“You’re allowed to laugh.”

Another hip-hip for long-form journalism.  George Packer's piece in the New Yorker on Richard Holbrooke and the Af-Pak War reminds one that some things -- complicated geopolitical matters, for example -- must be explored at length.  Subscribers can read the full article in the digital edition here.  Short of that, read Packer's assessment of the McChrystal Report on his blog.

For every reader who grew up enamored with LeVar Burton's now-cancelled PBS show, Reading Rainbow, there's fresh hope. A Kickstarter campaign to create a spin-off, web-based version of Reading Rainbow that aims to spread literacy to children in under-served schools was launched yesterday and has already received a significant portion of its funding goal. While there are some concerns about the project, the nostalgia factor is incredibly strong, and who doesn't want to spread the love of reading to children?

What makes a sentence sad? At The Missouri Review blog, Aaron Gilbreath explores just why certain sentences are depressing — from A.A. Milne's The House at Pooh Corner to James Joyce's "Eveline." "Their emotional impact doesn’t stem solely from the combination of words. The impact often results from the circumstances of readers’ lives." Pair with: Sam Martone's metafictional short story about his grandmothers' deaths, "A Second Attempt," at Pithead Chapel.