Photo: Emanuele Longo/Flickr

This week, we’re sharing stories from Amy Wallace, Katherine Laidlaw, Lisa Miller, Porochista Khakpour, and Lauren Schwartzberg.

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1. The Hollywood Exec and the Hand Transplant That Changed His Life

Amy Wallace | Los Angeles Magazine | Mar 20, 2017 | 36 minutes (9,000 words)

In her final feature for Los Angeles Magazine, Amy Wallace tells the incredible story of Jonathan Koch, “one of Hollywood’s great closers,” who lost several limbs and nearly his life to septic shock before receiving a revolutionary hand transplant.

2. A Place of Absorption

Katherine Laidlaw | Hazlitt | Mar 16, 2017 | 12 minutes (3,183 words)

Katherine Laidlaw recalls an abusive relationship in which her boyfriend threatened her with a boxcutter. In examining why she stayed as long as she did, she observes how the emotional scars affect her thinking and perception in what should be a new, exciting relationship — to the point where “Everything now — a flicker of tone, a sideways glance, a distant voice on the end of the phone — is a sign, a flag, a warning.”

3. John Hinckley Left the Mental Hospital Seven Months Ago

Lisa Miller | New York Magazine | Mar 21, 2017 | 27 minutes (6,839 words)

Thirty-four years after being committed to Saint Elizabeths Hospital after being found not guilty by reason of insanity for shooting Ronald Reagan to impress actor Jodie Foster, John Hinckley is free. Well, “free.” In a fascinating profile that also digs into the limits of both psychiatry and juries, Lisa Miller details some of the conditions of Hinckley’s release into the custody of his 90-year-old mother.

4. Why This Persian New Year is Different

Porochista Khakpour | CNN | Mar 20, 2017 | 7 minutes (1,862 words)

A personal essay by Iranian-born novelist Porochista Khakpour about her apprehension and lack of excitement about Nowruz, the Persian New Year, at a time when it feels unsafe to be of Muslim heritage in America.

5. Why Millennial Pink Refuses to Go Away

Lauren Schwartzberg | New York Magazine | Mar 19, 2017 | 19 minutes (4,900 words)

It’s a muted form of pink—more sophisticated than bubblegum, more luxurious than eraser pink—and it can be found on book covers, runways, Pinterest boards, cosmetics labels, and almost any Instagram feed. It’s been around almost as long as millennial-hating has been around, and it also shows no signs of letting up.