TheNewsGal, Edition No. 60
What a week! Here's what you missed.
Siege on the Capitol
A Black officer faced down a mostly White mob at the Capitol. Meet Eugene Goodman. This is something else. (Rebecca Tan, Washington Post, ~6 min.)
The Capitol rioters weren’t “low class.” Of course they weren’t. (Adam Serwer, The Atlantic, ~5 min.)
“No one took us seriously”: Black cops warned about racist Capitol Police officers for years. I just can’t. (Joshua Kaplan and Joaquin Sapien, ProPublica, ~9 min.)
A reservation for insurrection: Paul thought his Airbnb guests were tourists, until he heard: “We stormed the Capitol.” Lordy. (Allie Conti, Intelligencer, ~7 min.)
A small group of sleuths had been identifying right-wing extremists long before the attack on the Capitol. THANK YOU. (Robert Klemko, Washington Post, ~12 min.)
Yes, it was a coup attempt. Here’s why. Finally, a definitive answer. (Fiona Hill, Politico Magazine, ~8 min.)
The American abyss: A historian of fascism and political atrocity on Trump, the mob, and what comes next. A must-read. (Timothy Snyder, NYT Magazine, ~21 min.)
Covid-19
Older Americans, shut in during this year’s pandemic, share haunting recollections from the polio era of their childhood. What a different world it was. (Emma Goldberg, New York Times, ~7 min.)
As a nurse, she knew the daily traumas of Covid-19. Then her father landed in her ICU. Holy schnikes. (Eric Boodman, STAT, ~11 min.)
Salt fat acid defeat: The restaurant before and after Covid. Yeesh. (Aaron Timms, n+1, ~33 min.)
Still going to the grocery store? With new virus variants spreading, it’s probably time to stop. Year 2 is off to a great start. (Julia Belluz, Vox, ~10 min.)
Ski towns and the ski bums who staff them ponder their survival. A pandemic story I hadn’t considered, and of course it’s fascinating. (Monica Prelle, Adventure Journal, ~8 min.
A brother’s grief, a father’s joy, and learning to live with both. Heart-wrenching. (Stephen J. Nesbitt, The Athletic, ~21 min.)
How on earth are they going to pull off the Olympics? My money says it’s canceled. (Will Fleitch, New York Magazine, ~6 min.)
The best of the rest
Everything is broken — and how to fix it. Excellent, just trust me. (Alana Newhouse, Tablet Magazine, ~21 min.)
The missing piece of the D.B. Cooper story: Many saw flight attendant Tina Mucklow as the key to the mysterious skyjacking. But does her story hold the answers? What a strange turn of fate. (Andrea Marks, Rolling Stone, ~16 min.)
Trolling the great outdoors: As the wilderness gets overrun, the most hated man in the Rockies finds an audience of emulators and antagonists. What an asshole. Still, I couldn’t stop reading. (Nick Paumgarten, New Yorker, ~25 min.)
Who did J.K. Rowling become? Deciphering the most beloved, most reviled children’s-book author in history. This whole situation is a hot mess. (Molly Fischer, New York Magazine, ~32 min.)
Trump’s rush to execute prisoners will be one of his administration’s final outrageous acts. Unconscionable. (Wesley Lowery, GQ, ~9 min.)
Whiteness is the greatest racial fraud. Compelling and made me laugh out loud at several points. (Luvell Anderson, Boston Review, ~15 min.)
Why Big Olive Oil erupted over a boutique distributor’s claims to a fresher, healthier oil. Quite the drama, who knew? (Nishant Batsha, Eater, ~13 min.)
What’s wrong with the way we work: Americans are told to give their all — time, labor, and passion — to their jobs. But do their jobs give enough back? Spoiler alert, NO. (Jill Lepore, New Yorker, ~19 min.)
“After me, baby, you’re gonna be ruined for anyone else”: Donald Trump refused to take “No” from women — and then from America itself. This story, about the first woman to publicly accuse Trump of sexual assault, is a doozy. (E. Jean Carroll, Vanity Fair, ~25 min.)
Life and death with a no-good, grumpy dog. Oh, my heart. (Shay Castle, Boulder Beat, ~14 min.)
My friend Jay: He went from class president to drug dealer, then dead at 16. My desperate, personal search for answers. Incredible. (Matthew Stanmyre, NJ.com, ~44 min.)
The memory war: Jennifer Freyd accused her father of sexual abuse. Her parents’ attempt to discredit her created a defense for countless sex offenders. You’ve gotta read it to believe it. (Katie Heaney, The Cut, ~33 min.)
The record keepers’ rave: Every month, the archival institutions of this nation unleash tiny particles of the past in a frenzy of online revelry. What a cool, nerdy thing. (Caity Weaver, New York Times, ~10 min.)
During lockdown, I’ve found solace in online recipe comments. Love this. (Sophie Haigney, The Guardian, ~5 min.)
If you read one thing this week
There is no Sex and the City without Samantha. Sorry, not sorry. (EJ Dickson, Rolling Stone, ~7 min.)
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Thanks for reading.
Kirsten