IT’S A DAY of rest, and you may be in the mood for a quiet corner and a comfy chair. We’ve hand-picked the week’s best reads for you to savour.
1. The Vanishing
Bob Friel on the area along Canada’s Highway 16 where at least 18 women have gone missing – and why police still don’t know what’s going on (Outside).
All the next day, Saturday, Maddy’s truck and tent sat in the middle of the park’s most trampled spot. On Saturday night, there was an even bigger gathering at the same clearing, with as many as 150 people partying all around Maddy’s campsite. No one, though, says they saw her.
2. The ultimate counterfeiter
David Wolman on the story of artist Hans-Jürgen Kuhl, who turned his skills to creating fake $100 bills (Wired).
“I have no choice,” he said, “even though I basically trust you.” When Kuhl and Falkenthal stood up to part ways, Falkenthal added that she would bring her own boxes. After all, $6.5 million in $100 bills weighs about 150 pounds.
3. Interview with a sex worker’s client
Antonia Crane asks a john why he uses prostitutes, and what he gets out of it (The Rumpus).
I think the thing I am most ashamed of is that I’ve been to Asian massage parlors. These are places with women who are very recent immigrants from China and Southeast Asia, and for a fixed door fee you can get a massage, and for a fixed “tip” you can have sex.
4. Living with the Alzheimer’s gene
Gina Kolata on the family in which 10 siblings died of Alzheimer’s, and what life is like for the next generation (New York Times).
When Doug first heard the news, he hoped his mother, Mildred Whitney, might escape the terrible illness, and for a few years she seemed fine. But on Thanksgiving Day 1971, Mildred, who was then 50 and never used recipes, could not remember how to make her famous pumpkin pie.
5. On the trail of the Grease Devil
Hannah Tennant-Moore on an old wives’ tale in Sri Lanka, which came back with a vengeance (Guernica).
Most people said he sexually assaulted women, or bit their necks and breasts. One boy told me he had knives for fingers, which he used to cut out people’s organs while they were sleeping. He hid in trees, the villagers believed, waiting for the right moment to pounce upon his victims.
6. Being the girlfriend of Whitey Bulger
TJ English speaks to Bulger’s ‘other woman’ about the terror and glamour of life with a fugitive mobster (The Daily Beast).
“He was very handsome. And he was classy, always looked sharp, everything in place. He liked quality. He used to brag about the value of things he owned, a watch or shoes or whatever. And he was smart. He could intimidate people with his intelligence.”
… AND A CLASSIC READ FROM THE ARCHIVES…
In June 2008, Alex Pappademas wrote for GQ about how Filipino singer and small-town boy Arnel Pineda became the new lead singer of rock juggernauts Journey, after they found clips of him online.
His mother died when he was 13; his father took Pineda’s siblings to live with relatives, and Pineda struck out on his own. He collected scrap metal, bottles, and old newspapers, usually bringing home the equivalent of thirty cents a day [...] His friend Monet Cajipe played guitar.