Longreads
@longreads.com
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Sharing and publishing the best longform stories at longreads.com since 2009. Sister site of @atavist.com. Sign up for our Top 5: https://longreads.com/newsletter/ Become a member: https://longreads.com/join/ Submit to us: https://longreads.com/submission
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And congratulations to Pat Cassels, who won this week’s Audience Award with “‘Jason Lives’ in Rutledge, Georgia” for @oxfordamerican.bsky.social

oxfordamerican.org/oa-now/jason...
“Jason Lives” in Rutledge, Georgia
oxfordamerican.org
longreads.com
5. “You Have No Idea How Hard It Is to Be a Reenactor” —Caity Weaver

“It’s easy to admire Weaver’s eye for the absurd, and it’s a pleasure to share her gaze, which she gamely trains on herself . . .”

www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
You Have No Idea How Hard It Is to Be a Reenactor
Benedict Arnold’s boot wouldn’t come off, and other hardships from my weekend in the Revolutionary War.
www.theatlantic.com
longreads.com
4. “ In Arizona, a Fight Against a Deadly Fungus Is Under Threat From Trump’s Health Policies”—@zteirstein.bsky.social

"To illuminate this emergency, Teirstein revisits the theme of her 2023 series, this time focusing on valley fever.”

grist.org/health/valle...
In Arizona, a fight against a deadly fungus is under threat from Trump’s health policies
What one Arizona doctor’s quest to stop valley fever says about America’s preparedness for climate-driven disease.
grist.org
longreads.com
2. “Queen of Darts” —Amos Barshad

“This is the side of darts that’s unseen outside of enthusiast circles . . . ”

victoryjournal.substack.com/p/queen-of-d...
Queen of Darts
Two champions navigate the high-pressure Dutch Open darts competition.
victoryjournal.substack.com
longreads.com
1. “The Coloradans Exercising Their Right To Die—and a Doctor Who Helps Them Find Peace” —@milehighrobert.bsky.social

“Sanchez writes with compassion and curiosity, observing without intrusion, and letting the moments unravel.”

5280.com/medical-aid-...
The Coloradans Exercising Their Right To Die—and a Doctor Who Helps Them Find Peace
More terminally ill Coloradans than ever are turning to Denver Health’s Medical Aid in Dying clinic. We spent the summer witnessing the quiet decisions and final moments of those who chose when—and ho...
5280.com
longreads.com
In our Weekly Top 5:

* The right to die (5280 Magazine)
* When the dart players come to town (Victory Journal)
* A warrior for justice (@texasmonthly.bsky.social)
* The rise of valley fever (@grist.org)
* The joy of a Revolutionary War battle (@theatlantic.com)

longreads.com/2025/10/10/t...
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week - Longreads
This week we are featuring stories from Robert Sanchez, Amos Barshad, Mark Dent, Zoya Teirstein, and Caity Weaver.
longreads.com
longreads.com
"Stories of mysterious disappearing travelers spread throughout the country and evolved over the decades to reflect the anxieties of the era."

Read @efriend.bsky.social on ghost stories across generations and North Carolina's version of the vanishing hitchhiker legend. longreads.com/2024/10/29/l...
The Lessons of Lore - Longreads
Ghost stories reveal our collective anxieties amid times of change.
longreads.com
longreads.com
"'It was truly so idiotic and looked like it was written by a disturbed child.' —CDC employee"

Zoë Schiffer, Leah Feiger, Vittoria Elliott, Makena Kelly, Kate Knibbs, David Gilbert, Molly Taft, Aarian Marshall, Paresh Dave, and Jake Lahut for @wired.com:
The Story of DOGE, as Told by Federal Workers
WIRED spoke with more than 200 federal workers in dozens of agencies to learn what happened as the Department of Government Efficiency tore through their offices.
www.wired.com
longreads.com
"He would sometimes speak to another child through the walls — usually, they’d talk about what they’d do when they were free — but their conversations always petered off."

Rebecca Cadenhead for @mlk50.com: mlk50.com/2025/10/01/n...
No school, no fresh air and isolated
David spent eight months incarcerated at the Youth Justice and Education Center. Center portrait by Kevin Wurm / MLK50 / CatchLight Local / Report for
mlk50.com
longreads.com
"Looking back, it is difficult for David to recall exactly how he spent most of his time in that cell. How does one describe a period characterized by absence?" —Rebecca Cadenhead, @reportforamerica.bsky.social corps member, for @mlk50memphis.bsky.social
No school, no fresh air and isolated
David spent eight months incarcerated at the Youth Justice and Education Center. Center portrait by Kevin Wurm / MLK50 / CatchLight Local / Report for America; Image of the Shelby County Youth and …
mlk50.com
Reposted by Longreads
nancyfjorde.bsky.social
Shoutout to Frost and #wetlands: 10K years of dead plant matter giving me/my WIP so much life.

"a place of... decomposition where... vegetation liquifies slowly into peat...also a place of...becoming... No one knows why Frost didn’t commit suicide in the swamp; instead he found a way to keep going"
longreads.com
"They don’t confront us like mountains, comfort us like oceans, or envelop us like forests; they don’t seem to want to have anything to do with us at all. Swamps hide. Swamps demur."

longreads.com/2025/10/02/t...
Swamp People - Longreads
Finding refuge and resilience in America’s most reviled landscapes.
longreads.com
longreads.com
"A nation, like a body, can be marked before it recognizes the wound."

For @atavist.com, Masha Hamilton looks for America on Interstate 95. Read an excerpt from our sister magazine's new story: longreads.com/2025/10/07/a...
"Are We Breaking Apart, Or Is There Enough Left to Bind Us?" - Longreads
Conversations and revelations about an ailing nation along Interstate 95.
longreads.com
longreads.com
"They don’t confront us like mountains, comfort us like oceans, or envelop us like forests; they don’t seem to want to have anything to do with us at all. Swamps hide. Swamps demur."

longreads.com/2025/10/02/t...
Swamp People - Longreads
Finding refuge and resilience in America’s most reviled landscapes.
longreads.com
Reposted by Longreads
amcglashen.bsky.social
I’m having trouble reading anything other than books these days, but it was a total pleasure to immerse myself in this brilliant @longreads.com essay by Ashley Stimpson. longreads.com/2025/10/02/t...
Swamp People - Longreads
Finding refuge and resilience in America’s most reviled landscapes.
longreads.com
longreads.com
Congratulations to Callie Holtermann! She won this week's audience award for "Zackery Died After Climbing on Top of a Subway Train. Who Is to Blame?" at @nytimes.com

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/s...
www.nytimes.com
longreads.com
5. "The Cat Who Woke Me Up" (Sy Safransky)

"I thought of my many cats, all of whom “woke me up” in one way or another. Because that’s what pets do, if we let them—they crack us wide open, embolden us, humble us."

www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/598...
The Cat Who Woke Me Up
The hierarchy that places humans above cats has broken down. I know, in a way I once didn’t, that cats and dogs and birds and bees and every living creature are conscious in a way that’s too hard for ...
www.thesunmagazine.org
longreads.com
4. "Blood-Blue Sky" (Kristin Idaszak)

"This essay honors these extraordinary creatures, which, despite the pivotal role they play in modern medicine, have no meaningful conservation effort around them."

theamericanscholar.org/blood-blue-s...
Blood-Blue Sky - The American Scholar
How horseshoe crabs and ecological grief connect with the wonders of the human heart
theamericanscholar.org