What I’ve been reading this week:
- The Guardian: Older fathers on having kids in their 60s and 70s: ‘My time with my son is more limited – and more precious’ This was fascinating to me because I was the product of a late-life second marriage for my father, who was 50 when I was born. (My mother was also on her second marriage and was considered a very old first-time mother at 33.)
- Rascal News: Red Hats, Red Blood: Roleplaying The January 6 Insurrection In A Brooklyn Warehouse. The author signed up to cover a wargame/tabletop roleplaying game of insurrectionists vs the authorities on January 6. The outcome is unsurprising yet disturbing, and read the whole thing to get to the real stinger in the tail. Also on the same subject: Why Does The January 6 Wargame Even Exist?
- Defector: The Judgment Of Magneto. A fascinating piece paralleling the evolution of Magneto with Israeli and Judeo-diaspora political thinking.
- Teen Vogue: What Really Happens to Your Used Clothing. Reading this will make you want to stop buying new clothes ever.
- El País: Judith Butler, philosopher: ‘If you sacrifice a minority like trans people, you are operating within a fascist logic’. Also her recent interview with the Guardian: Judith Butler: ‘Swimming is the closest thing I have to a religion’
- Houston Chronicle: Valentine’s Day chocolates and wines getting more expensive to make, thanks to climate change.
- Glamour: Why Taylor Swift Getting Booed at the Super Bowl Was Even More Chilling Than You Think. It’s because MAGAts are freaking misogynists.
- English in Progress: 36 examples of anachronyms. “Anachronyms are words that are used ‘in an anachronistic way, by referring to something in a way that is appropriate only for a former or later time.'” A fascinating discussion of words that hits not just on the evolution of language but also on skeumorphism and gestures.
- Fritinancy: Word of the week: Aesthetic(s). This word (mis)usage makes me a little feral.
- Apartment Therapy: I Survived a Life-Changing Accident. It Transformed My Relationship with My Home (and Myself) I think about the kinds of small changes age and disability are forcing on our house quite a bit.
- Travel & Leisure: Selma Blair on Life With MS — and Why She Missed Travel Most of All. This was very reassuring to me as I consider international travel with my own chronic illness.
- AP: Almost 800 years of pomp and circumstance ensures the quality of Britain’s currency. It’s the medieval Trial of the Pyx. Click through for some cool pictures of the ceremony and the coins.
- Outside: My Quest to Find the Owner of a Mysterious WWII Japanese Sword. A treasure brought to the US in 1945 goes home after a really interesting research trail leads to answers.
- Vogue: When Did Buying Concert Tickets Turn Into The Hunger Games? I seem to have better luck than a lot of people, but I’m not going to Taylor Swift or Beyoncé either.
- BBC: An 1840 selfie to 1960s advertising: Eight images that tell the story of America. Powerful.