In Port-au-Prince After The Earthquake, Driving Is A 10th Ring Of Hell

Damien Cave profiles Levy Azor, better known as Du Du, who works for tips only, trying to create symphonic order out of the chaos in the earthquake-ravaged streets of Haiti:

Picture roads overrun with tents, rubble, pedestrians and peddlers; tap-tap taxis stopping suddenly, dump trucks coughing black exhaust, few stoplights, 99-degree heat, no air-conditioning, dust, beggars and angry drivers blaring horns.

Stories Abound Of The Animatronic Shark Stalling The Moment It Hit Water And Sinking

To mark the thirty-fifth anniversary of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, NPR’s Cory Turner set out on a journey to find Bruce, the fabled mechanical shark star of the film, and ended up at a junkyard in Sun Valley, California.

They Couldn’t Concentrate On Their Work Because Her Appearance Was Too Distracting

Is it possible to be too sexy for your job? Elizabeth Dwoskin profiles Debrahlee Lorenzana for the Village Voice, and reports how a 33-year-old single mom’s wardrobe of fitted business suits and high heels may have ultimately proved too much for Citibank, and is now the subject of a lawsuit.

A Permanent Condition Of Striving, A Carefully Cultivated Limbo Called Former Child Star

Hank Stuever, author of Tinsel: A Search for America’s Christmas Present, profiled Gary Coleman for the Washington Post in 2003 when the former child star was a one-time gubernatorial aspirant. Stuever’s portrait of the discarded celebrity’s yearn for the life not lived seems a fitting epitaph given Coleman’s death last week at age 42.

Coaxing Earthquake Survivors Into Remarriage Has Become A Community Obligation

On May 12, 2008 at 2:28 p.m., a 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck southwestern China’s Sichuan Province killing more than more than 68,000 people. To rebuild their society in the wake of unspeakable devastation, the Chinese government, no stranger to intervening in private affairs, now actively promotes marriage between survivors to create what it calls “restructured families.” Brook Larmer writes about China’s arranged remarriages for the New York Times.

A Prodigious Gossip Item From Beyond The Grave

For Vanity Fair, James Wolcott considers the literary legacy of Norman Mailer in light of his lifelong difficulties with women — six wives, five daughters, and countless lovers. With new memoirs this year from his widow, his cook, and one of his mistresses, Wolcott looks at Mailer’s great literary handicap.

The Lies Flowed Easier With Every Press Of The Return Key

From the Wired archives comes Nadya Labi’s incredible report about a 45-year-old factory worker who created an online persona of his younger self as an 18-year-old Marine to romance a 17-year-old girl from West Virginia:

20 Minutes Of Textbook Prose Delivered In My Best Butterfield 8 Voice

Back before Caller ID and Star 69, an unexpected, obscene phone call from your everyday heavy-breathing stranger could ruin a perfectly good evening at home. Miriam N. Kotzin is happy to see such unwelcome calls lost to technology, and remembers for The Smart Set how she eventually overcame the serial harassment of one caller years ago.

There Is Professional Training For Marriage Guidance But Not, If You Decide To Go In For It, Marriage Itself

A wedding cancellation prompts the poet Andrew Sant to reflect on his marriage and that of his parents in a personal essay for Meanjin Quarterly.

For a few weeks now there has been an entry in my diary to remind me to attend a wedding. That Saturday is now free. I have just crossed the entry out. One or, I hope, both parties have thought better of it: a third party had the job of getting the message through. A headline with, as yet, no full report.

Debt Collectors Call Him a Credit Terrorist

Most people dread receiving a telephone call from a bill collector, but Craig Cunningham looks forward to picking up the phone. Kimberly Thorpe profiled Cunningham earlier this year for the Dallas Observer.

Many collection and credit card companies, intentionally or not, violate little-known consumer rights laws, and Cunningham’s favorite pastime is catching them doing so and then suing them. In fact, it’s a profitable side job.

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