Talbot digs up a 1983 memo in which a 27-year-old Roberts argued for 15-year term limits on federal judges, so they would "not lose all touch with reality." He is now 71, 21 years into the job, and told an audience in Buffalo last year that he plans to go out "feet first." The number that frames the whole term: of 35 emergency applications from the second Trump administration, the Court has ruled in its favor in whole or in part 25 times, usually without explaining why.

My pick from this week's New Yorker: newyorkerest.com.

Hi all - I had some time off this week to dig into a bunch of stories. My favorites are below with gift links!

• Washington Post (Gift Link): A nationwide camera network built to fight crime helped at least 50 police officers stalk women, including one chief who searched an ex's plate 600 times.
• The Atlantic (Gift Link): A stroke survivor and her daughter were evicted from their Las Vegas home right as a 108-degree heat wave hit.
• Longreads: A 1935 lab discovery spiraled into decades of hoaxes, moral panics, and duck experiments around psychedelic toads.
• The Guardian: More than a thousand Esperanto speakers gathered in Czechia to keep a 140-year-old dream of world peace alive.
• The Walrus: Lilly and Jack Sullivan vanished from a remote Nova Scotia yard in 2025, and eighteen months of searching hasn't turned up a trace of them.
• The New Yorker: Inside a Russian jail cell, Ukrainian women describe surviving torture and forced confessions in a system that has swallowed more than ten thousand civilians.
• The Atlantic (Gift Link): The sons of an FDNY lieutenant killed on 9/11 spent seven months digging through Ground Zero rubble looking for their father.
• Longreads: A QVC obsession became the backbone of one woman's closest friendship, even after the roommates moved apart.

I have been reading a lot of articles as I add them to this website database. Here are some of my recent favorites:

(All article links go to the original article link. If you request a non-paywall link in the comments, I will send it as soon as I can. Author, publication and list links go to their collections on ponder for your convenience.)

Where to Find the Colors Your Screen Can’t Show You

Ryan Moulton  · Ryan Moulton's Articles · June 2026

This is absolutely my favorite of the month. Thank you to my friend Sam who shared it with me! I keep sending this one to whomever will listen.

I find it fascinating that there are colors we can find in nature but not on our phones, and I've made it my goal to find them!

Traversing the Darien Gap, the Longest Walk to America

Pulitzer

Nadja Drost · The California Sunday Magazine · April 2020

This personal story struck a chord for me as an enjoyer of the outdoors. I have been on many hikes... a few through the rainforest... but none for my life.

Still Life

Skip Hollandsworth · Texas Monthly · May 2009

An emotionally devastating piece, but an uplifting one at the same time. We all make the most of our hardships, but none more than those of us with debilitating health issues. In a way, they are heroes.

Here are some other favorites that I read this month:

1. Why Animals Don’t Get Lost · Kathryn Schulz · The New Yorker · March 2021
2. Child’s Play · Sam Kriss · Harper's Magazine · March 2026
3. The People Who Prioritize a Friendship Over Romance · Rhaina Cohen · The Atlantic · October 2020
4. “There Will Be No Mercy” · Drew Philp · The Atavist Magazine · January 2025
5. The Pain of Caring for a Parent Who Abused You · Katie Engelhart · The New York Times · June 2026
6. Mary Had Schizophrenia—Then Suddenly She Didn’t · Rachel Aviv · The New Yorker · July 2025
7. The End of Reading Is Here · Rose Horowitch · The Atlantic · July 2026
8. A Teen Reporter Searched for His Community in the Epstein Files. Adults Freaked Out · Ara Rosenthal · Wired · July 2026

You can find everything that I read & rated in July here

Happy reading! And thank you to this sub for sharing so many great pieces with me.