Top of the weekend to you all, especially my fellow Queenslanders. Now we’ve got the gracious gloating out of the way, let’s get on with this week’s great reads.
1. Hunting America’s serial killer truckers
Serial killers hiding in plain sight as long-haul truckers was seen as such a problem in the 1990s and 2000s that the FBI opened a unit to investigate it. Twenty-five truckers are serving time in prison for multiple homicides, and the crimes are still occurring.
“Long-haul truckers glide along the edge of a certain seam in the fabric of our society – the seam that separates their reality from ours,” writes Frank Figliuzzi, a former assistant director of the bureau who rode in a truck to understand the subculture from the inside. “Killer truckers exploit that seam.”
By the numbers: There have been at least 850 murders along US highways over the past few decades. More than 200 cases remain active and unsolved; the FBI has a list of about 450 suspects.
How long will it take to read: Four minutes.
2. The period that almost killed Marjolein Robertson
At the age of 16, the comedian Marjolein Robertson had a period so debilitating she had to spend three days in hospital. Two blood transfusions later she was discharged without a diagnosis, and recurrences were met with a variety of stopgap solutions – including a decade of quarterly contraceptive injections that “flattened” her.
It wasn’t until she was about 30 that a friend figured out how she could get better help: “Tell your doctor that you’re trying for a baby.”
She finally got her diagnosis.
You’ll laugh about it one day: Robertson will relive her ordeal in a show at this year’s Edinburgh festival fringe.
How long will it take to read: Four minutes.
3. Why Lithuania is the best place in the world to be young
“The G-spot of Europe” is how the tourist board of Vilnius brands Lithuania’s capital – because “nobody knows where it is”, boom-tish. Kate McCusker stops over in the country where under-30s are happier than anywhere else (per this year’s World Happiness Report) and discovers its young people still fear “everything nice that we have here could be taken away in a second”.
“If you are a creative and you work in culture instead of a startup, you will make less money – that’s a fact. But there is this feeling that you can still make it here.” – Marija Kavtaradzė, a 33-year-old film-maker.
How long will it take to read: Four minutes.
4. How steroids went mainstream
Steroid use was once the domain of pro bodybuilders and cold war-era East German athletes – now, white-collar office workers are just as likely to be “pinning” themselves with testosterone enanthate to bulk up.
Some experts predict the current cohort of users will burden health services with their weak hearts and atrophied testicles in two to three decades. “Most of these compounds were never approved for people,” warns Channa Jayasena, an endocrinologist. “So scientifically we are very in the dark.”
Mind games: One steroid user says the effects of steroids are more than physical. “You’re the alpha everywhere you go. You feel like you command respect. It’s wild.”
How long will it take to read: 12 minutes.
5. Chris Stein on Bowie, Debbie Harry and NYC
Chris Stein has survived drug addiction, prostate cancer and his 1977 touring partners hitting on his then girlfriend, fellow Blondie bandmate Debbie Harry. And not just any touring partners: David Bowie and Iggy Pop. Harry rejected them both.
It’s just one of many cracking yarns in the retired guitarist’s new memoir, which details what life was really like in downtown NYC before it was cleaned up. “It was a dangerous environment,” he says. “We were just all living on the fringes of society down there.”
How long will it take to read: Six minutes.
Further reading: An excerpt from Stein’s book ruminates on the standard rockstar concerns: cocaine and getting caught with it.
Further listening: Blondie’s 20 greatest songs – ranked!
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