As of this writing, Longreads editors have made nearly 650 recommendations for 2023, nearly all of which can be considered features. But the stories contained here prove distinctive in the classical sense: a blend of deep reporting and indelible prose. Some are mild while others are emotionally taxing. Their subjects range from subcultures to ideas to life itself. And, as they do every year, they represent the best that narrative journalism has to offer. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
Kelly Brakinger | The Marshall Project | August 31, 2023 | 4,440 words
This work by Kelly Breakinger is a masterful depiction of how world-building through the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons becomes a means of escape for imprisoned men in Texas. The story revolves around two men, Tony Ford and Billy Wardlow. Both men were sentenced to death row as young men and met in the late 1990s at Polunsky, one of the toughest death row units in the United States. Through D&D, the men overcome their complete isolation and find both camaraderie and a therapeutic outlet. Despite the restrictive conditions of death row, the D&D staff was able to pass secret notes from cell to cell, create homemade game spinners to replace dice, and hand-draw detailed maps and character sheets. I found a way to do it. The latter is included in the work. We get a glimpse into the vast worlds they built and the personas they developed and inhabited. (Wardlow’s magical alter ego, Ursax Dacanis, was a better version of himself, having never shot anyone to death during an attempted robbery.) “Through a thin veil of fantasy,” Blakinger writes, “they reveals personal trauma.” Much like the complex worlds imagined by Ford and Wardlow, Brakinger, a former incarcerator herself, constructs this world inside prison in a way that only she can. Considering the fate of most death row inmates, I initially wondered if I should call this work an uplifting piece. But here, Breakinger brilliantly illustrates the transformative power of story and play, and how humans can come together to bring a little hope in unexpected places. —CLR
Molly’s last ride
Peter Flax | Bicycle Magazine | January 31, 2023 | 8,136 words
Twelve-year-old Molly Steinsapir was riding an e-bike with a friend on a residential street in California called Enchanted Way when she crashed and suffered irreparable injuries. Her parents sued her bicycle manufacturer for being responsible for Molly’s death. Peter Flax uses the traditional tools of a full-length novel (good prose, delicate tone) to tell this tragic story very well. But this article has stayed with me all year long, mainly because of his two other reasons. One because he delves into big questions about the human toll of rapid innovation that go far beyond the e-bike industry, and another because he demonstrates the incredible value of niche magazines. is. .Ama used to be the editor-in-chief of a magazine. bicycle, and is an avid cyclist himself. His expertise and insight enhance the story. So is the fact that the magazine allowed him to dig deep into the mechanics and economics of e-bikes, and the community of consumers who know this increasingly popular device better than anyone. In other words, this is an insider’s story. However, I feel that for outsiders who are not cyclists, it still feels familiar and urgent. The way I look at electric bikes zipping around my neighborhood has changed. Maybe the same thing will happen to you. —SD
Zenia Minder | FT Magazine | December 21, 2022 | 4,475 words
I first encountered this work last year, in the hazy days between Christmas and New Year’s, when endless family conversations and cheese consumed my time. It made enough of an impression on me that I needed to not only break through the overindulgence, but also keep it centered all year long. (This article was published after the “Best of 2022” was published, so it qualifies for this year’s list.) Zenia Minder tells her story to her younger brother Rafael Minder. financial times CENTRAL EUROPE CORRESPONDENT–and there is no doubt that the intimacy of this relationship helped the Minders produce such vivid and candid accounts. As the title suggests, this is the story of three tragic downfalls. One of them was the one in which Ksenia broke her hip and had to have it fixed for several months, and the other two, first Erhard Loretan and then Jean-François. Losing the men she loves. I live near a mountain resort where talk of big waterfalls is part of the mantra, but not with such consequences. The searing text brutally brings to the surface the reality of such a tragedy: Ms. Erhardt was found “still strapped to her waist.” Jean-François died in the mountains he knew like the back of his hand. But while the depiction of events is powerful, what struck me most about this work was Ksenia’s thoughtful reflections and her realism and strength. She reminds us that “the important events in our lives are unknown to us, especially the moment of her death,” and she encourages us to see ourselves as mere tenants in our own bodies. It will be. Having quit her job as a judge in Geneva, she started her new chapter feeling “light” and “solid” and moved to a cabin on the outskirts of the village. When combined with the beautiful, otherworldly photography by Olivo Barbieri, she becomes haunting, poetic, and moving. —C.W.
Jana G. Pruden | Globe and Mail | June 2, 2023 | 3,231 words
Jana G. Pruden takes us into the frenetic world of the Canadian National Cheer Championships. In the space, Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift resound, and the energy of the sparkling young heroines arcs as they “compete by performing short, highly technical acrobatics in unison with their best performances.” and score them based on execution, difficulty, creativity, and showmanship. ” Pruden looked behind the sequins and found that while cheer demands a lot from its competitors, the sport welcomes all shapes and sizes, including “tiny flyers, supple tumblers,” and “strong bases.” and discovered that each had a precise and perfect role. To help the team “zero hit”, cheering represents error-free performance. “Nothing compares to cheer, which combines the hyper-feminine aesthetic of pageants with the poise and swagger of boxing, the performance flair of professional wrestling, the tribal fandom of football, and the raucous atmosphere of rock concerts. No,” Pruden wrote. . Streamers and glitter aside, cheer is a serious and dangerous business. Participants sometimes sustain serious injuries while performing physically and mentally demanding tasks. Vomit buckets are ready and cleanup protocols are in place in case the intensity of the performance requires the buckets to be used. Pruden supplements this with even more necessary (and fascinating!) background information to prepare you for an intense and uplifting finale that will leave you rooting for more. —K.S.
virginia heffernan | wired | September 26, 2023 | 3,874 words
Quickly, list the topics you are most tired of reading about in 2023. Assuming you didn’t mention a specific music artist who organized both the No. 1 Tour and the He No. 1 Movie, I’m guessing there are two factors involved in your answer. Letters: A and I (yes, music artists are said to have these two letters in their names too, but let’s not get too technical.) It’s been available for just over a year, and in those 12 months we’ve seen almost every kind of ambiguity, from “AI will save the world” to “AI could destroy humanity.” I went toBut none of that will be good Storyand that’s exactly why Virginia Heffernan. wired My choice in this category is rock. Although it’s nominally about Cicero, an AI model created to play the strategy game Diplomacy, it’s less about human psychology and more about the potential of AI. Heffernan correctly pinpoints that much of our discomfort with chatbots lies in their personalities. “An entity that pretends to have human emotions is probably a worse object of affection than a cold calculating device that expresses no emotion at all,” she writes. Enter Cicero and his programmers’ quest to create an unbeatable game in a game that is inherently negotiation-based. It’s not about deceit or cunning, it’s about finding a way forward that benefits both parties. Diplomacy is not an end in itself, but rather a means. How can AI build better relationships with people, and how can they form alliances and even trust that are more like R2-D2 than HAL? (Cicero) is a meta-project, which is only lightly acknowledged here, but it certainly makes Cicero’s victory over the world’s best diplomatic player feel just a little creepier.) Heffernan is perfect for this kind of work. She is a writer who has long found joy in this kind of work. Everything from semiconductors to particle physics. Get used to it A work that has passed into the hands of another artist. Either way, consider this his one of this year’s AI stories that are not only thought-provoking, but also narratively satisfying. —PR
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