LongReads Round-Up Volume Twenty

"It Was Nice While It Lasted," by Rosa Brooks for Foreign Policy. This charming piece of dystopian satire comes from the year 2060. America is now a lawless land, bereft of government since the Tea Party shutdown of 2013. Canada has built a wall to keep out the hungry, uneducated Americans, as the wealthiest fled the country long ago. Hardworking American laborers in major cities can still find work at Chinese military bases, at least.  "In 2013, the new Tea Party wanted to put a stop to a government run by their own fellow citizens. Well, they got what they wanted: Now it's the Chinese who make the rules for Americans."

"White Girls," by Hilton Als for Guernica. Excerpted from Als's new essay collection on media and literature, race and relationships, this piece follows the story of a friendship he formed with another black man. Its a sprawling meditation on the intersections of race, privilege, and art. Als reflects on the character of a man he deeply loved and admired, and the lessons he learned from their friendship."Standing above me and around me I see how we are all the same, that none of us are white women or black men; rather, we’re a series of mouths, and that every mouth needs filling: with something wet or dry, like love, or unfamiliar and savory, like love."

"Den of the Dominatrix," by Maria Smilios for Narratively. Fascinating account of a woman's work as a fetish dominatrix in New York. From Catholic school girl to vegan activist to dominatrix, "Mistress Josie," as she is called in the article, has blasted boundaries and taboos from her childhood. Not for the squeamish, this article features some of the stranger kinks Mistress Josie deals out to her clients. "Everyone deserves kindness and nurturing, even the person with a most extreme or unusual fantasy."

"Jezebel Founding Editor Anna Holmes On Her New Book -- And How She Changed Women's Media," by Lori Leibovich for The Huffington Post. The pop culture and feminist politics website Jezebel has shaped the way women engage with the news over the past six years. With its range of subject matter, from celebrity gossip to serious reporting on issues such as rape culture and racism, Jezebel has pushed feminist discourse into the mainstream. In this interview Anna Holmes reveals some of the biggest challenges she faced as the editor, including the life-suck that working in social media causes. "We talked about feminism in a very matter-of-fact way, without apology, and hoped that the readers who were kind of like “eh” about it would come to regard it as a un-scary thing."

"Why I Stopped Writing Recommendation Letters for Teach for America," by Catherine Michna for Slate. Humanities professor Michna writes a scathing reproach of Teach for America and untrained young teachers entering underprivileged classrooms. Her critique of the program is similar in many ways to critiques of Peace Corps- how effective can it be to send generally young and inexperienced adults to a disenfranchised area for relatively short term work? She also explores the effects of charter schools on the education quality, and the way TFA furthers those negative aspects of charter schools. For once, I recommend reading the comments, which were overall insightful and provided a variety of viewpoints. "[TFA teachers] work in service of a corporate reform agenda that rids communities of veteran teachers, privatizes public schools, and forces a corporatized, data-driven culture upon unique low-income communities with unique dynamics and unique challenges."

"Love in the Gardens," by Zadie Smith for The New York Review of Books. Smith writes this beautiful essay on her love of public gardens for NYRB, that follows a parallel of her relationship with her father and his passing. Seeking the public gardens in Italy and France let her escape from some of the cross cultural confusions and conflicts faced during travel. A public garden offers a chance for a peaceful experience of space. "In Italy, where so many kinds of gates are closed to so many people, there is something especially beautiful in the freedom of a garden."

"Two-Hit Wonder," by D.T. Max for The New Yorker. This profile on Jack Dorsey, a co-founder of Twitter, tracks the rise of the social media tech maven since 2006. The particular and at times peculiar personalities of tech geniuses is a modern fascination. Dorsey does not disappoint, with his love of bare minimalism and public transportation. Charting Dorsey's interests and talents, with the knowledge that they will ultimately result in Twitter, is an intriguing game of foreshadowing. "Twitter—inspired by the text message—is all about immediacy and mobility, and so is Dorsey. "

"The Facebook divorce," by Amanda Fortini for Salon. Social media has impacted the way we express ourselves in all kinds of situations, including the end of relationships. Fortini explores the way divorcées rant, rave, and regret their dissolving marriages on the internet. She also discusses how Facebook and social media can affect legalities during divorce proceedings."Facebook is not like Las Vegas: What happens there rarely stays there."

"Meet the Fantasically Bejeweled Skeletons of Catholicism's Forgotten Martyrs," by Rachel Nuwer for Smithsonian's Past Imperfect blog. Just in time to inspire your glamorous Halloween dreams, this post on the new book Heavenly Bodies offers plenty of bejeweled skeletons that would be an excellent addition to a fabulous haunted house. Paul Koudounaris discovered the practice of bedazzling deceased Catholic saints while he was travelling in Germany. As a historian and photographer, the subject was fascinating, and he began to hunt down the catacombs and shrines that held these blinged out remains. "Each martyr’s skeleton represented the splendors that awaited the faithful in the afterlife."