Strauss' Blue Danube waltz or light summery pastas with basil and garlic.
How I Identify Is Not Your Choice, by Sultana Khan for Gawker
The time to boldly explore the changing landscape of race and its future in our society is now—and much of that conversation starts with our children.
Student Activism is Serious Business, by Roxane Gay for The New Republic
In the protests at Mizzou and Yale and elsewhere, students have made it clear that the status quo is unbearable.
Fear, by Marilynne Robinson for The New York Review of Books
..my thesis is always the same, and it is very simply stated, though it has two parts: first, contemporary America is full of fear. And second, fear is not a Christian habit of mind.
A Letter From Black America, by Nikole Hannah-Jones for Politico
My friends and I locked eyes in stunned silence. Between the four adults, we hold six degrees. Three of us are journalists. And not one of us had thought to call the police. We had not even considered it.
On Nerd Entitlement, by Laurie Penny for The New Statesman
shy, nerdy women have to try to pull themselves out of that same horror into a world that hates, fears and resents them because they are women, and to a certain otherwise very intelligent sub-set of nerdy men, the category woman is defined primarily as person who might or might not deny me sex, love and affection.
A Brief History Of Name Fuckery, by Larissa Pham for Full Stop
These names of mine are too many characters for a state ID; too long for most web fields, and hard to pronounce besides. Most people don't know these names exist at all.
There Once Was a Girl, by Katy Waldman for Slate
Against the false narratives of anorexia.
The Insults of Age, by Helen Garner for The Monthly
Your face is lined and your hair is grey, so they think you are weak, deaf, helpless, ignorant and stupid. When they address you they tilt their heads and bare their teeth and adopt a tuneful intonation.
Why Do We Humanize White Guys Who Kill People? by Rebecca Traister for The Cut
Were surrounded by and raised on narratives of white men with all their flesh fleshed out, and everybody else stays flat.
The More I Learn About Breast Milk, The More Amazed I Am, by Angela Garbes for The Stranger
She didnt think about it much until she had her daughter and now she cant stop thinking about it because its amazing, just really amazing.
Black Girls Dont Get To Be Depressed, by Samantha Irby for Elle Magazine
I developed very glamorous coping mechanisms like covering myself with grisly death tattoos and eating food out of the trash.
Queering the Relationship, by Jasmine Rose-Olesco for The Riveter
Looking for the language to define relationships that are neither sexual or romantic, but are far more intense than a typical best friendship.
My Prescribed Life, by Emily Landau for The Walrus
What do these medications do to the developing brain? More crucially, what impact do they have on emerging identity? As part of the first generation to grow up on antidepressants, I think I know.
A Black Girls History With Southern Frat Racism, by Tracy Clayton for Buzzfeed
As one of the few black students at the small Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, Clayton knows first-hand how hostile the enivronment can be.
Tangential Divagation: Notes of An Immigrant Daughter, by Melissa R. Sipin for Vida Web
Tangential divagation: what can I say about my return? I sit in this hipster coffee shop feeling utterly broken. When I left this sprawling city of cyclical sultriness and palm trees five years ago, I swore I would never look back.
The Mother of All Questions, by Rebecca Solnit for Harper's
For women, the question of happiness always comes down to the question of children, even when children — or happiness — is hardly the point for everybody, or even most people.
How To Kill Yourself And Not Die: On Blackness and the Desire to Overachieve, by Morgen for Medium
I'm a young queer black woman, I'm the CEO and founder of Thurst, and I'm working myself to death.
I Don't Believe In God, But I Believe in Lithium, by Jamie Lowe for The New York Times Magazine
The history of lithium and the history of the authors life and the bipolar disorder that too often defines it.
The Only One, by Kendra James for Lenny
We shouldnt have to enter our hobbies with loins girded, shields up, and a chisel ready to carve out a space for ourselves.
How To Win Tinder, by Alicia Eler and Eve Peyser for The New Inquiry
Because, see, its already so much like a game.
We Cry With Charleston, by Alaina Monts for Autostraddle
This man experienced these people in community, saw them healing and uplifting each other, and still decided to commit an act of terrorism.
Business & Tech (25)
The CEO Paying Everyone $70,000 Salaries Has Something to Hide, by Karen Weise for Bloomberg Businessweek *Longform Best of 2015*
File under this is why we cant have nice things.
The Assistant Economy, by Francesca Mari for Dissent Magazine
On the assistant in literature, in history, in pop culture, in Hollywood, in the economy, and in the very real day-to-day-lives of the assistants themselves.
Corner Drug Stores Create Community in L.A., by Vincenza Black for LA Weekly
As chains like Walgreens and Rite-Aid continue gobbling up national real estate, some beloved corner drug stores continue existing in Los Angeles — against odds that grow more and more insurmountable as big chains game the system and contracts in their favor.
Gawkers Problem With Women, by Danya Evans for Matter
Gawker Media has been criticized for many things, but this article pointed a pretty bright light on a new problem within the ranks.
Why Are Sports Bras So Terrible? by Rose Eveleth for Racked
Standing in the way of designing the best sports bra possible is millennia of stigma, powerful marketing forces, and good old-fashioned physics.
Get Rich Or Die Vlogging, by Gaby Dunn for Fusion
For YouTube stars, its pretty easy to become too famous to get a real job and too broke not to.
What We Talk About When We Talk About Sex Workers in Silicon Valley, by Siouxse Q James for Ratter
The fantasy of the uptick in tech workers seeking out sex workers obscures the reality of techs hostility to sex workers on a strictly technical level.
Black Arts: The $800 Million Family Selling Art Degrees and False Hopes, by Katia Savchuk for Forbes
The Academy of Art San Francisco is a nationwide scam exploiting thousands of students to make one family very, very rich.
Why Lime Crime Is The Most Hated Beauty Company on the Internet, by Arabelle Sicardi for Racked
Note: Unlike the other humans on this list (to the best of our knowledge), Arabelle Sicardi identifies as non-binary and prefers they/them pronouns.
This brand has everything: fake deaths, Nazi costumes, legal threats against 13 year-old girls, hacker attacks, class action lawsuits, FDA warnings, credit card fraud, cold sores, and questionably named eyeshadow palettes called China Doll.'
Superdonor, by Katie OReilly for Vela Magazine
An egg donor sneaks into The Donor Egg Meeting 2015, a summit for medical professionals with a stake in the booming business of egg donation.
How The Mast Brothers Fooled The World Into Paying $10 A Bar For Their Crappy Hipster Chocolate, by Deena Shanker for Quartz
Two white guys with beards who live in Brooklyn tell some lies about a mediocre project, make tons of money.
One Night At Kachka, by Erin DeJesus, Danielle Centoni and Jen Stevenson for Eater *Longform Best of 2015*
The way this story is visually assembled is extraordinary in and of itself. The tale it tells is pretty damn interesting, too.
I Was An Amazon Chew Toy, by Corrina Zappia for The Awl
Most people just walked their dog from the elevator to their desks, but [this] kid perambulated around the office hallways like this was Mr. Roger's Neighborhood and he was on a mid-afternoon stroll.
The Post-Ownership Society, by Monica Potts for The Washingtonian
This is how the sharing economy seems to enable a bohemian lifestyle while in fact leaving its aspirants consistently, enduringly, asset-free and poor.
Laura Agudelo is Living Large, by Jessica Weiss for Narrative.ly
A profile of the plus-size fashionista of Bogotá, challenging Colombias cultural norms and inspiring other women to feel strong and beautiful in their bodies.
Ubering While Black, by Jenna Wortham for Matter
For everything thats wrong about Uber, this part is right: Uber might be the solution for black passengers whove been dealing far too long with taxi drivers who wont pick up black passengers.
Anatomy of a Scam: The National Association of Professional Women, by Nikki Gloudeman for The Establishment
Star Jones is the spokesperson for the NAPW, which posits itself as empowering and thriving — and it is none of those things.
All Dolled Up: The Enduring Triumph of American Girl, by Julia Rubin for Racked
The entire concept of American Girl came from one woman with ideas nobody believed would be profitable. But she knew she was right, and she went for it, and she won — although she also declined to be interviewed for this story.
The Dim Sum Revolution, by Vanessa Hua for San Francisco Magazine
When these workers got screwed by the powers that be, they fought back — for $4 million in stolen wages — and won.
East of Palo Altos Eden: Race and the Formation of Silicon Valley, by Kim-Mai Cutler for Tech Crunch
Last year, Kim-Mai Cutler wrote the story of her own (white) familys history in Silicon Valley, which was also the history of Silicon Valley — this, she tells us, is another story, a story of East Palo Alto, and its a damn good one.
The Upwardly Mobile Barista, by Amanda Ripley for The Atlantic
What can we make of Starbucks initiative with the University of Arizona to make it easier for its workers to get college degrees?
Essie Nail Polishs Salon Takeover, by Marian Bull for Racked
How Essie became the go-to brand for nail salons and the people who patronize them.
The Real Teens of Silicon Valley, by Nellie Bowles for California Sunday Magazine *Longform Best of 2015*
Where a bunch of kids — men, mostly, between the ages of 19-23 — hoping to be the next big thing sleep on matresses in communal living spaces for $950-$1,450 a month, exchanging buzzwords, ideas, and collaborations.
How Wal-Mart Keeps an Eye on Its Massive Workforce, by Susan Berfield for Bloomberg Businessweek
The idea of a strike on Black Friday sends the union-busting corporate retailer into crisis mode.
Silicon Valley High, by Angela Chen for The Morning News
On growing up with Chinese immigrant parents in the shadows of Silicon Valley and incidentally running an e-commerce business at the tender age of 12.
Memoir (29)
Whats In A Necronym? by Jeannie Vanasco for The Believer
Why should you be alive?" my father had asked him. "You're not working and my daughter's dead." The judge remembered my father and let him go.
How to Make Yogurt in Manila, by Grace Talusan for The Butter
However, I am not at all discouraged from failing at making yogurt. The failure doesn't stop me from trying.
My Aunt & Boyfriend Made Out On Thanksgiving, by Ijeoma Oluo for The Establishment
We had reached the point in our relationship where I despised everything about him. Not just the ugly crying, his smug laugh like he gets paid $5,000 for every shitty joke, his inability to ever pick a restaurant for dinner, or the fact that he texted me from the bathroom. Not just the fact that he used scented shower gel, scented lotion, cologne, and matching deodorant ALL AT ONCE. But I digress.
My Life In The New Age, by Porochista Khakpour for The Virginia Quarterly Review
It was everything it did not do and did not let me do. It kept me from getting well. It kept me from Western medicine. It did not allow me to reach for antibiotics, the most effective cure we have against any form of my chronic illness, Lyme disease. The alternatives distracted me so much that I never saw the main road.
My Birth Story Wasnt At All What I Expected, by Haley Jude for Autostraddle
My water had been broken for over 20 hours, I'd had at least four internal exams and several whole hands inside of me. Infection was highly likely.
Reckoning, by Lisa Mecham for Midnight Breakfast
Gorgeous and haunted, and recommended by Roxane Gay.
And now? What do you hear on the other side of forsaken? I need to know. They say there is no sound in space.
Kissing, by Vickie Vértiz for The Offing
It started like anything else, playing around. You loved your best friend, spending your summers eating pistachio ice cream from the Thrifty's and walking to the video store to rent sexy horror movies starring lesbian vampires.
Out of the Swollen Sea, by Tammy Delatorre for The Rumpus
Winner of the first annual Payton Prize, judged by Cheryl Strayed.
The first thing my father said to him, "You really are a white man." We went snorkeling. My boyfriend thought he spotted a shark, swam and scurried out onto the rocks. My father was not impressed: him leaving me as sacrificial bait.
Anything to Make You Happy, by Ottessa Moshfeg for Lucky Peach
Mayonnaise, to my mother, was like peanut butter to the French: disgusting, uncivilized, and impossible to find. On a scale of respectability, a jar of mayonnaise came in somewhere between a vat of pig fat and one of those plastic pails of Marshmallow Fluff.
Full Battle Rattle, by Glendaliz Camacho for The Butter
After him, a sort of coldness crept in, birthed by the knowledge that anyone can sever themselves from my life at any moment. Everyone is capable of severing themselves from their humanity. The only way not to be destroyed by that understanding, the only way to survive, was to maintain a partition between myself and everyone else.
Far Away From Me, by Jenny Zhang for Rookie
I tried not to mention my suspicion that being one of two Asian kids in my entire grade, and the only Asian girl in my class, might have had something to do with it.
Living With My Mothers Mental Illness, by Fariah Roisin for Broadly
A hurricane of a deep blundering mess, she was hysterical and menacing, resolute in her actions because of how quickly she would transform.
Salsa y La Naturaleza: How a Willie Colón Song Taught Me About Queerness and Love, by Gabby Rivera for Autostraddle
Willie Colón's voice was my grandma dressed in her widow's black counting novenas. It was End of Days empty, calling out for redemption. He sang like that time I asked my Grandma if my Dad loved me, like that time I got spanked for asking such an obvious question.
Black is the Color of my True Love's Hair, by Nishta Mehra for Guernica
What these friends don't understand is that when the act of defining your family structure becomes an expected part of every day of your entire life, you grow tired of being gracious.
The Laziest Coming Out Story Youve Ever Heard, by Chloe Caldwell for Medium
No one's gay, he griped. Everyone's gay, I said, excited about my newfound sexuality. "That's easy for a straight white woman to say," he said.
Around the World in 33 Days, by Yena Sharma Purmasir for Mask Magazine
If this sounded at all like the truth then, it doesn't anymore. When we were catching up, discussing our relatives in other countries who seemed like distorted reflections of ourselves, I asked him, "How different do you think we would be if we grew up somewhere else?"
Nossa Família, by Sofia Soter Henriques for Midnight Breakfast
I can't tell if who he is online is his real self, and who he is with me is a persona, or the other way around; I find myself asking about my eighty-four-year-old grandfather the same questions middle-aged men ask about their teenage daughters.
The Bad Blood: My Life With Sickle Cell Anemia, by Sara Bivigou for Buzzfeed
Discussing it meant acknowledging it plainly and somehow jinxing myself into more suffering. Even now as I write I hold my breath, worry, am wary of all my body's clicks and clacks.
Teach Yourself Italian, by Jhumpa Lahiri for The New Yorker
How is it possible to feel exiled from a language that isn't mine? That I don't know? Maybe because I'm a writer who doesn't belong completely to any language.
A Brief Catalog of Minor Sex Scandals, by Martha Stallman for The Offing
I don't start really hustling until middle school, and then I'm everywhere: I shoplift pencils and candy and slap bracelets and sell them at school; I enroll in CD and book clubs under false names, have the boxes sent to vacant houses, sneak over after dark to retrieve them, and sell the contents at school; I make and sell pornography. It's easy.
Woven, by Lidia Yuknavitch for Guernica
"So much shame came out of my mouth. The shame of a daughter whose body was written by her father. The shame of leaving a woman I loved. The shame of failed marriages and motherhoods."
I'm Sorry I Didn't Respond To Your E-Mail, My Husband Coughed To Death Two Years Ago, by Rachel Ward for Medium
And then I said I can't believe it, he was such a good husband.
And she said, Yeah, but he did a shitty thing today.
And that was the first time I laughed after Steve died.
How To Be A Woman in Tehran, by Habibe Jafarian for Guernica
I've chosen the harder path. Which means: not running off to another world as soon as life gets tough.
Damage, by Mariya Karimjee for The Big Roundtable
When I was younger, someone took a knife to my clitoris and cut out a small but significant part of me. I blamed my mother. I despised her. I loved her.
Swimming Lessons for Black Girls, by Christienna Fryar for The Toast
When I was Dajerria Becton's age, I spent countless hours in and around pools in predominantly white neighborhoods. I was that rare thing: an African-American competitive swimmer.
My Mothers Terrified Daughter, by Scaachi Koul for Hazlitt
He is fearless, while I am one panic attack away from having to quit my job and live in a mystery tunnel.
My Own Trap, by Alice Driver for Vela Magazine
Part of my crisis stemmed from the fact that my parents, a potter and a weaver, made the sacrifices necessary to pursue their art.
How We Are Sick: A Diagnosis, by Al Rosenberg for Women Write About Comics
Maybe this isn't true everywhere. Maybe somewhere there are doctors who really say, this is serious, take your time, I'll let you have your moment of silence."
Not Knowing, by Katherine Bernard for The Awl
About me, she starts: "She's a lesbian," and the sound goes white. Identity coats everything we do. What does it keep out?
Scarification, by Melissa Febos for Guernica
In the locker room, you perfect the art of changing your clothes under your clothes. Your body is a secret you keep, a white rabbit, and you the magician who disappears it. Remember: this is a hard hustle to break.
Literature & Writing (14)
The Limits of Diversity, by Jennifer Pan for The Asian-American Writers Workshop
As an elementary schooler during the 1990s, I recalled teachers pressing into our hands a particularly lackluster book called We Are All Alike, We Are All Different, which stated the obvious—that different types of people existed in the world—but never got around to explaining why that mattered.
Status Update, by Minou Arjomand for Public Books
On Tumblr, Instagram, The First Bad Man by Miranda July, early adventures in cybersex, The Unfortunate Importance of Beauty, beauty in an intersectional context, and so much more.
A Girl, A Shoe, A Prince: The Endlessly Evolving Cinderella, by Linda Holmes for NPR
Yall, this story has been to bleak and back.
Last Laugh, by Josephine Livingstone for Full Stop
The wholeness of Eileen Myles comes from the authenticity of the way she inhabits her body and her nonnormative gender. She walks like the idea of Paul Newman: containing freedom inside it, or at least containing laughter at the knowledge that freedom isn't a real thing.
Why Didnt You Just Do As You Were Told? by Jenny Diski for The London Review of Books *Longform Best of 2015*
A few years ago, someone asked how it came about that I ended up living with Doris Lessing in my teens.
How To Teach a Nightmare, by Aisha Sabatini Sloan for Guernica
We have chosen the least comfortable of three sleeping options—bunk beds? camping?—to nestle our sleeping bags in a circle on a dirty floor. Perhaps it is the opulence of the name: "The Ballroom." Or is it that we are living inside of a poem?
Judy Blume Knows All Your Secrets, by Susan Dominos for The New York Times Magazine
She wrote the controversial and painfully honest adolescent novels that so many girls grew up on and this is your peek behind the curtain.
They Pretend To Be Us While Pretending We Dont Exist, by Jenny Zhang for Buzzfeed Books
After a white poet gets published in a major anthology by using a Chinese name, Zhang writes on the long tradition of white voices drowning out those of color in the literary world.
The Unified Theory of Ophelia: On Women, Writing, and Mental Illness, by B.N Harrison for The Toast
The problem was that I saw myself in Ophelia, and my passion to explain her was equally a passion to understand my place in the world as woman, a writer, and a person with mental illness.
On Pandering, by Claire Vaye Watkins for Tin House
I've watched boys play the drums, guitar, sing, watched them play football, baseball, soccer, pool, Dungeons and Dragons and Magic: The Gathering. I've watched them golf. Just the other day I watched them play a kind of sweaty, book-nerd version of basketball.
The Radical Vision of Toni Morrison, by Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah for The New York Times *Longform Best of 2015*
What was evident that day in Katonah was that had she so much as lifted a finger, every person in the room — the studio's director and his engineer, her P.R. person from Knopf, her publisher and two young women from the audiobooks division of Random House — would have stopped what they were doing to ask if they could assist. Not because she required it, but because the unspoken consensus was that the person who produced the 11 novels that Morrison has written, the person those books came out of, was deserving of the fuss.
Growing Up with Mary Gaitskill by Victoria Beale for The Los Angeles Review of Books
Beale gets right at the meat of why Mary Gaitskill is my favorite forever and ever.
The Rise of the Gender Novel, by Casey Plett for The Walrus
what does it say that four very different authors set out to write four very different people—and came up with the same non-person? And why are cisgender readers so moved by such one-dimensional characters?
Not Writing, by Anne Boyer for Bookforum
I am not writing a book called Kansas City Spleen. I am not writing a sequel to Kansas City Spleen called Bitch's Maldoror.
Crime (23)
Playing With Fire, by Liliana Segura for The Intercept
How junk science about arson sent an innocent man to jail for life.
The Girls Who Werent Saved, by Anna March for Salon
It took 40 years to put the man behind bars who kidnapped 12-year-old Sheila and 10-year-old Katherine Lyon, who were kidnapped from a suburban Washington D.C. shopping mall in 1975 and murdered. Why did it take so long?
The Talented Mr. Khater, by Francesca Mari for Texas Monthly *Longform Best of 2015*
This is a wild story of a con man evading punishment