27 Links You Might Not Have Already Read
It's like "27 Dresses," if by "dresses," you mean, "interesting articles to read."
Hello! I wrote something non-linky that should have landed in your inboxes earlier this week, but let’s get back on the Friday newsletter routine with this round-up. I’m throwing in the week I missed too, so you’ll have extra fun on this long (for some of you) weekend.
3 Ambient Misogyny Monday Reads
1 — Women staffers of Jann Wenner’s Rolling Stone get their turn to speak (The Handbasket)
Money quote: “He only talked to people that had an office, and the only people that had an office were white men. Straight, white men who I would say came from upper middle class backgrounds.”
2 — ‘Burn It Down’ Explores ‘SNL’ and Its “Culture of Impunity” (Hollywood Reporter)
Money quote: “The myth of comedy as a meritocracy full of brave, admirable rebels fighting for justice and freedom simply refuses to die.”
3 — The Insidious Sexism at Amazon (Slate)
Money quote: “The problem with meritocracy is, at Amazon, it was treated as though it were a natural system that just exists, without being created by humans.”
3 Appletastic Tuesday Reads
1 -- Against Apple Picking (Slate)
Money quote: "In the United States, overconsumption is encouraged as a positive good (see under: McMansions, SUVs, all-you-can-eat buffets). Add pick-your-own apples to the list."
2 -- Apple picking is a bizarre imitation of hard work (Vox)
Money quote: "Apple picking has become an essential, Instagram-friendly element of America’s ever-expanding autumn industrial complex, alongside cable-knit sweaters and pumpkin-spice-everything."
3 -- The Apple-Picking Apocalypse of Upstate New York (NYT)
Money quote: “People aren’t coming out,” Mr. Stuart said. “You’ve got seven weekends to make it in, and if you lost half of your days, you’re out of luck.”
Bonus Appletastic video clip: SNL Apple Picking Ad
"You'll pick apples under the watchful eye of our farmhand, Hank."
"He's a troubled man who came with the land. And we pay him in dentistry."
3 Wednesday Web reads
1 — How to fix the internet (Technology Review)
Money quote: “The internet’s original sin was an insistence on freedom: it was made to be free, in many senses of the word.”
2 — How a Social Network Fails (The Atlantic)
Money quote: "You can’t hold users hostage and force them to endure a subpar experience, to consume content they don’t want, and then expect them to return."
3 — On Social Media & the Allure of Outsourcing One's Thinking (self promotion)
Money quote: “It's one thing to have a marketplace of ideas, but as retailers are all too happy to tell you -- any good retail outlet targets a specific customer base.”
3 organized protest reads on Thursday
1 — The 2010s were a decade of massive protests. Why did most of them fail? (LAT)
Money quote: “When the movements got big enough to contest the existing power structures, they were left with no spokespeople, no platform, and no clear plan for taking power.”
2 — Why workers are resorting to more strikes this year to pressure companies (NPR)
Money quote: “The early 1980s ushered in an era of crackdowns on striking workers, causing strike activity to plummet – the effects of which workers are still feeling today.”
3 — How 'strike culture' took hold in the US in 2023 (BBC)
Money quote: “Across disparate industries, workers keep fighting for similar protections: fair wages, increased safety and job security. And as these concerns proliferate, even evolve, experts say US strikes may continue.”
3 Friday reads on free time, free play, free kids
1 — Stop Micromanaging Halloween — Let Your Kids Be Free (NYT)
Money quote: “If your kids are left to manage their candy harvest by themselves, the world will continue to spin on its axis.”
2— Childhood Independence Is a Mental-Health Issue (The Cut)
Money quote: “There is recreation and family time, but play is specific: It’s ideally initiated by kids rather than adults and doesn’t include adult supervision or participation.”
3 — The Trap of the Overprotected Childhood (NYT)
Money quote: “True and extended play — rather than supervised “activities” — gives kids a sense of autonomy and helps them learn social skills and even physical coordination.”
3 election eve Monday reads
1 — You’re Not Imagining It: Support for Political Violence Is Growing (Slate)
Money quote: “If Trump’s political prospects decline, we have to be concerned that he will start to think strategically about the use of political violence as a strategic tool to enhance his power.”
2 — 'Being against things was easy to do' (Dan Diamond)
Money quote: “I still think about those moments of candor from Ryan. His admission that Republicans had spent so long saying ‘no,’ they weren’t ready or even able to get to ‘yes.’”
3 — "Apocalypticism": Polling expert reveals the root of "panic among conservative White Christians" (Salon)
Money quote: “White evangelicals support Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric and his anti-black rhetoric. They were breathing comfortably & freely when they pulled the lever for Trump.”
Tuesday — The Dead Influencers’ Club
Money quote: “Hands up, anyone who's mildly unnerved by the vestiges of the old-school media establishment embracing a silent, ladylike avatar in these, our volatile times.”
3 family reads for Wednesday
1 — ‘The Two-Parent Privilege’ gets caught in the trap of convention (WaPo)
Money quote: “Why should we “work to restore and foster” the nuclear family, which privatizes affection and attention, instead of working to foster a new norm of communal child-rearing?”
2 — New SAT Data Highlights the Deep Inequality at the Heart of American Education (NYT)
Money quote: “In the last 5 decades, as the country has become more unequal by income, the gap in children’s academic achievement has widened.”
3 — The U.S. Infant Mortality Rate Rose for the First Time in 20 Years (The Cut)
Money quote: “Any pregnancy that is intended and planned tends to be a healthier outcome and healthy infant outcome.”
3 deluxe Thursday reads
1 -- Samira Nasr: ‘I just want to bring more people with me to the party’ (WaPo)
Money quote: “It’s so hard to talk about luxury in a way that feels like the intent is to bring joy, as opposed to it being something that is so aspirational ... that it becomes almost aggravating.”
2 — How Can ‘Absurd’ Luxury Prices be Justified? (NYT)
Money quote: “Phoebe Philo — and the powers that be in luxury — spent a considerable period courting aspirational audiences. It’s just now they’re pulling the drawbridge up.”
3 — Heads Explode Over Phoebe Philo's Prices (Amy Odell)
Money quote: “The retail price of a luxury product has nothing to do with its actual value.”
3 frugal Friday reads
1 — No More Cheap Flights Is the New Reality for Air Travel (WaPo)
Money quote: “It’s the new reality for flying as airlines face a huge decarbonization challenge and tightening climate-compliance laws.”
2 — The Era of Ultracheap Stuff Is Under Threat (WSJ)
Money quote: “The twilight of ultracheap Asian factory labor is emerging as the latest test of the globalized manufacturing model.”
3 — The holiday spending outlook is sluggish across thousands of retailers: CNBC Supply Chain Survey (CNBC)
Money quote: “A majority of logistics firms (67%) say that products being moved into stores this holiday season are more promotional, lower-cost items into the store.”
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And that’s it! If you’ve made it this far in the newsletter, give yourself a hand — see you next week. — Lisa