The Most Thoughtful Stories You Can't Miss This Week

Baltimore has one of the most diverse police forces in the country. So why are community relations still so bad? "“When I first joined the police force, I realized right away that I’d have to have two souls." Read it at BuzzFeed News.

William Finnegan chronicles the warped religious evolution that led a husband and wife to carry out the deadliest mass shooting since Newtown. "There had been no displays of anger, no indication. Only growing piety." Read it at The New Yorker.

Hannah Giorgis untangles the long-standing trope that black women must go natural before finding love. "To have a weave, we’re supposed to conclude, is to be hiding from one’s true self; to be running away from blackness." Read it at BuzzFeed.

Since 2007, Tumblr has not only connected some of the loneliest teens on the internet, but turned many of them into viral sensations. Elspeth Reeve dives deep into the web's weirdest social network. “Tumblr culture has developed over the past five years as the smart weird kid in school connected with all the other smart weird kids from all the other schools all over the world." Read it at The New Republic.

Danielle Bacher chronicles the stigmas and sadness surrounding her brother's search for love — and his unyielding optimism throughout. "My brother has always wanted what most of us do: love. Someone to care about. Someone who will care in return. Someone other than our mother." Read it at Esquire.

Nick Murray meets Delilah, the beloved radio personality who's been bringing her mix of power ballads and no-bullshit personal advice to national airwaves for decades. How did a four-time-married self-proclaimed Queen of Sappy Love Songs conquer radio and become America’s go-to heartbreak guru? Read it at BuzzFeed News.

Born a slave in Georgia in 1849, Thomas Greene Wiggins was one of the first African-American classical performers and composers. Mark Twain once referred to him as an “‘angel’ who derived his musical abilities from supernatural forces.” So why, asks Jeffery Renard Allen, haven’t more people heard of him? Find this, as well as other great stories, on our Black History Reading List.