This week we’re sharing stories by Jason Fagone, Betty Ann Adam, Christian H. Cooper, Clarissa Wei, and Robert Kolker.
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1. What Bullets Do to Bodies
Jason Fagone | Highline — Huffington Post | Apr 26, 2017 | 31 minutes (7,799 words)
What exactly does a bullet do to flesh as it careens through the body? Jason Fagone profiles Philadelphia trauma surgeon Dr. Amy Goldberg, a woman on the front lines of gun violence as she attempts to repair the broken bodies that arrive daily at Temple University Hospital.
2. How I Lost My Mother, Found My Family, Recovered My Identity
Betty Ann Adam | Saskatoon StarPhoenix | Apr 26, 2017 | 15 minutes (3,753 words)
Betty Ann Adam was three years old when she was taken from her mother as part of the “’60s Scoop,” a period spanning 30 years in which Indigenous children in Canada were removed from their homes to be placed with white families as church-run residential schools were closing. “The government’s stated intention with the residential schools was to ‘remove the Indian from the child,’ by removing them from their parents and having them educated by white Christians.” By extension, the ’60s Scoop was another horrific, government-endorsed attempt at cultural genocide.
3. Why Poverty is Like a Disease
Christian H. Cooper | Nautilus | Apr 20, 2017 | 15 minutes (3,858 words)
The emerging science of epigenetics takes the concepts of “meritocracy” and “pulling yourself up by the bootstraps” to task.
4. The Struggles of Writing About Chinese Food as a Chinese Person
Clarissa Wei | Vice Magazine | Apr 24, 2017 | 10 minutes (2,595 words)
Writing about Chinese food lacks cultural context — in part because so few Chinese writers are given the opportunity to publish their stories.
5. This Lawsuit Goes to 11
Robert Kolker | Bloomberg Businessweek | Apr 22, 20177 | 13 minutes (3,428 words)
This Is Spinal Tap is a comedy classic, but its creators made practically no money from it. Robert Kolker looks at the legal battle over what Hollywood owes Harry Shearer, Rob Reiner, Michael McKean, and Christopher Guest.