TheNewsGal, Edition No. 59
What a week! Here's what you missed.
Siege on the Capitol
They say this isn’t America. For most of us, it is. Do not skip this. (Kaitlyn Greenidge, Harper’s Bazaar, ~7 min.)
Storming the U.S. Capitol was about maintaining white power in America. Truth. (Hakeem Jefferson, FiveThirtyEight, ~6 min.)
They were out for blood: The men who carried zip ties as they stormed the Capitol weren’t clowning around. I can’t stop thinking about this. (Dan Kois, Slate, ~4 min.)
Inside the Capitol siege: How barricaded lawmakers and aides sounded urgent pleas for help as police lost control. Just incredible. (Karoun Demirjian, Carol D. Leonnig, Paul Kane, and Aaron C. Davis, Washington Post, ~17 min.)
The race to preserve the D.C. mob’s digital traces. Super interesting. (Kate Knibbs, Wired, ~6 min.)
Covid-19
Your year in maps: Readers around the world visualize their experiences of the trauma, tumult, and transformation brought on by Covid-19. Fascinating and brilliant. (Laura Bliss and Jessica Martin, Bloomberg CityLab, ~16 min.)
The plague year: The mistakes and the struggles behind America’s coronavirus tragedy. A chronological tour de force with vivid mini-portraits of folks touched by the pandemic. Don’t let the time commitment deter you; this is easily consumed in “chapters” over the course of several days. (Lawrence Wright, New Yorker, ~141 min.)
How Covid-19 hollowed out a generation of young Black men. The kind of smart, incisive reporting and storytelling that stops me in my tracks. (Akilah Johnson and Nina Martin, ProPublica, ~32 min.)
The Holocaust stole my youth. Covid-19 is stealing my last years. A gut punch. (Toby Levy, NYT Opinion, ~4 min.)
Voices from the front lines of America’s food supply share how they got themselves — and us — through a catastrophic year. Thank you, thank you, thank you. (New York Times, ~21 min.)
A Q&A with infectious diseases reporter Helen Branswell, who wrote 148 stories about the pandemic between Jan. 4, 2020, and Jan. 4, 2021. What a year. (Jason Ukman, STAT, ~7 min.)
Where year two of the pandemic will take us. Ed Yong does it again. (Ed Yong, The Atlantic, ~29 min.)
The best of the rest
Living with Karens: A white woman calls the police on her Black neighbors. Six months later, they still share a property line. Holy schnikes. (Allison P. Davis, The Cut, ~34 min.)
What the hole is going on? The very real, totally bizarre bucatini shortage of 2020. OMG, this is just the best, trust me. (Rachel Handler, Grub Street, ~18 min.)
Brian Kelly, the Points Guy, has created an empire dedicated to maximizing credit-card rewards and airline miles. What are they worth in a global pandemic — and why are they worth anything at all? A perfect profile/explainer combo piece. (Jamie Lauren Jeiles, NYT Magazine, ~36 min.)
These precious days. Author Ann Patchett reflects on an unlikely, Tom Hanks-facilitated friendship during the strangest of years. Just gorgeous, and worth every minute. (Ann Patchett, Harper’s Magazine, ~92 min.)
The nirvana of Ben Affleck: We want our stars to be just like us, but ultimately, we want them to be themselves even more. Delightful. (Josh Gondelman, The Ringer, ~8 min.)
As the legal weed boom shuts out Black Americans, former Sonics star Shawn Kemp is vowing to diversify the industry. So why are Seattle cannabis activists mad at their hometown hero? Excellent. (Kent Babb, Washington Post, ~20 min.)
An oral history of the world’s biggest coupon: Bed Bath & Beyond’s plus-size mailer, known as Big Blue, has made it to TV, eBay, even a mobster’s kitchen drawer. This is great. (Ron Lieber, New York Times, ~14 min.)
The journalist and the pharma bro: Why did Christie Smythe upend her life and stability for Martin Shkreli, one of the least-liked men in the world? This story, jeezuz. (Stephanie Clifford, Elle, ~19 min.)
Society is paying the price for America’ s outdated police training methods. Horrifying, and explains so much. (Alana Semuels, Time, ~22 min.)
The last two northern white rhinos on earth: What will we lose when Najin and Fatu die? This writing is beautiful and the story will stay with you. (Sam Anderson, NYT Magazine, ~35 min.)
Blurbed to death: How American Dirt, one of publishing’s most hyped books, became its biggest horror story — and still ended up a best-seller. This kills me. (Lila Shapiro, Vulture, ~25 min.)
A brief history of peanut butter. Love stuff like this. (Kate Wheeling, Smithsonian Magazine, ~6 min.)
Actually, Bridgerton sex is not good sex. Someone had to say it. (Melanie McFarland, Salon, ~6 min.)
If you read one thing this week
An oral history of the National Brotherhood of Skiers. Hugely enjoyable. And no need for prior interest in skiing, promise. (Bill Donahue, Outside, ~19 min.)
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Thanks for reading.
Kirsten