LongReads Round-Up, Sweet Sixteen

"This Man Moved to a Desert Island to Disappear. Here's What Happened," Kent Russell for New Republic. When escaping to a desert island, just what are you escaping from? Russell writes about Dave the one time multi millionaire who now lives beach side on a remote island. "All desert-island stories are in some sense about waiting." http://www.newrepublic.com/article/114549/dave-glasheen-lost-boy-restoration-island

"Harvard Business School Case Study: Gender Equality," by Jodi Kantor for The New York Times. After observing a vast, decades long discrepancy between the performance of the genders at HBS, administrators implemented a series of new programs to empower and promote success amongst female students. "Ms. Navab feared that seeming too ambitious could hurt what she half-jokingly called her “social cap,” referring to capitalization. 'I had no idea who, as a single woman, I was meant to be on campus.'" http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/08/education/harvard-case-study-gender-equity.html?pagewanted=all&_r=2&

"The Feminist Power of Female Ghosts," by Andi Ziesler for Bitch Media. Read (and listen to the Popaganda podcast) the survey of the terrifying power of female ghosts in film. From vengeance to unending obsessions, the female ghost is a reminder that there is no greater fury than a woman scorned. "[You]realize that not only are these women sympathetic characters, but they’re all the more terrifying because they have every bit of anger that makes living women sources of fear, but none of the societal restriction." http://bitchmagazine.org/post/the-feminist-power-of-female-ghosts

"Shrinking Women," by Lily Myers at the 2013 College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational. I've listened to this poem, about women and eating, and the power (or fear) to claim place, repeatedly. The text is included in the description of the video, but watching Myers perform and hearing the responses of the crowd is worth the three minutes. "I asked five questions in genetics class today and all of them started with the word 'sorry'." www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQucWXWXp3k#t=12

"23 Things Every Woman Should Stop Doing," by Emma Gray for The Huffington Post. Basically, a round up of all the social anxieties and concerns that are HOLDING US BACK, women! Every paragraph in this list had me "mmhm"ing and waving my hands, church lady style. "There is no easier way to discredit a woman’s opinion or feelings than to accuse her of being overly emotional."  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/11/23-things-every-woman-should-stop-doing_n_3908151.html

"Finding Molly: Drugs, dancing and death," by Shane Morris for Bro Jackson. Talking about the EDM (Electronic Dance Music) scene always seems to go hand in hand with drug use. Morris, a promoter and manager, writes specifically about the dangers of Molly and his own experiences using and dealing. "This was a real person, dying in the back of my Honda, on my friend Brandon’s lap." http://brojackson.com/long-reads/finding-molly-drugs-dancing-and-death?

"A Good Angle is Hard to Find," by Sarah Hepola for The Morning News. Charting the modern phenomena of the "selfie," fears of feminine narcissism, and personal documentation. I love The Selfie, and I love this article. Cheers to Emily Perper's Longreads post for sending me this way. "It gives you all the controls to the story you are telling."  http://www.themorningnews.org/article/a-good-angle-is-hard-to-find?