Jeremy Collins grew up in Atlanta, but his Indiana-reared father made sure his Hoosier love for Larry Bird lived on through his son. (As a Hoosier with a father from Boston, I arrived at the same outcome through different variables.) In 1991, though, after almost 15 years of soaring NBA excellence*, Bird came crashing back down to earth—as did Collin’s...

This story was funded by our members. Join Longreads and help us to support more writers. Cameron Carr | Longreads | June 18, 2024 | 4,284 words (15 minutes) We left the house with the terraced flower beds full of phlox and black-eyed Susans, with the backyard where squirrels feasted on our flowers and competed in a miniature...

The Freedom Convoy, a disparate group of legitimate protestors, conspiracy theorists, and troublemakers—ostensibly fed up with COVID-19 health mandates—shut down Ottawa, Ontario back in January, 2022. The three-week protest terrorized residents, forcing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to invoke the little-used Emergencies Act to clear the streets of trucks...

This story was funded by our members. Join Longreads and help us to support more writers. In this week’s edition: The up-and-coming sport of competitive Excel The opioid epidemic at sea Running away from a polygamous cult The art of worm grunting The complexities of using parents as content ...

“Go to Las Vegas to compete in the Excel World Championship” is the sort of assignment any tech-adjacent journalist dreams of getting. But few could pull it off the way David Pierce does for The Verge—with descriptive reporting, humor, and more than a little insight into how a spreadsheet program became arguably the most important piece of software...

In this inspirational story, Paige Kaptuch explores the life of Darlene Barlow Stubbs (a woman she has competed against in marathons without even knowing). Raised in an FDS community, which she later ran away from, Stubbs shows us how running can help to heal and build community. The route takes us on some back roads at the edge of town, revealing...