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“Embedded with the Reenactors” (31 Longreads in 31 Days, Day 23)
Longform nonfiction often answers the question: “Why do those people do that?” Embedded with the Reeanactors by Nick Kowalczyk, posted January 8, 2012 at Salon.com, takes a look at the thousands of Americans who dress up in period costume and re-enact old wars. Kowalczyk not only follows a group of men who re-enact the almost-forgotten…
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“The Lost City of Z” (31 Longreads in 31 Days, Day 16)
There are longreads. And then there are long longreads. And then there are epic, holy-f@#king-shit longreads that just leave you blown away. The Lost City of Z,” by David Grann in the September 19, 2005 issue of The New Yorker fits into that last category. Photo of explorer Percy Fawcett; source unknown At just over…
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“Atari Teenage Riot: The Inside Story Of Pong and the Video Game Industry’s Big Bang” (31 Longreads in 31 Days, Day Six)
When I was ten, my brother and I would get up early on Saturdays, swipe the quarters off our dressers, and wait outside Zip’z, a local ice cream / “make you your own sundae” shop so we could be the first inside to play Asteroids. As a Gen X child of the ’80s, my formative…
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The Passover Narrative
Growing up half-Catholic, half-Jewish and about 90% agnostic, I didn’t really grow up in a particularly religious home. We celebrated four big holidays — Christmas, Hanukkah, Passover, and Easter — but none of them very seriously. Christmas and Hanukkah were about trees, candles, and presents; Easter was about a basket of candy; Passover was a…