I've recently discovered this feature on Slate called Longform, from a website (www.longform.org) of the same name. They compile compelling long articles on a single topic chosen week to week. So far I've read about the Air France 447 crash, the plight of air traffic controllers, and the story of a man who tried to hijack a FedEx plane. Not to mention several harrowing articles on disease (smallpox, AIDS, swine flu), the most compelling of which moved me to tears at my desk. A woman is diagnosed with Stage IV(b) liver cancer at the age of 43.
I might spend the summer going through the archives. It's incredible how many bizarre, unexpected things happen every day. We maintain the illusion of normalcy and order, but life could not be more spontaneous or random. Marjorie Williams had cancer throughout her entire body, and lived three times longer than doctors predicted. Missiles housing smallpox were tested by the USSR but they never figured out how to get them to the US. Thousands of planes come in and out of airports, and five people in a tower with a broken toilet make them miss collisions by seconds. Tiny miracles.
