9 Feature Stories You Can't Miss This Week: Movements, Manicures, And Mother's Day

This week for BuzzFeed News, Joel Oliphint takes the rose-colored glasses off Mother's Day. Read that and these other great stories from BuzzFeed and around the web.

1. Anna Jarvis Was Sorry She Ever Invented Mother's Day — BuzzFeed News

Illustration by Chris Ritter for BuzzFeed News

The woman who devoted herself to the creation of a national holiday to honor overworked, underappreciated mothers regretted the commercial juggernaut it became. Was Anna Jarvis stubborn and crazy, as many came to believe, or misunderstood? Read it at BuzzFeed News.

2. 'Our Demand is Simple: Stop Killing Us' — The New York Times Magazine

Photograph by Christaan Felber for The New York Times

Jay Caspian Kang spends five months on the road with DeRay Mckesson and Johnetta Elzie, two social media activists at the forefront of the modern civil rights movement. "The swiftness with which the movement now acts, and the volume of people it can bring out to every protest, have turned every police killing into a national referendum on the value of black lives in America." Read it at The New York Times Magazine.

3. A Youth Minister's Downfall is Tearing First Christian Church of Florissant Apart — Riverfront Times

Brandon Milburn

Danny Wicentowski details the rise and fall of Brandon Milburn, who was once a popular and charismatic youth minister at a suburban St. Louis megachurch. Now, he's serving a 25-year sentence for repeatedly molesting two boys from the congregation, while the community left in his wake wrestles with who might have known the truth about him and for how long. Read it at Riverfront Times.

4. Droga5 and the Art of the Sell — New York Magazine

New York Magazine

Droga5, a midsize ad agency, says they're not just selling brands — they're creating "cultural moments." A fascinating window into the whimsical, and increasingly weird, world of modern advertising by Jessica Pressler. Read it at New York Magazine.

5. The Price of Nice Nails / Perfect Nails, Poisoned Workers — The New York Times

Photgraph by Nicole Bengiveno for The New York Times

An explosive and unsettling series by Sarah Maslin Nir that exposes the dark side of New York's booming nail salon industry. Many of the city's manicurists, who spend their days primping and polishing women of wealth, are also severely overworked, underpaid, and unprotected from the risks of the job. Read Part 1 and Part 2 at The New York Times.

6. The Long Drive to End a Pregnancy — The Washington Post

Photograph by Melina Mara for The Washington Post

Monica Hesse chronicles the 407-mile journey across state lines a young woman named Emily must make in order to get an abortion. As large portions of the country continue to shutter their clinics and toughen their laws, the geography of abortion is becoming increasingly complex. Read it at The Washington Post.

7. Reform of the Nerds, Starring Arthur Chu — Pacific Standard

Photograph by Eric Schwabel for Pacific Standard

Jeopardy champ Arthur Chu is a geek on a crusade against misogyny in his own community, Peter C. Baker finds. "In an era when the nerds are increasingly ascendant, Chu wants to make nerd culture better—and to stop more of his fellow nerds from getting drawn into the worst of it." Read it at Pacific Standard.

8. Relentless: Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills Chases a Killer — Atlanta Magazine

Photograph by Audra Melton for Atlanta Magazine

Formidable Georgia Sheriff Howard Sills has spent four decades catching every criminal in his path, but he's been unable to crack the case of an elderly couple brutally murdered at their lakeside mansion last year. Joe Kovac Jr. wonders: Has Sills finally met his match? Read it at Atlanta Magazine.

9. The Dicks of Our Lives — BuzzFeed Ideas

Illustration by Jenny Chang for BuzzFeed Ideas

Mary H.K. Choi reflects on dick pics, ex-boyfriends, and growing old — but maybe not growing up. "Dick pics are annoying and slightly hostile even when they’re meant to be endearing. Like a bird head left on a stoop by a cat, it’s a gift — sort of — but for who?" Read it at BuzzFeed Ideas.

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