This week’s top 5 long reads

American children separated from their families. People who keep running 24 hours a day. The dark side of an ancient city. A man who treats water like wine. Amazing reaction to a bad trip.

Shoshana Walter | New York Times Magazine and Exposure | June 29, 2023 | 7,167 words

There’s nothing more American than making it difficult for people to become mothers. I don’t mean physically giving birth. Thanks to fervent anti-abortion advocates and the Supreme Court, many states are now literally forcing people to give birth, with dire consequences.That means being a complete human being. alone They live in a country full of inequality, instability, and prejudice, including children. Exhibit A: As Shoshana Walter discovered in her feat of investigative reporting, the people caught up in the opioid crisis are the ones who did exactly what they were supposed to do: get clean and take prescription drugs to stay that way. People who took the drug are now facing difficulties such as: Their baby was confiscated by the government. “They don’t want you to take illegal street drugs,” said one of Walter’s subjects. “So we give you this drug. But if you take this drug, we will punish you and destroy your family.” The injustice doesn’t end there. “We also found women reporting this after taking antidepressants, anxiety and ADHD medications, and even over-the-counter cold medicines during pregnancy,” Walter wrote. “Some women reportedly tested positive for fentanyl after receiving epidural anesthesia” I emphasize this. The Hereresque madness of that detail made my jaw drop. —SD

Stephen Lurie | Slate | July 1, 2023 | 4,505 words

You might not think that a 24-hour race around a 400-meter track would make for an engaging long read. It sounds harsh and monotonous. It’s even dangerous. Everyone runs at their own pace. How can we decide who is better? Enter reporter Stephen Lurie, who crafts a fascinating story by describing every detail of a racer’s experience in Pennsylvania’s dawn-to-dusk-to-dawn ultramarathon. He takes a sport that almost no one knows about and takes readers on a track with the runners. “When Gags reached the southeast corner of the loop, he had been running for 17 hours and 20 minutes,” he wrote. “He had already zipped past this place 370 times, but on the 371st lap he started walking across the lane. He reached the edge and lay down, his tattooed legs at waist level. He was leaning against a chain-link fence, his long gray beard falling toward the damp red road.” Before reading this story, I wondered about the meaning of this ultra-endurance experience. maybe. But as Lurie showed us, those who work hard at something challenging, whatever it is, learn that the very act of enduring gives you a valuable education: I understand that this is an important topic. —K.S.

Guy D. Middleton | Aeon | July 4, 2023 | 4,000 words

I have never been to Pompeii, but I have visited Herculaneum, the city that fell to Mount Vesuvius on the same day almost 2,000 years ago. As I walked through the miraculously preserved streets, I imagined the lives of the people who lived there, echoing on the stones long before my own footsteps. Guy D. Middleton does more than you might expect with this film. He removes all romanticism and uses research to depict the brutal conditions of Pompeii. It is a place where slaves would have endured sexual assault and violence and, in Middleton’s words, been “owned and used.” His starting point is graffiti on walls advertising sex..(Apparently, we share a penchant for painting on walls and having sex with the ancient Pompeians.) Middleton cleverly uses this line to become a detective and discover who Eutychis is. In an attempt to reveal, we will show you the broad underbelly of Pompeii. It’s a dark story, but it’s told skillfully. —C.W.

Katherine Lagoob | From afar | October 28, 2020 | 4,042 words

People who have charm tend to be the most attractive people.for Far, Katherine Raglove introduces us to Martin Rees, America’s first water sommelier and a man who has been obsessed with water since he was four years old. The piece could easily devolve from profile to caricature, but it’s Lagrave’s restraint that keeps you reading. (OK, restraint and some great water puns and wordplay sprinkled throughout.) Taking cues from the elements he considers he loves most, Riese goes with the flow, flows as much as he can, and takes chances. Take advantage of it when it comes and share why we should care. Let’s have a drink with anyone who wants to listen,” she wrote. Please take the plunge and read Lagrave’s work. Not only will you be brimming with new knowledge about sustainably sourced premium water, but you’ll also satisfy your thirst for well-written articles on lesser-known subjects. And that’s something I can raise a glass to. —K.S.

chris colin | wired | June 29, 2023 | 2,924 words

Recent coverage of psychedelics tends to focus on four main categories. Other stories focus on the benefits and dangers of drugs, as well as their creators and users: those who use drugs to help people and those who seek to profit from their use.Chris Collin is attractive wired Featuring a four-layered skirt, it instead follows the evolving norms of supporting those whose inner journey takes them to dark places. From the first sentence, you can tell it’s going to be a fun read. The walls were starting to buckle and the wood grain on the floorboards was starting to peel. Jeff Greenberg’s body was blown to pieces, but that was a good thing. When he closed his eyes, a chrysanthemum bloomed. ” Colin uses a wealth of material from Greenberg’s travels, his own psilocybin experience, and the history of space cowboys to show that the way we respond to a person’s “mental distress” may be the way we generally treat each other. It speaks volumes about how you respond to. It’s no surprise that we’re in the midst of a surge in mental navigation. It means we are responding to this moment with caution and common sense. —PR

audience award

Here are the articles that surprised our readers this week.