Happy New Year! It was a quiet first week of 2020 on the news front (at least as far as read-worthy content is concerned); this is the best of it. Enjoy.
Meet the small team of elite airmen “who arrive when the Navy SEALS call 9-1-1.” (Esquire, ~15 min.)
In 1969, a junior high school held a “No blondes allowed” week to teach students about prejudice. Fifty years later, a fascinating look at the fallout. (Washington Post, ~8 min.)
An incredible, real-time chronicle of what it was like for a journalist and his family to be trapped by the bush fires in Australia. (The Intercept, ~20 min.)
The first in a delightful three-part series on the invention of Scrabble. (Vermont Digger, ~8 min.)
A 52-year-old veteran enrolled in Yale as an undergrad, and his essay about getting to know his 20-something classmates is not only beautiful, but powerful. (Medium, ~12 min.)
It’s a wrap on the 2010s, and this look at how the decade changed American politics is more than worth your time. (The Nation, 14 min.)
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