Editor’s Note: With two weeks’ worth of stories, this edition has more than enough to keep you busy during what promises to be a quieter holiday weekend than we’re used to. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.
Covid-19
This pandemic must be seen — if we could watch what’s really going on in hospitals, there would be no more complacency. YES. (Wired, ~6 min.)
“This is how we treat each other? This is who we are?” Amber Elliott, a county health director in Missouri, on the high cost of doing her job. Jaw-dropping. (Washington Post, ~10 min.)
Parents tried to cover up a “superspreader” dance. Disaster ensued. I just can’t. (Daily Beast, ~9 min.)
Will America’s quintessential bowling alleys survive the pandemic? Important PSA. (InsideHook, ~6 min.)
Covid took my grandfather. But it wasn’t what killed him. This hurts my heart. (The Cut, ~12 min.)
They moved to exotic locales to work through the pandemic in style. But now tax trouble, breakups, and Covid guilt are setting in. Fascinating. (New York Times, ~13 min.)
The death of the $15 salad: How pizza won the pandemic — and Sweetgreen got left behind. Ew, salad. (Marker, ~9 min.)
One small-ish wedding resulted in 178 Covid infections and seven deaths. None of the deceased attended the wedding. Good god. (Los Angeles Times, ~7 min.)
The best of the rest
George Clooney when we need him most. No comment necessary. (GQ, ~28 min.)
For Black Americans, loving America and criticizing it have always been inseparable — something other Americans have often struggled to understand. I can’t stop thinking about this one. (NYT Magazine, ~12 min.)
On not meeting Nazis halfway: Why is it so hard for Democrats to act like they actually won? Yes. Every word of this. (LitHub, ~10 min.)
Stacey Abrams on finishing the job in Georgia. We don’t deserve her. (New York Magazine, ~18 min.)
Leave fat kids alone: The “war on childhood obesity” has only caused shame. Hear, hear. (NYT Opinion, ~6 min.)
The guardians of Wikipedia’s climate page: How an intensely devoted core keeps a bastion of climate science honest. Great nerd read. (Mashable, ~10 min.)
Death and the all-American boy: Joe Biden was a lot more careful around the press after this 1974 profile. Amazing. (Washingtonian, ~21 min.)
Sewage is still “America’s dirty secret.” Another “good god.” (The Verge, ~5 min.)
The power of food memories, the history of deviled eggs, and what they might tell us about who we are and who we might become. I had no idea deviled eggs were such a thing in the South. (Bitter Southerner, ~17 min.)
Honorée Fanonne Jeffers on helping elderly Black people vote as a young girl in 1976. Simply gorgeous. (Kenyon Review, ~15 min.)
Christina Kim risked everything to escape North Korea’s entrenched gender violence. She almost didn’t make it. Terrifying. (Guernica, ~23 min.)
Hanson is facing a mutiny from its own fans: More than 20 years after “MMMBop,” the teen idols’ impassioned following is splintering over issues like Black Lives Matter, guns, and Covid. Basically, 2020 in a nutshell. (~14 min.)
Meet the one-woman newsroom that live-tweeted Georgia’s biggest election story. Robin Kemp is a baller. (Mother Jones, ~4 min.)
The rare authority of Alex Trebek. The best tribute I’ve read. (New Yorker, ~7 min.)
Oregonians sent a frightened 17-year-old boy to prison. My family helped. Just ... wow. (Willamette Week, ~12 min.)
Big John Fetterman can save the Democratic Party — if the Democrats let him. I’m a fan. (Rolling Stone, ~21 min.)
An elite soldier lies on the brink of death after a raid in Iraq, the world’s best doctors ready to pull the plug. But they don’t know Andy Chavez. Terrific from start to finish. (Truly*Adventurous, ~28 min.)
The last children of Down syndrome: Prenatal testing is changing who gets born and who doesn’t. This is just the beginning. The story I can’t stop telling everyone about. (The Atlantic, ~36 min.)
Trailblazer, mentor, provocateur: How Naomi Campbell changed modeling forever. I’m not terribly interested in the fashion industry, and I loved this piece. (Vogue, ~16 min.)
Why Obama fears for our democracy. This Q&A doesn’t disappoint. (The Atlantic, ~51 min.)
The man who brought The Queen’s Gambit to life. What a life story. (The Ringer, ~13 min.)
Inside the Trump administration’s El Paso Experiment, and one public defender’s lonely fight against family separation. I want to hug this man. (The Intercept, ~31 min.)
Why are movie bad guys always chomping on apples? Deeper than I thought it would be. (Mel Magazine, ~8 min.)
She fell into QAnon and went viral for destroying a Target mask display. Now she’s rebuilding her life. A rare QAnon recovery story. (Washington Post, ~11 min.)
Everything about Netflix’s Hillbilly Elegy is awful. The best movie review of the year. (Vox, ~11 min.)
A simple theory of why Trump did well. So simple, it hurts. (NYT Opinion, ~5 min.)
Once the disease of gluttonous aristocrats, gout is now tormenting the masses. A delight of a read, for both the content and the writing. (T Magazine, ~11 min.)
Ivanka Trump was my best friend. Now she’s MAGA royalty. I read this with relish. (Vanity Fair, ~12 min.)
If you read one thing this week
The bridge dog: I thought I could stave off the grief of losing one dog by getting another. This made me laugh and it made me cry, and the writing is beautiful. (New Yorker, ~11 min.)
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Thanks for reading.
Kirsten