Monocle Magazine (July/August 2023 issue) – Monocle’s annual Quality of Life Survey puts the world’s best cities through their paces and profiles the urban centres on the up.
We also get set for summer by gardening in Hiroshima, dining in Marseille and dancing in Mexico City. Plus: how Bratislava’s bass-playing, architect mayor is helping the city to find its groove.
Smithsonian Magazine – July/August Issue: American Tapestries- Three artists creating bold new versions of a cherished art form; In search of Willa Cather; Archaeology of the world’s oldest village, and more…
Arresting portraits, now a part of the Smithsonian collections, illuminate the little-known role these artists played in chronicling 19th-century life
“Before daguerreotypes, if you wanted a portrait made, you commissioned a painter,” says John Jacob, SAAM’s director of photography, as we study Rhoda’s portrait. “Photography democratized portraiture because it was significantly cheaper. But until we acquired these images, we weren’t able to show in our collection that African Americans were part of this process, as photographers and subjects, and also as entrepreneurs and innovators, experimenting with the latest technology and investing in it.”
Harper’s Magazine – July 2023 issue: The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Wokeness by Ian Buruma; Jackson Lears on Nuclear Insouciance and The World of Homemade Submarines…
Writing about “Woke” has at least two pitfalls. One is that any criticism of its excesses provokes accusations of racism, xenophobia, transphobia, misogyny, or white supremacy. The other problem is the word itself, which has been a term of abuse employed by the far right, a battle cry for the progressive left, and an embarrassment to many liberals.
National Geographic Traveller Magazine (July/August 2023): The issue features the best-value safaris available, an off-road journey in Bolivia, three Camino de Santiago itineraries and a weekend in Czech Republic’s South Moravia.
This issue also comes with a free UK & Ireland guide — featuring 52 short breaks around Britain and Ireland, whether it’s cycling in the Peak District or exploring Edinburgh’s finest wine bars.
Also inside this issue:
Bolivia: An off-road take on the classic journey from the Atacama Desert to the Uyuni Salt Flat. Florida: The show must go on in the Sunshine State, be it the Everglades or tropical Keys. Sardinia: Hiking trails, colourful townsand resilient communities from coast to mountains. Camino de Santiago: Retrace ancient pilgrim paths. Jaipur: Art is all around you in Rajasthan’s largest city. Perth: The capital of Western Australia beckons with revitalised public spaces. South Moravia: Germanic villages, ancient forests and wine cellars in the Czech Republic’s south east. Belém: Long overlooked as a culinary destination, this Brazilian city puts the spotlight on Amazonian ingredients. Bali: Where to stay on this popular Indonesian island.
THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE (June 16, 2023) – Three young Iranian women share their diaries; plus, a profile of the YouTube superstar MrBeast; and inside the moral crisis of America’s doctors.
The corporatization of health care has changed the practice of medicine, causing many physicians to feel alienated from their work.
By Eyal Press
Some years ago, a psychiatrist named Wendy Dean read an article about a physician who died by suicide. Such deaths were distressingly common, she discovered. The suicide rate among doctors appeared to be even higher than the rate among active military members, a notion that startled Dean, who was then working as an administrator at a U.S. Army medical research center in Maryland. Dean started asking the physicians she knew how they felt about their jobs, and many of them confided that they were struggling. Some complained that they didn’t have enough time to talk to their patients because they were too busy filling out electronic medical records.
Jimmy Donaldson, a.k.a. MrBeast, has become a viral sensation for his absurd acts of altruism. Why do so many people think he’s evil?
Even within this context, Donaldson stands out for his dedication to understanding how YouTube works. For most of his teenage years, “I woke up, I studied YouTube, I studied videos, I studied filmmaking, I went to bed and that was my life,” Donaldson once told Bloomberg. “I hardly had any friends because I was so obsessed with YouTube,” he said on “The Joe Rogan Experience” last year.
More than a week has passed since the collapse of the Kakhovka dam in Ukraine. Only as the flood waters begin to recede is the long-term scale of the disaster becoming apparent.
With suspicion (though not yet, according to western capitals, conclusive proof) falling on Moscow, Dan Sabbagh, Artem Mazhulin and Julian Borger report on a human and environmental catastrophe, and what it might mean for Ukraine’s counteroffensive plans against Russia.
And amid reports of disunity among Moscow’s ruling elite, Shaun Walker went along to a gathering of exiled influential Russians who are once again daring to dream of an end to Vladimir Putin’s rule.
SISYPHUS MAGAZINE (SPRING 2023) – This issue explores the theories in society that subjectify truth, the influence of social media, philosophical pragmatism, the generational representations of societal ideals, the environmental impact of governmental and private sector choices, the factions of progressive arguments, and the evolution of Sisyphus.
In modern society, it’s difficult to discern what’s real and what’s not in news media’s contemporary platforms and discussions.
Truth is difficult to define but having a correct theory or definition is not the problem. We all know many truths and untruths, without knowing what philosophers have said, and without knowing that many still disagree with each other.
Once lost, the laws might be derived again When necessary, or so you’ve been told. You’re half asleep in January sun. Just out of sight, someone starts bugging you And Steller’s jays. Green hills, blue weather, — noon To bring out Panpipes, but it’s too damn cold.
Both Adam Smith and Karl Marx believed in progress.
The question, therefore, is what do we mean by progress? How do we understand it? How does it operate? How does progress correspond with progressivism? These questions have become important because progressivism has encountered an internal impasse. It has become mired in internal conflict.
THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE (June 09, 2023) – Inside the $4-billion credit repair industry. Plus, the mycologist who wants us to learn about the magic of mushrooms and the cringe comedian perfect for this moment.
Taqwanna Clark, a credit-repair agent in Houston and the founder of Credit Lift Inc.Credit…Eli Durst for The New York Times
Desperate to improve their ratings, Americans now spend billions on “credit repair” — but the industry often can’t deliver on its promises.
By Mya Frazier
When Taqwanna Clark went to buy a video camera at Fry’s Electronics in Houston, she asked if they had a layaway plan. The cashier instead handed her an application for a store credit card. She applied. “Instantly, it came back declined — like, No!” she says. “Denied, denied — you know, your credit is not good enough.” Clark was 30 and working as a security guard at the Port of Houston. On weekends, she performed as a rapper in the local club scene, under the name T-Baby. She wanted the camera to shoot music videos, to promote her music career. “If I can’t afford a $200 camera,” she recalls thinking, “then I’m in a bad way with this credit thing.”
Merlin Sheldrake, author of the best-selling book “Entangled Life.”
A vast fungal web braids together life on Earth. Merlin Sheldrake wants to help us see it.
By Jennifer Kahn
One evening last winter, Merlin Sheldrake, the mycologist and author of the best-selling book “Entangled Life,” was headlining an event in London’s Soho. The night was billed as a “salon,” and the crowd, which included the novelist Edward St. Aubyn, was elegant and arty, with lots of leggy women in black tights and men in perfectly draped camel’s-hair coats. “Entangled Life” is a scientific study of all things fungal that reads like a fairy tale, and since the book’s publication in 2020, Sheldrake has become a coveted speaker.
This minor fact is one of the major things I learned at my very awkward dinner interview with Robinson and Zach Kanin, creators of the cult Netflix comedy series “I Think You Should Leave.” Robinson ordered drunken spaghetti with tofu — spicy — and, almost immediately, the spaghetti started to make his voice hoarse. He insisted, however, that this had nothing to do with the spice — in fact, he said, his food wasn’t spicy enough. I asked our server if she could go spicier. She brought out a whole dish of special chiles. Robinson spooned them enthusiastically over his noodles.
News, Views and Reviews For The Intellectually Curious
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National Geographic Traveller Magazine (July/August 2023): The issue features the best-value safaris available, an off-road journey in Bolivia, three Camino de Santiago itineraries and a weekend in Czech Republic’s South Moravia.
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