The FADER Weekend Reading List

Ann Friedman, The Cut

The beginning of the week of October 3 was a doozy. In one day, we learned about Kim Kardashian's violent robbery and the harsh revealing of pseudonymous Italian author Elena Ferrante's identity. Apart, the two incidents are not enough to shake the world. But putting both crimes together, it seemed women's right to privacy was brushed off like a thin layer of dust — if it ever existed at all.

For more on the truly brilliant and important Ferrante, read: The Sexist Big Reveal [New Republic], The Unmasking Of Elena Ferrante [New Yorker], and Female Trouble [The Awl].

Also from New York this week: 8 Years In Obama's America

Angelica Jade Bastién, New Republic

It's recently been revealed that the salary gap between white actors and actors of color is huge. In addition to that, depressingly not shocking fact, is the reminder that when people of color play live-action adaptations of originally white characters, there's backlash. This is especially repugnant when it comes to adaptations of women comic book characters (there aren't many female superheroes of color, either).

The FADER

On Tuesday, we unveiled our whole America Issue. There are all kinds of gems: stories on The Internet, Serena Williams, and those who film cops. But what really gets us is this collection of teenagers expressing their thoughts about the future of the country. The best part: their portraits and interviews are by their talented teenaged friends.

Jamie Kalven, The Intercept

One of the scariest things about living in the U.S. today is that our city police departments get away with shady stuff they're not supposed to. This investigation into the crazy corruption of the Chicago P.D. is harrowing.

Akash Kapur, The New Yorker

People like to say all the time that we should look to the past for answers, that old philosophers and writers had the right idea way back when. Well, in thinking about some new books (Erik Reece’s Utopia Drive, Chris Jennings’s Paradise Now: The Story of American Utopianism), Kapur considers a case for why we could benefit from taking some leaves out of the pages of Sir Thomas More and his ilk.

Zamira Rahim, The FADER

A gorgeous personal essay on wanting to assimilate into larger culture, before Rahim realized her home had provided the true sense of community she always yearned for.

Casey Newton, The Verge

The headline of this article is also the title of Vladimir Nabokov's autobiography, but it is not about the late Russian author — it is about a woman who used artificial intelligence to rebuild her friend who had died. Kind of exactly like that Black Mirror episode “Be Right Back,” which, actually, inspired this whole wild, true story.