The Syria Catastrophe
An analysis of the civil war in Syria that calls for an antimilitarist approach whilst recognising the challenges standing in the way of such a resolution.
Framed
The story of how a parent teacher association head was allegedly framed for possession of hard drugs by parents with a grudge. The story seems at times to be straight out of a legal procedural TV show – one of the accused writes self-published crime novels in which she imagines ingeniously executed crimes, a firefighter lover arrives at the accused’s house for a tryst at the same time as the police and has to make a hasty exit – and yet it is not.
Dry, the Beloved Country
A piece that examines the response to a severe drought in Cape Town. Whilst undoubtedly a crisis, it has also become “a kind of vast, unplanned, crazy—and fabulous—social experiment”.
China’s Selfie Obsession
A piece examining the phenomenal success of MeituÕs social apps, installed on over a billion devices, and changing self-image across their user base.
Sitting Up
A piece describing itself aptly as ‘A brief history of chairs’, looking at how different societies approach the act of sitting.
The End of Independent Film As We Know It
A deep dive into how independent film makers are striving to make it work in the era of Netflix and Amazon Prime, and the impact on the major studios.
The Faithful
The story of two men who set out to convert their Catholic megachurch in Medellin, Colombia to Orthodox Judaism.
The story of the internet, as told by Know Your Meme
Tales from the front line of meme documentation. As the Editor of Know Your Meme puts it, the internet is “kind of the anti-Bible. You learn everything terrible about human beings.”