A Modest Proposal — Swift's classic essay showing how best to help the poor.
A Modest Proposal — (in case the other link doesn't work)
Bumping into Mr. Ravioli — Gopnik's daughter has an imaginary friend... who is too busy to play with her.
Frank Sinatra has a Cold — Arguably America's most acclaimed magazine piece: an early example of New Journalism (in which the tools of fiction--vivid storytelling--are marshalled in reporting).
Is the most powerful conservative... — Let's look at Molly Ball's masterful introduction...
Longform — Brilliant articles compiled from all sorts of periodicals.
Nieman Storyboard — A project of the Nieman Foundation at Harvard that breaks down and analyzes non-fiction pieces in a variety of media.
On Being a Cripple — A discussion of life with MS.
On Dumpster Diving — A literate homeless man describes his experiences scavenging...
One Town's War — A Minnesota town bullies its children...
Quote, Paraphrase, Summarize — A great resource from the Purdue OWL
The Plunge: a personal essay — This 17-year old makes sense of the big questions of life while describing her plunge off a cliff, and her recovery.
The Sports Taboo — Malcolm Gladwell discusses racial differences in sports...
This American Life — Deeply reflective narrative essays. Great feature writing.