This Week’s Top 5 Long Reads

• The psychology of a mass shooter.
• Wrestling with the Novak Djokovic phenomenon.
• Using plant anatomy to understand human emotions.
• Lunch with a literary legend.
• Surfing at the mall.

Mark Vollman | Mother Jones | May 16, 2024 | 14,073 words

In 2014, Elliot Rodger killed six people and injured 14 others in Isla Vista, California, before committing suicide. As Mark Follman shows in this thoughtful and compassionate feature, Rodger was a sick, emotionally unstable young man, and like many mass shooters, his actions were likely preventable. While a key component of a gun violence prevention strategy is to prevent people from having access to firearms, Follman approaches the issue from a complementary angle: one that focuses on the experiences, needs, and risks of those in trouble. “Many mass shooters are ambivalent about killing themselves or others, and most of them engage in visible warning behaviors long before they attack,” Follman explains. Once these red flags are documented and reported, something called a “behavioral threat assessment” comes into play. “A team of psychologists, administrators, law enforcement, and other trained practitioners who meet regularly to handle a case conducts interviews, gathers information, and assesses risk. Then, over weeks and months, we use constructive tools, such as counseling, social services, and educational supports, to steer the troubled person away from what the field calls the ‘path to violence.'” Folman delves into the growing field of research and action known as threat assessment from the perspective of Roger’s mother, Chin, who became interested in it years after her son’s crime. Chin now uses her son’s story and her experience as a mother to help experts better understand what motivates mass shooters to act and what it takes to stop them. In an act of profound grief, love, and generosity, she made herself a case study. Folman’s article is a must-read, and it goes beyond the headlines and assumptions about mass shooters to reveal underlying problems and cracks in the various social, family, educational, and therapeutic systems that too often miss people like Roger. —SD

Scott Stossel | Atlantic | May 28, 2024 | 4,580 words

Many years ago, I had the good fortune to study with the late Phyllis Garland, the great art critic, who believed that criticism should be given the same rigor and care as other journalism. I think of her often, and one of her words has influenced me more than anything else: It is easy to write negative criticism, but much harder to write positive criticism. But this maxim has an unconscious corollary: writing memorable criticism—criticism that questions not only the subject but also the critic’s own position—is an art in itself. Scott Stossel’s article on tennis player Novak Djokovic embodies this phenomenon. In essence, it deconstructs why Djokovic can legitimately claim to be the greatest men’s tennis player of all time, but Stossel neatly dodges the compliment. “He likes to waste sets against weaker players, and by wasting sets thoughtlessly early on, he makes the final comeback and run all the more palatable.” The piece lacks the hallmarks of normal criticism. It is meticulously reported and venomously constructed. There are no harsh words or insults, just Djokovic’s style of play, off-court demeanor and tactics. (Seriously, what the hell are bathroom breaks for?) Stossel even admits that his grudges are petty, further adding to what is a thoroughly enjoyable read. He’s not the first person to hate on a win-at-all-cost champion, but he is one of the few who can marshal the facts and critical insight to elevate sports fan grudges to something like art.public relations

Wei Chou | Virginia Quarterly Review | May 14, 2024 | 8,135 words

Have you ever felt helpless and incomprehensible as you searched for a way through loss and confusion? Virginia Quarterly ReviewWei Zhou uses her deep attachment to ferns to better understand her own and her brother’s mental illness. Studying books and field guides to become a taxonomist, she finds inspiration in the diversity and resilience of ferns. Ferns “make a home out of catastrophe,” she writes. “In a world where much of the truth is malleable and relative, there are parts of the world of language where the truth is fixed. Either way, ferns will grow regardless of what we call them. They spiral relentlessly.” Learning about the parts and types of plants, she absorbs new vocabulary to better understand the world and her place in it. It’s a new poem that she owes to ferns. “For example, instead of leaves, ferns have leaves that look like flowers, which are like flowers in the leaves of the ferns. Small feather (the smallest petal-like leaves) and Auricle (a group of stems that swing from the body of a fern like wings) A stem or frond is PetioleYou have a perfect expression Auricle,Without Petiole, bladeThrough this brilliant essay, Chou takes us to that rare place where the ordinary and the extraordinary sit together for a moment in dialogue, a fertile place where understanding and insight can flourish. —KS

Sarah Franklin | Taste | May 28, 2024 | 4,156 words

“This is a story told at lunch,” Sarah Franklin writes in the introduction to this gorgeous essay. The technique is effective: the description of each exquisite new meal adds to the joyful flow of a craving for fresh home-cooked food. And Franklin is even more delighted with her lunch companion, the celebrated editor and author Judith Jones, perhaps best known for her discovery of Anne Frank. Diary of a Girl Buried in a publisher’s slush pile. In a chance encounter, Franklin was asked by the Julia Child Foundation to collect Jones’ oral history for their archives. (Jones edited Child.) An avid fan, Franklin was thrilled with the opportunity. But the interview takes a back seat in this work, which is filled with a few snippets from Jones’ life. The essays are about friendship (and about food, which is a conduit for friendship). Franklin and Jones cook lunch before each interview, preparing the food in a lovely, unhurried, sometimes silent waltz that steadily deepens their friendship with each interview, becoming more accomplished with each passing moment. Their slowly building friendship, despite a 60-year age difference, is portrayed with such tenderness and beauty that I had to wipe away a tear as the book drew to a close. You will be fulfilled. —CW

Alexander Sammon | Slate | May 23, 2024 | 5,569 words

I’ve always wanted to learn to surf. I’ve lived near the California coast most of my life and have been to many places with great beginner lessons, but I still haven’t had the chance. What if there was a more accessible, more relaxed way to get closer to my goal? Let these fun lessons help you. slate Alexander Sammon visits the American Dream Mall, a mega-entertainment complex in New Jersey, and rides the artificial waves at Skudin Surf, the largest indoor surfing wave pool in the United States. Sammon grew up surfing. Outside In San Diego, he couldn’t write an article dismissing a chlorine-soaked Shrek-themed experience in an air-conditioned dome as soul-stripping, or lament how another beloved activity has now become commodified, privatized, and optimized. But Sammon is thoughtful, nuanced, and has insights about today’s youth, the future of brick-and-mortar retail and the American shopping mall, the demise of subcultures, the unique pastime of surfing, and ultimately, what we choose to bring us joy. He writes that the $250 surfing session was a silly, contrived experience, but also fun and memorable.[D]For an activity that focuses on authenticity, it seems like the fakest thing you could imagine, yet at the heart of the experience, there was actually something authentic to some degree.” —CLR

Audience Award

Which pieces captivated our readers this week?