Covid-19
(Preeti Kinha, The Cut)
“Feels like they are just waiting for us to die”: On Reddit’s r/unemployment, a community of desperate people has stepped in where the government failed. (The Cut, ~7 min.)
The road ahead: Experts game out pandemic life over the next 12 months — and beyond. And to think I hadn’t even thought past Election Day. (STAT, ~43 min.)
The anti-Spotify: How online music company Bandcamp became the toast of the Covid age. (Los Angeles Times, ~9 min.)
Six months into the pandemic, how work became an inescapable hellhole. (Wired, ~13 min.)
This scientist kept it real about what life looks like juggling parenthood and doing her job. (BuzzFeed News, ~4 min.)
Race, policing & Black Lives Matter
Racist acts aren’t an aberration: Here is what’s wrong with small-town values. Yes, this. (USA Today, ~5 min.)
Two years ago, Latria Graham wrote an essay about the challenges of being Black in the outdoors. Countless readers reached out to her, asking for advice on how to stay safe in places where nonwhite people aren’t always welcome. She didn’t write back, because she had no idea what to say. In the aftermath of a revolutionary spring and summer, she responds. Her original piece has stuck with me, and I imagine this one will, too. (Outside, ~25 min.)
Andre Braugher reexamines his cop roles and urges Brooklyn Nine-Nine to rise to the moment. (Variety, ~15 min.)
This is the casual racism that I face at my elite high school. (New York Times, ~5 min.)
The best of the rest
(Elizabeth Caren, Los Angeles Magazine)
For presidential impersonators, playing POTUS in a divided country can be a dangerous game. A pretty fun read, promise. (Los Angeles Magazine, ~20 min.)
“One of the low points in American history”: Dan Rather goes long on our defining moment. I’m a fan; his Facebook posts are the only ones I “follow” besides my immediate family. (Esquire, ~27 min.)
2020 is the year of the freezer. (The Kitchen, ~8 min.)
The slow, troubling death of the autopsy: Why you should get an autopsy if it’s the last thing you do. In the age of coronavirus, this deep dive is fascinating. (Elemental, ~21 min.)
The case for ending the Supreme Court as we know it. (New Yorker, ~16 min.)
I don’t know where this ends. But I cannot stop panicking about November. Truth. (Intelligencer, ~8 min.)
Dan Levy on Schitt’s Creek’s fulsome, splendorous Emmys night. Because we all need more smiles right now. (Vulture, ~8 min.)
Two men died of meth overdoses at the home of a West Hollywood political donor. Dark conspiracy theories abounded — but the truth is even darker. An investigative piece you’ll have to read to believe ... and it reads like a thriller. (New York Times Magazine, ~36 min.)
The curious case of Sherlock Holmes’ feminist spinoffs. A smart, light, and short think piece? Yes, please. (Slate, ~6 min.)
Is food as healthy and tasty as it used to be? A foodie reflects on 50 years of change. Ruth Reichl, don’t ever leave us. (AARP, ~14 min.)
Lizzo on hope, justice, and the election. (Vogue, ~17 min.)
Elle Fanning: Long may she reign. I’m indulging in the lightness of more celeb profiles than usual, can you tell? (Vanity Fair, ~18 min.)
If you read one thing this week
(Good family)
IF YOU READ ONE THING THIS WEEK: Dr. Good had been the Baxter family’s doctor for decades. Then, at a Baxter family funeral, Dr. Good casually disclosed that he’d spent three years hiding in the woods and fighting the Nazis. (Los Angeles Times, ~10 min.)
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Thanks for reading.
Kirsten