Below are some of the most interesting articles I read this week. Click the title to access the full article.
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The 50 Best Podcast Episodes of 2015
#3 on the list is one of the most captivating stories I've ever heard. It's very well told and so interesting! I couldn't stop thinking about it for weeks. #4 on the list is an episode from my favorite podcast of all time. I'm excited to check out #1 and #2 on my way drive to Atlanta next week!
When You Weren't Paying Attention Congress Shook Up The Student Loan Market
"...the consumer bureau declared that the industry was riddled with "widespread failures" after a review found many borrowers were unable to obtain basic information about their accounts, were frequently misled, surprised with unexpected late fees and often pushed into default."
Spoiler: Santa Claus and the invention of childhood
"Culture being what it is—occasionally awkward, often chaotic, and above all decidedly not monolithic—it is hard to pinpoint when, exactly, Santa became a full-fledged home invader. What is clear, though, is that his status as a participatory myth is a relatively recent invention: It came about, like the fur-and-reindeer images, in the 19th century. Santa, it seems, arose with industrialization, with the economic plenty that came with it, and with something else prosperity inspired: changing notions about the family and the children’s place within in. Santa, as we know him today, was born during a time that was rethinking and re-imagining and in many ways re-inventing that oldest of things: childhood...
...Christmas functioned in part as a children’s version of judgment day.”
The Great Republican Revolt
"The mutiny of the 2016 election cycle has been different. By the fall of 2015, a majority of Republicans favored candidates who had never been elected to anything: Donald Trump, Ben Carson, and Carly Fiorina."
N.B.A. Lends Its Name and Its Stars to Campaign Against Gun Violence
"Besides N.B.A. players, the ads feature survivors of shootings and relatives of those killed by guns, including Andy Parker, whose daughter, Alison, a television reporter in Virginia, was shot to death in the middle of a live broadcast by a former co-worker. Everytown for Gun Safety paid for the production of the commercials, and the league donated time that it controls during games on ABC and ESPN, which will broadcast the ads."
The Typical American Lives Only 18 Miles From Mom
"Ms. Breckenridge said she returned to Seattle, where she grew up, for business school, largely because she knew she wanted to raise a family near her parents.
'"I always knew I would go back to work after having a kid, and I actually can’t
imagine doing it without my parents close by,” she said. 'I feel lucky and also
completely incredulous that people do it without their families.'"