TheNewsGal, Edition No. 91
What a week! These are the standouts.
Sept. 11
“I Was Responsible For Those People”: The manager of Windows on the World survived 9/11, while 79 of his employees died. He’s still searching for permission to move on. The story that’s really stayed with me this week. Make time for it. (Tim Alberta, The Atlantic, ~23 min.)
The Woman In White: Twenty years after 9/11, a photographer searches for an elusive subject. Haunting. (Colin Moynihan, Intelligencer, ~8 min.)
Part of Flight 93 crashed on my land. I went back to the sacred ground 20 years later. A different piece than most of the anniversary coverage I read this past week. (Tim Lambert, NPR, ~8 min.)
“I’m The Face Of It”: The people whose images came to define 9/11 reflect on the day. Very cool feature. (David Smith, The Guardian, ~19 min.)
Football, firemen and cops — and what it means to never forget 9/11. A story as powerful as it is unexpected. (Tom Junod, ESPN, ~28 min.)
All the other things
The Enduring Legacy Of Elijah McClain’s Tragic Death: In summer 2020, the nation’s attention turned to the killing of a 23-year-old Colorado man. His death prompted a flood of more than 8,500 letters from outside the state — all begging Gov. Jared Polis for justice. We read every one. Heart-wrenching. (Robert Sanchez, 5280 Magazine, ~17 min.)
One Woman’s Mission To Rewrite Nazi History On Wikipedia. I love this woman. (Noam Cohen, Wired, ~18 min.)
A Better Place: Why the euphemisms? My father did not “pass.” Neither did he “depart.” He died. My sentiments exactly. (David Sedaris, New Yorker, ~4 min.)
Margaritaville And The Myth Of American Leisure: Margaritaville, as Parrotheads will tell you, is a state of mind. But it’s also — delightfully, sometimes inexplicably — a real place now open in Times Square. Fascinating/horrifying. (Jaya Saxena, Eater, ~19 min.)
“These Bastards Will Never See Our Tears”: How Yulia Navalnaya Became Russia’s Real First Lady. When the Kremlin tried to kill Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, his wife launched an epic battle to save his life and became the face of the resistance to Vladimir Putin. My god, she’s incredible. (Julia Ioffe, Vanity Fair, ~35 min.)
The Roe Baby: Norma McCorvey, the plaintiff in Roe v. Wade, never had the abortion she was seeking. She gave her baby girl up for adoption, and now that baby is an adult. After decades of keeping her identity a secret, Jane Roe’s child has chosen to talk about her life. Just … wow. (Joshua Prager, The Atlantic, ~28 min.)
By Design: How white communists, socialists, feminists, and capitalists tried to engineer society using kitchen design. Jeezuz. (Meg Conley, Home Culture, ~14 min.)
When The Toughest Trees Met The Hottest Fire. Thought a story about redwoods might be a snooze, but I couldn’t put this down. (David Ferris, E&E News, ~29 min.)
Death Of A Storyteller: Rare is the actor who can locate the specific in the universal and vice versa. Michael K. Williams was that actor. The best of the outpouring of tributes. (Matt Zollerseitz, Vulture, ~15 min.)
Three Women On What It’s Like To Give Yourself An Abortion. More talking about this, please. (Marie Solis, Vice, ~15 min.)
The Staggering, Exhausting, Invisible Costs of Caring For America’s Elderly: As millions “age in place,” millions more must figure out how to provide their loved ones with increasingly complex care. Chock full of data and frankly alarming. (Anne Helen Petersen, The Goods, ~25 min.)
Elisabeth Shue answers every question we have about Adventures in Babysitting.OK, this is fun. (Mara Reinstein, Vulture, ~10 min.)
Oh my fucking god, get the fucking vaccine already, you fucking fucks. Oh-so-cathartic. (Wendy Molyneux, McSweeney’s, ~3 min.)
To escape Afghanistan, these brothers were forced to choose whose family to save. My god. (William Wan, Washington Post, ~13 min.)
The Girl In The Picture: A sketch artist and a grieving mother set out to solve a cold case. The more they dug, the more terrifying the truth became. A gripping, satisfying read. (Nile Cappello, The Atavist, ~24 min.)
Martin Short Plays Bit by Bit: The 71-year-old comedian on his early ambitions to be a singer, his circle of funny people, and the wisdom he’s gleaned from the likes of Joni Mitchell and Neil Simon. Pretty sure I grinned the whole way through. (Rachel Syme, New Yorker, ~25 min.)
60 Hours, 50 Abortions: A California doctor’s monthly commute to a Texas clinic. This country, I swear. (Soumya Karlamangla, Los Angeles Times, ~15 min.) @karlamangla @latimes
“I Just Want My Family To Heal”: Angelina Jolie opens up about why her divorce from Brad Pitt is a human rights issue, escaping Harvey Weinstein, and what young activists have taught her. She’s fascinating. (Simon Hattenstone, The Guardian, ~22 min.)
How To Grieve For A Very Good Dog: When my yellow Lab died last spring, I was flattened by an overwhelming sadness that’s with me still. And that’s normal, experts say, because losing a pet is often one of the hardest yet least acknowledged traumas we’ll ever face. I recently adopted two more dogs; I don’t know how I’ll get through this three times. (Annette McGivney, Outside, ~12 min.)
If you read one thing this week
“I’m Begging You. ... Take That Shot”: As covid-19 surges in unvaccinated Alabama, the intimate conversations between doctors and patients have taken on a new urgency. Brutal. (Stephanie McCrummen, Washinton Post, ~14 min.)