Our morning travel has been curtailed to rolling out of bed and booting up our laptops instead of hour-long car commutes and our weekly happy hour hangouts have turned into Skype soirees. For better or worse, we have a lot of extra time on our hands. Why not spend some of that time catching up on some reading? Here are a handful of long-form reads we’ve published in the last year to pore over while staying at home.
1. Cast Away
February 2020
Jeff Flake sacrificed his political career to defy the GOP and President Donald Trump. So why is this man smiling?
2. Black and Blue
January 2020
A doll stolen by a 4-year-old black girl sparked a year of intense introspection for Phoenix law enforcement – and a string of lawsuits led by one of two of the oddest political bedfellows the city has ever seen.
3. Power Play
October 2019
The imminent shutdown of Arizona’s largest coal-fired energy plant is an environmental win for the state, but an economic headache for the Navajo Nation. The caveat: It may position the nation to dominate the west’s renewable energy demands.
4. Peak Performance
September 2019
Scottsdale spine surgeon Ed Dohring realized his dream of summiting Mount Everest last spring – but he also found a nightmarish landscape fraught with deadly overcrowding and aggressive amateur alpinists.
5. Brush with Greatness
August 2019
From piano to painting, a troubling number of Arizona schools have eliminated arts from their curriculum. Our writer surveys the parched landscape, and finds a heroic clique of teachers keeping an oasis alive.
6. Grand Divide
April 2019
Grand Avenue is poised to succeed Roosevelt Row as the Valley’s signature arts district, but the expected wave of gentrification – and possible departure of its staunchest advocate – has some longtime residents bracing for impact.
