TheNewsGal, Edition No. 102

What a week! These are the standouts.

All the things

• How Much Is A Dog’s Life Worth? A writer learns the hard way — the hardest way — that in Texas the answer is: not much. Heartbreaking. (Hannah Smothers, Texas Monthly, ~9 min.)

• The Dirty Work Of Cleaning Online Reputations: For a fee, companies will tackle damaging search results. But is the new economy of digital makeovers making things worse? The world we live in, ugh. (Paul Gallant, The Walrus, ~10 min.)

• You Can’t Put Your Arms Around A Memory. On Ronnie Spector, memories, and ... well, just trust me. (Niela Orr, Paris Review, ~7 min.)

• At a summer camp for kids from conflict zones, I met my brave, funny friend Aseel. He was Palestinian. I was Israeli. When he was killed by police, my hope for our future died with him. Devastating. (Roy Cohen, The Guardian, ~22 min.)

• How Jessica Simpson Almost Lost Her Name: The pop star’s billion-dollar fashion brand fell into the hands of the wrong company. After a two-year battle, she finally bought it back. OK, I’m impressed. (Steph Cliff and Eliza Ronalds-Hannon, Bloomberg, ~26 min.)

(Kohjiro Kinno, Sports Illustrated)

• Shawn Bradley, paralyzed in a bike crash, knows “it’ll never be the same.” The retired NBA center is finding that his 7’6” frame — which brought him fame and fortune and 2,000-plus blocks — is now a challenge without medical precedent. A tough, worthy read. (Brian Burnsed, Sports Illustrated, ~18 min.)

• The Positively True Adventures Of The Kilgore Rangerette–Kidnapping Mom: What pushed a Texas mother to kidnap at gunpoint the director of the famed college drill team and her 19-year-old daughter? Also, how is this real life? (Katy Vine, Texas Monthly, ~29 min.)

• Who’s Really Behind Joanna Gaines’ Perfect Peanut Butter Brownies?

  The New York Times credits the Fixer Upper star for this transcendent peanut butter-and-chocolate combination, but both the comment section and Gaines herself say otherwise. Fascinating, and not really about Joanna Gaines or her brownies. (Bobby Finger, Eater, ~10 min.)

• Stop Fetishizing Old Homes: Whatever your aesthetic preferences, new construction is better on nearly every conceivable measure. “Too little, too late,” I thought as I read this from the comfort of my 1948 ranch. (M. Nolan Gray, The Atlantic, ~6 min.)

• This man was at the end of his life. Strangers stepped up to take him on bucket-list adventures. Every week I require at least one story to rejuvenate my faith in humanity. (Sydney Page, Washington Post, ~7 min.)

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If you read one thing this week

(Joanna Andreasson for New Lines)

• The Day My Wartime Cat Went Missing: How a few moments of panic beckoned a sad story with a happy ending. This storytelling, wow. (Rasha Elass, New Lines, ~29 min.)