LongReads Round-Up Volume Twenty Two

The continuing conversation about the cost of a degree in college, and new methods for giving credit to students
Http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/03/education/edlife/degrees-based-on-what-you-can-do-not-how-long-you-went.html?

Slate reviews the 130+ page interview of Susan Sontag from a 1978 issue of Rolling Stone.
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2013/11/susan_sontag_s_complete_rolling_stone_interview_reviewed.html

An oral history of the revamping of Vanity Fair, complete with Truman Capote's histrionics.
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2013/10/birth-modern-vanity-fair?

Real talk, I don't really care for the quality of Thought Catalog pieces, so it makes sense this is actually an aggregate of posts from Quora, about people's expectations of America and their actual experiences.
http://thoughtcatalog.com/michael-koh/2013/11/16-people-on-things-they-couldnt-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/

This story of the journey refugees make from the Middle East, through Indonesia to Australia, is heartbreaking. A life with no options is no life at all.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/17/magazine/the-impossible-refugee-boat-lift-to-christmas-island.html?

Marvel announces that the new Ms Marvel will be a 16 year old Pakistinian-American girl.
www.nytimes.com/2013/11/06/books-marvel-comics-introducing-a-muslim-girl-superhero.html

This OkCupid couple booked a trip across Europe with literally nothing but the clothes on their backs.
http://www.salon.com/2013/11/12/the_craziest_okcupid_date_ever/

A deep review of America's foreign policy in the Middle East.
http://www.thenation.com/article/177002/field-guide-losing-friends-influencing-no-one-and-alienating-middle-east#

This transcript of an interview between Nia King and Virgie Tovar from the podcast We Want the Airwaves covers body image, women in advanced degree programs, and how self presentation is part of personhood. http://www.scribd.com/mobile/doc/152485506#fullscreen