Jesse Barron is a journalist based in Los Angeles, and a contributing writer at the New York Times Magazine.

West Hollywood is an insulated place. [New York Times Magazine]

It was hard to believe these kids understood that when you killed yourself, you were dead and you didn’t come back. [Esquire]

“Those assault rifles—they couldn’t make them fast enough.” [New York Times Magazine]

If he were right, he could make billions. If he were wrong, it wouldn’t matter, because the world would be on fire. [New York Times Magazine]

“The difference between this and journalism is you can make millions of dollars.” [New York Times Magazine]

“MFA, what does that stand for, Mother Fucking Asshole?” [Harper’s]

McDonald’s menus are more consistent across county lines than voting technologies are. [California Sunday Magazine]

Largely out of view, distressed-debt hedge funds have honed a set of tools for recovering bad foreign debt, turning courts into collection agents. [New York Times Magazine]

“The thing is,” he said, “none of this matters. These tests don’t matter. In the end, my dad will make a donation to Duke, and that’s where I’ll go.” [Bookforum]

How had my life been put in the hands of someone like me? [New York Times Magazine]

Adulthood stretches pointlessly out ahead of us, the planet is melting off its axis, you will never have a retirement account. Here’s a hamster. [Real Life]