Best of 2024: The Stories You Missed
December 20, 2024 at 01:30PM
Thoughtful stories for thoughtless times.
Longreads has published hundreds of original stories—personal essays, reported features, reading lists, and more—and more than 13,000 editor’s picks. And they’re all funded by readers like you. Become a member today.
The Longreads editors trawl every corner of the internet to find the best long-form stories to recommend. (Well maybe not every corner, but we read what we can!) At the end of each week, we announce an Audience Award—for the story we have picked that our readers loved the most. These winners get a shoutout in our weekly Top 5 newsletter. But what about our smaller, forgotten choices? The Tiny Tims of our editors’ picks also deserve a chance to shine. So, for this list, we did some digging to find a few gems we think you might have missed. Perhaps lost in a week of big stories or from a lesser-known outlet, these wonderful pieces got passed by. So please give the 10 stories below another chance to be appreciated. They deserve it.
—Carolyn, Cheri, Krista, Peter & Seyward
Paradise Redux
J. Matt | Places Journal | March 19, 2024 | 6,110 words
In November 2018, the town of Paradise was devastated by the Camp Fire, the deadliest wildfire in California history. Five years after they first visited Paradise in the wake of that apocalypse, J. Matt went back to take the measure of the town’s rebirth, and to consider what the Camp Fire continues to mean for those living in the WUI (wildland-urban interface). There’s much to mourn here, but there’s also hope for how we might fare in the face of ever-increasing wildfire risk—and the solace we might find in one another. —PR
Locked In, Priced Out
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg and Ethan Corey | The Appeal | April 17, 2024 | 2,697 words
Ramen that’s more than three times as expensive than it is at Target. Water prices that shot up 50 percent in a year. Peanut butter marked up 70 percent. These are just a few of the findings from a nine-month investigation of prison commissaries. This project comes with a searchable database, so that you can get acquainted with the costs incarcerated individuals are forced to bear to access items they need. —SD
Why Make Art in the Dark?
Izzy Wisher | Aeon | May 6, 2024 | 3,100 words
Why did our ancestors draw on cave walls—in the dark? Izzy Wisher takes a fascinating look at the possible psychology behind cave drawing, and how it reflects on our way of thinking to this day. Once she invites you to imagine yourself in a cave, you will be captivated: “You’re standing in a cave, tens of thousands of years ago. The damp, earthen smell mixes with the warm smoke from your firelit torch and saturates your nostrils. The muted silence is broken only by the subtle crackles of the fire and distant drips of water that echo around the space.” —CW
Into the Wind
Laura Killingbeck | Bicycling Magazine | May 22, 2024 | 3,280 words
Disillusioned and drained after dancing for a living became too much, Laura Killingbeck packed up her bike and bought a one-way ticket to Alaska. Cycling and the outdoors brought her true solitude. In those she encountered, she found generosity, kindness, and what she needed most: human connection and community. —KS
ChatGPT Goes to Church
Arlie Coles | Plough | June 6, 2024 | 3,198 words
Arlie Coles, a machine learning researcher, wonders whether language models have a place in the church. Can a church leverage ChatGPT to organize its materials like sermons and documents, or complete administrative tasks? Are there responsibilities that should be left to humans—including writing sermons, interpreting texts, and generating Bible discussion questions? This is an essay full of thoughtful questions, from the unique perspective of a churchgoing AI researcher. —CLR
How to Love an Oyster
Brendan Borrell | Hakai Magazine | January 9, 2024 | 3,503 words
A quick question for raw bar aficionados on the West Coast: Where did your oyster come from? Turns out most Pacific oysters grew on the coast, but are originally from Japan—and they’ve crowded out the once-ubiquitous Olympia species. That’s where researchers come in. Brendan Borrell turns in an engaging feature about Olys’ many ecological advantages, as well as the race to help them re-establish a shellhold in the reefs of the West Coast. —PR
The Powerful Potential of Tiny Conservation Plots
Joanna Thompson | Noema Magazine | August 27, 2024 | 3,147 words
Joanna Thompson writes about the interdependence of life on planet Earth and the importance of fostering biodiversity in our urban gardening efforts. Today I learned that small plots can be carbon-intensive if we’re not careful. When we’re trying to grow food to feed ourselves and cool urban spaces to aid climate change, we need to remember the bees, butterflies, and other pollinators we depend on to grow food. Nurturing biodiversity can mean leaving just a small space in the garden or on the balcony for native plants and perennials that feed and provide habitat for the insects we share the plant with. —KS
In Every Nelson He Visits, Jeff Truesdell Finds the Man He Loved
Tyler Harper | Nelson Star | November 21, 2024 | 2,526 words
How do you deal with loss? For Jeff Truesdell, remembering his husband, Nelson Figueroa, means traveling to different towns and communities called Nelson. At each Nelson he visits, Truesdell poses a cardboard cutout of his partner at local landmarks and also speaks with residents about their town—and their own experiences with grief. This is an unexpected, feel-good read about loss, love, and the power of connection. —CLR
Care, Out of the Closet
Ann Neumann | The Baffler | January 9, 2024 | 3,555 words
It’s no secret that the state of elder care in the United States is disastrous. Nursing homes have long been under-staffed and under-resourced; the private-equity boom—to say nothing of the pandemic—has only made things worse. Here, Ann Neumann links this crisis with the specific concerns of aging LGBTQI+ people. —SD
The Many Lifetimes of an Old Red Bike
Iain Treloar | Escape | March 14, 2024 | 3,214 words
Iain Treloar’s great-great-grandfather built the “old red bike” in the early 1940s, but it wasn’t until this year Treloar finally learned of its history. In a beautiful essay, he explores themes of family and aging through the lens of a bike passed down through generations. Treloar narrates his family’s history with respect and self-awareness, a reminder to honor our family treasures and their origins. —CW
Browse all of our year-end collections since 2011.
from Longreads https://longreads.com/2024/12/20/best-of-2024-the-stories-you-missed/
via IFTTT
Watch