Listicles, tweets, your ex’s Facebook status, picture of dogs wearing costumes — the internet offers no shortage of entertaining stuff to look at. But there’s plenty of substantial writing out there, too, the pieces you spend a few minutes reading and a long time thinking about after you’ve closed the tab. In this weekly feature, Flavorwire shares the best of that category. This week: the lack of James Baldwin in high schools, the other side of Silicon Valley, an Occupy Wall Street protestor on trial, and more.
“No Exit: Struggling to Survive a Modern Gold Rush” by Gideon Lewis-Kraus, Wired
You hear so much about the glamorous lives the people who get millions of dollars injected into their startup ideas lead out in Silicon Valley. In this essential longread, Gideon Lewis-Kraus explores the other side of this story: when dreams don’t pan out the way they were supposed to.
“The Trial of Cecily McMillan” by Maria Svart, Jacobin
In a week when the New York Police Department were made fools of via a hijacking of their own #MyNYPD Twitter campaign, Jacobin published this story of one Occupy Wall Street protester who was not only beaten severely by police, but could also face a lot of jail time.
“The Faulkner Truthers” by Maria Bustillos, The Awl
So, where did Faulkner draw his inspiration from? Some people would really like to know.
“Celebrating James Baldwin, as Many Classrooms Ignore Him” by Felicia R. Lee, New York Times
Wouldn’t you think that high schools would want to teach the work of one of America’s most important writers? That would make sense, right?
“The Pacific Northwest Is Almost as F-ed Up as Florida” by Shane Dixon Kavanaugh, Voactiv
The title pretty much says it all about one of the most controversially titled pieces we saw all week. But when you read the evidence, it’s actually difficult to dispute.