Culture/Politics: Harper’s Magazine — May 2023 Issue

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Harper’s Magazine – May 2023 issue: @laurenoyler goes on the @goop cruise; @harikunzru and @erikmbaker on the real “crisis of work; A person history of panic; Losing a father and finding Stoicism; New fiction by Cynthia Ozick and more..

The Age of the Crisis of Work

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What is the sound of quiet quitting?

Something has gone wrong with work. On this, everyone seems to agree. Less clear is the precise nature of the problem, let alone who or what is to blame. For some time we’ve been told that we’re in the midst of a Great Resignation. Workers are quitting their jobs en masse, repudiating not just their bosses but ambition itself—even the very idea of work.

The Anatomy of Panic

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A personal history of anxiety

I had my first panic attack when I was fifteen, in the middle of January, while I was sitting in geometry class. Winter in Illinois, flesh comes off the bones—what did we need geometry for? We could look at the naked angles of the trees, the circles in the sky at night. 

Island Views: Mamoudzou – Capital Of Mayotte (5K)

Uploaded April 17, 2023: Mamoudzou is the coastal capital city of the French overseas region of Mayotte, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean. Boats dot its harbor, and the nearby Marché Couvert sells fresh produce and handicrafts.

Local landmarks include Mtsapéré Mosque, with its white minaret, and the 1957 Notre-Dame de Fatima church. Nearby beaches include Trévani, to the north, and the small Plage du Phare, to the south.

Filmed and edited by: One Man Wolf Pack

Art Exhibition: ‘Grace Wright – Deep Symmetry’ Yavuz Gallery, Singapore

Grace Wright, Night In The Old World, 2023, 

YUVUZ GALLERY, SingaporeDeep Symmetry is New Zealand-artist Grace Wright’s first solo exhibition in Asia.

Grace Wright – Deep Symmetry

15 April – 28 May 2023

Grace Wright’s atmospheric paintings are all-consuming, inviting the viewer into a baroque world of tangled gestures. Markings on the canvas twist and convulse about themselves to build an anarchic structure before unravelling to moments of repose. While Wright’s gestures may be abstract, she views her paintings as representational narratives, evoking the tempestuous rhythm of the natural world, while alluding to 17th-century religious paintings.

Grace Wright, World Receivers, 2023

Deep Symmetry explores a recent evolution of Wright’s practice as a result of her time in Europe in the latter half of 2022. Its title was inspired by the architectural geometries of the Sainte Chapelle in Paris, France, and a quote by writer Karl Ove Knausgaard: “Life is irregularity, death is geometry”.

Wright has been long fascinated with the deeper, universal connections that exist beyond our normal comprehension. Marrying alluring, harmonious colour with visceral imagery to monumental standing, Wright’s paintings are a reflection of this deep connectedness; her coiling energetic brush marks echoing the universal ‘rhythmic, cyclical nature’ forms in our world, to emotion and the force of life itself.

Previews: The New Yorker Magazine – April 24, 2023

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The New Yorker – April 24 & May 1, 2023 issue:

JooHee Yoon’s “Drawing Hands with A.I. (After M. C. Escher)”

A hand drawn on a piece of paper rises off the page and draws another hand on the piece of paper which in turn draws the...

The artist discusses artistry, artificial intelligence, and the human experience.

Chatbots and image generators, newly on the rise, have sparked our imaginations—and our fears. As artificial-intelligence machines sharpen their ability to translate written prompts into images that accurately capture both style and substance, some visual artists worry that their specialized skills might be rendered irrelevant.

“Drawing Hands,” M. C. Escher, 1948.

The Future of Fertility

A futuristic scene of metallic DNA strands which wrap around a central petri dish containing a human ovum.

A new crop of biotech startups want to revolutionize human reproduction.

In 2016, two Japanese reproductive biologists, Katsuhiko Hayashi and Mitinori Saitou, made an announcement in the journal Nature that read like a science-fiction novel. The researchers had taken skin cells from the tip of a mouse’s tail, reprogrammed them into stem cells, and then turned those stem cells into egg cells. 

Crooks’ Mistaken Bet on Encrypted Phones

A group of four men sit around a table piled with cocaine. They are illuminated by the light of a cell phone hovering...

Drug syndicates and other criminal groups bought into the idea that a new kind of phone network couldn’t be infiltrated by cops. They were wrong—big time.

Many criminals have been convicted as a result of encrypted-phone stings—more than four hundred in the U.K. alone.Illustration by Max Löffler

Travel: A Tour Of Bellagio, Lake Como, Switzerland

The Traveler (Uploaded April 17, 2023) – Bellagio is a village on a promontory jutting out into Lake Como, in Italy. It’s known for its cobbled lanes, elegant buildings and Villa Serbelloni Park, an 18th-century terraced garden with lake views.

Nearby are the Tower of the Arts, a venue for exhibitions and performances, and the Romanesque San Giacomo Church. Close to rocky Loppia Beach, the Museum of Navigational Instruments displays sundials and compasses.

News: U.S. ‘Intel Leaks’ May Benefit Ukraine, Thailand Elections, French Unrest

The Globalist, April 17, 2023: Ukraine after the leaks – an update on the mood and movements in the country over the weekend. Plus: a lookahead to the Thai elections, more unrest in France and our first coverage from this year’s Salone del Mobile.

Front Page: The New York Times — April 17, 2023

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Sudan Fears ‘Ghost of Civil War’ as Explosions Rock Capital

The Khartoum International Airport in Sudan on Sunday.
CREDITPLANET LABS, VIA AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES

The civilian death toll is climbing and concern over a broader conflict is growing as rival generals vie for control of Africa’s third-largest country.

Two Children, a Burst of Gunfire and the Year That Came After

When a gunman opened fire in two classrooms in Uvalde, Texas, 19 children died. Two fourth graders wounded in the massacre are still trying to recover.

Google Devising Radical Search Changes to Beat Back A.I. Rivals

The tech giant is sprinting to protect its core business with a flurry of projects, including updates to its search engine and plans for an all-new one.

When Freezing Sperm Makes a Patriotic Statement

Some Ukrainian soldiers are trying to ensure that even if they die in the war, their partners can still build families. They also want to send Russia a message of defiance.