Our 9 Favorite Feature Stories This Week: Joni, Justice, And Jetrosexuals

This week for BuzzFeed News, Andrew McMillen explores the high-flying world of planespotters. Read that and these other great stories from BuzzFeed News and around the web.

1. Things Are Looking Up For Planespotters, The World’s Most Obsessive Aviation Geeks — BuzzFeed News

BuzzFeed News

Airports are places to get in and out of as quickly as possible for most people. Yet they're heaven on earth for planespotters — or "jetrosexuals" — who defy suspicious glances in the name of fanatically filming and sharing our most misunderstood mode of transportation. Read it at BuzzFeed News.

2. People are Animals, Too — Mosaic/BuzzFeed News

BuzzFeed News

A compelling piece by Peter Aldhous on the ways in which our own minds get in the way of examining those of animals. "If we want to understand the diversity of animal minds — and by doing so perhaps understand ourselves better, too — we have to judge them on their own terms." Read it at Mosaic or BuzzFeed News.

3. The Public Life and Private Doubts of Al Sharpton — The Washington Post

Photograph by Jahi Chikwendiu for The Washington Post

In the wake of the deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and others, Eli Saslow gets a rare glimpse into the life of America's most influential civil rights leader — for now. “I got a radio show, a TV show, a direct line to the president, and what good is all that if I still can’t get something done when they choke a guy out on tape?” Read it at The Washington Post.

4. The Hidden Victims of Campus Sexual Assault: Students with Disabilities — Al Jazeera America

Illustration by Edel Rodriguez for Al Jazeera America

Students with disabilities make up 11% of the US undergraduate population, yet are largely left out of the current national dialogue surrounding campus sexual assault. Azmat Khan investigates the universities and systems that are failing to hear them. Read it at Al Jazeera America.

5. The Life, Death, and Rebirth of BlackBerry’s Hometown — Fusion

Photograph by Gabriella Peñuela for Fusion

Kevin Roose visits Waterloo, Ontario to discover how the Canadian tech hub has reinvented itself after the fall of its star company. "In 2007, people would hold their chins up when they said they worked at BlackBerry...In 2011, the chins were down.” Read it at Fusion.

6. Joni Mitchell, the Original Folk-Goddess Muse — New York Magazine

Photograph by Norman Jean Roy for New York Magazine

Folk legend Joni Mitchell spends a day with Carl Swanson to reflect on life as a musician and muse — on her own terms. “Basically, at this time, I’m trying to fix my legacy. It’s been butchered. It’s been panned, and scanned, and colorized.” Read it at New York Magazine.

7. Weed Businesses Can’t Put Their Money in Banks, So They Put It in Bongs — BuzzFeed News

Photograph by Macey Foronda for BuzzFeed News

Shut out of legitimate financial institutions, marijuana entrepreneurs are finding unusual ways to park their cash. Amanda Chicago Lewis reports on the budding industry of luxury bongs. Read it at BuzzFeed News.

8. When Taking Anxiety Medication is a Revolutionary Act — BuzzFeed News

Illustration by Andres Guzman for BuzzFeed

A beautiful essay by Tracy Clayton on what it's like to live with — and treat — an anxiety disorder. "If I had to describe what having anxiety feels like, I’d say that it’s kind of like walking through the world beneath tornadic skies without an umbrella, unsure if you'll be able to find shelter if things get bad." Read it at BuzzFeed News.

9. The Bro Code: Booze, Sex, and the Dark Art of Dealmaking in China — ChinaFile

AFP / Via Getty

James Palmer reports from China where, in the absence of secure and legal ways of making deals, many businessmen build trust by spending late nights in brothels and with booze. “If you go out together, you really get to know a guy...You see how he handles his drink, you see how he deals with women.” Read it at ChinaFile.

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