‘The summer I became hotter than ever.’ — Planet Earth.
When life gives you anti-bird spikes, make a…bird’s nest? Here are some of my favourite reads from the past week.
Earth just notched its hottest summer on record. It’s less glowing up, more burning up. Since everything is not fine, here’s an assortment of great stories to read while the world collapses around us. Scroll down to marvel at the architectural genius of magpies; read about the scandalous painting heading to the Met; and feast yourself on the anything-but-bland story of vanilla.
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Coco Champion Gauff, US Open winner, just topped off the summer of the Black woman. “At a moment when so much is being thrown at us, we’re saying, ‘We know our power, we know who we are, and we have to continue to be at the center of our own liberation and freedom.’” By Errin Haines.
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People make lemonade out of lemons; magpies make nests out of spikes designed to deter them. Birds are repurposing litter and manmade materials—including anti-bird spikes from the tops of buildings—into structures for their homes, researchers in Belgium recently discovered. Here’s a lovely poem inspired by this ingenuity, from the expansive mind of Maria Popova whose newsletter, The Marginalian, has been a firm favourite of mine for years.
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Amy Winehouse’s musical legacy is so immense that it’s tough to accept two things: That she released two albums, and that she died at 27. She would have been 40 tomorrow. Ludovic Hunter-Tilney takes a thoughtful look at her life, career and impact—and how her rise and fall unfolded as harmful online gossip blogs proliferated.
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Last September, I walked into an office building in Maidstone, Kent, to take the ‘Life in the UK’ test, a 24-question, multiple choice exam required to become a British citizen that is notorious for its obscure topics. Seriously, it’s a quiz virtually no one could pass impromptu (including, as it turns out, the examiners). After weeks of revising my primary school curriculum, I sat in a computer room with a group of people I would never see again—but through this experience would forever share a bond with. The hostile silence was broken only by the sound of shaky mouse clicks and the ASMR crackle of sweat beads rolling down our foreheads. I stand before you now as a survivor and a dual citizen. Brian Klaas’ account of the process triggered me and made me chuckle in the same breath.
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Scandale! Manet’s Olympia is heading to New York’s Met Museum for the American showing of the hugely successful Manet/Degas exhibition at the Musée D’Orsay earlier this year. It’s considered one of the most shocking paintings ever, but for reasons other than the Aphrodite-esque nudity. Jason Farago looks at why the work’s first-ever voyage to the States is on par with “Lionel Messi being transferred to Miami.”
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Great gowns, beautiful gowns: NYFW was in full swing over the past few days (so I hear. I’m not there yet!). AI and fake smiles are slinking down the runways in Cathy Horyn’s analysis of some of the past week’s shows.
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Not BREAKING, but BREAKING: Human activity—like the extraction of fossil fuels—is accelerating climate change, the symptoms of which are intensifying and leading to more frequent extreme weather events and earthquakes. Ruth H. Burns writes how life-saving, ancestral records of the past warn us of what we mustn’t forget: everything is connected.
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“We definitely don't operate like legacy news outlets.” Black-owned media outlets, like Kansas City’s The Defender, are reaching younger readers where they spend a lot of time: on social media. Plus, they’re battling misinformation along the way. Phil Lewis looks at how innovative founders and platforms are reaching new audiences and amplifying stories that may otherwise be overlooked by national publications. Related: Sites such as these may be an oasis in news deserts, which are increasingly cropping up across the US and leaving communities in an information vacuum.
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And for dessert, here’s Ligaya Mishan’s refreshing piece on the complicated story of vanilla and its evolution from symbol of spice and sauciness, to synonym for spiritlessness.
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Share to sweeten someone’s day—and enjoy the rest of your week!
Isabel :)
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