TheNewsGal, Edition No. 98
What a week! These are the standouts.
All the things
I’m a Florida school board member. This is how protesters come after me. Hard to read/can’t imagine. (Jennifer D. Jenkins, Washington Post, ~8 min.)
My Unplanned Pregnancy In Texas Before Roe: When I got pregnant in the summer of 1969, abortion wasn’t an option, and neither was keeping the baby. The trauma that followed is still with me today. Yes, let’s return to this. (Carol Park, Texas Monthly, ~11 min.)
The Rise And Folly Of The Refugee Cookbook: Buoyed by post-Arab Spring interest, a bumper crop of cookbooks perpetuates tropes of the pitiful and hard-working person displaced by conflict. Nailed it. (N.A. Mansour, The Counter, ~11 min.)
Has Witch City Lost Its Way? They’re hip, business-savvy, and know how to cast a spell: How a new generation of witches and warlocks selling $300 wands conquered Salem, Massachusetts. I had NO idea this was a thing. (Kathryn Miles, Boston Magazine, ~17 min.)
The Nazi Who Built Mount Hutt: The untold story of how a former Waffen-SS soldier lied his way into New Zealand — and got away with it. How did I miss this in June?! (Andrew Macdonald and Naomi Arnold, North & South, ~36 min.)
Will Ferrell Just Wants To Entertain You (And Himself): The producer-star on building (and winnowing) his empire, splitting with collaborator and pal Adam McKay, and chasing the funny above all else. I’m a mere casual fan, and really enjoyed this. (Lacey Rose, Hollywood Reporter, ~19 min.)
Mapping Exile: A writer’s story of growing up stateless in post-Gulf War Kuwait. Almost hard to wrap my head around. (Mona Kareem, LitHub, ~20 min.)
Can This Company Take Pet Cloning Mainstream? Fascinating/it’s going to be a no for me with Little Roo. (Madeleine Aggeler, Texas Monthly, ~21 min.)
Aftermath: Lost in the forest. On sorting through the wreckage of tragedies and crises ... wow. (Briohny Doyle, Griffith Review, ~16 min.)
How The Maestro Got His Hands Back: A lifetime of brutal injuries and misfortune robbed the world-renowned pianist João Carlos Martins of the ability to play his instrument. And then along came an eccentric designer and his bionic gloves. Just a neat read. (Gabriella Paiella, GQ, ~19 min.)
Red America’s Compassion Fatigue: A Report From Mobile, Alabama: We’ve heard repeatedly from the country’s vaccine resisters. But what about the people who follow the rules? They’re ignored and forgotten — and they are in pain. Yeesh. (Marion Renault, New Republic, ~29 min.)
Huma Abedin on the moment her private life went public. A powerful reflection on a living nightmare. (Huma Abedin, Vogue, ~20 min.)
Brené Brown’s Empire Of Emotion. Not sure we needed another Brené Brown profile, but just reading it reminded me to take a deep breath. (Sarah Larson, New Yorker, ~25 min.)
This KitchenAid tweet and the replies it generated will make your day. (Eve Ettinger, Twitter, ~however long you scroll)
If you read one thing this week
When A Witness Recants: At 14, Ron Bishop helped convict three innocent boys of murder. They’ve all lived with the consequences. My god. (Jennifer Gonnerman, New Yorker, ~39 min.)