“The Long Journey From the Strait of Hormuz to the Gas Tank.” This explainer piece from the New York Times is incredibly well done.
This WSJ piece about how YouTube took over the American classroom is the most depressing thing I read all week.
How can you not love Noah Kahan? I’ve added his documentary to my watch list.
The city of New York has proposed redesigning an 11-block stretch of Park Avenue. The redesign would feature more median space (to create green pockets that might include bike lanes) and two fewer lanes of traffic. Over at The Pigeon, Samantha P. shared renderings of what it might look like, which is apparently very similar to how Park Ave. looked in 1924. (If you love NYC as much as I do, you should subscribe to Samantha’s daily missive; it’s great.)
Over at Cog, writer Ethan Gilsdorf wrote a lovely ode to stepmothers just in time for Mother’s Day.
The author as a high schooler with his stepmother in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, in the 1980s. (Courtesy Ethan Gilsdorf) And at Style Weekly, where I’m also now editing opinion pieces and personal essays, Richmond’s first-ever Director of Transportation, Andy Boenau, wrote about how taking the bus can help make our city safer for pedestrians. (If you’re a Richmonder interested in writing for Style, check out our submission guidelines.)
I haven’t finished listening to this episode of the Ezra Klein Show, which features Silicon Valley’s “favorite prophet” Stewart Brand, but it is so refreshing to hear an octogenarian behind the mic.
“Don’t mix up your operational goals with your strategic ones.” I will think about this piece about handling sibling rivalry (and other thorny parenting issues) for a very long time.
Photos from the Met Gala were everywhere this week, but the best fashion content I’ve seen recently was the Easter Sunday photos for Curbed’s The Look Book.
And, in honor of Mother’s Day, this week’s poem:
Mothers Carrying Things —Rachel Beachy We begin by carrying the car seat, the diaper bag, the pump parts and pacifiers. Then they grow and bring us collected rocks, Lego blocks, remains of snacks, dirty tisssues. All of this, we take in so they will know: whatever you hand to me, I can hanle — no matter how heavy it gets. I once carried my whole world in the crook of my elbow. Theere is nothing I cannot hold for you.
Have a great weekend,
also loving the new Noah Kahan album! Perfect summer road trip vibes