Tag Archives: Culture & Society

Culture & Tradition: The Beekeepers Of Slovenia

UNESCO – In Slovenia, beekeeping is a way of life for many individuals, families and communities, who obtain bee products for food and traditional medicine and use their knowledge and skills to care for the honeybees and the environment.

Communities express a loving and respectful attitude towards bees, and the knowledge, skills and practices relating to their keeping are shaped by centuries of tradition and transmitted from generation to generation. Beekeepers view their bees as teachers and friends. They expand their knowledge and skills through constant research.

Preview: The New Yorker Magazine – Dec 5, 2022

Coney Island.

The New Yorker – December 5, 2022 issue:

Yam Karkai’s Illustrations Made Her an N.F.T. Sensation. Now What?

The illustrator Yam Karkai sits in a chair.

World of Women confronts the limits of selling cartoon avatars on the blockchain after the crypto bubble burst.

Is Mick Herron the Best Spy Novelist of His Generation?

Portrait of Mick Herron with his head in the room, alongside a smaller version of him sitting in a chair.

In his “Slough House” thrillers, the screw-ups save the day—and there’s a very fine line between comedy and catastrophe.

How Hospice Became a For-Profit Hustle

A hospice room wrapped in the middle of string tied by 2 large hands.

It began as a visionary notion—that patients could die with dignity at home. Now it’s a twenty-two-billion-dollar industry plagued by exploitation.

Preview: New York Times Magazine – Nov 27, 2022

Current cover

November 27, 2022: In this issue, Jesse Barron on the San Francisco judge whose ruling in juvenile court came back to haunt him; Caity Weaver on her stay in the “world’s quietest room”; Jon Mooallem on the director Noah Baumbach and his new movie, “White Noise”; and more.

The Judge and the Case That Came Back to Haunt Him

In 1981, Anthony Kline helped send a juvenile offender to prison for four decades. This year, in a twist of fate, he had a chance to decide her case again.

How Noah Baumbach Made ‘White Noise’ a Disaster Movie for Our Moment

When the world shut down in 2020, the filmmaker found solace in Don DeLillo’s supposedly unadaptable novel — and turned it into a film that speaks to our deepest fears.

Could I Survive the ‘Quietest Place on Earth’?

Legends tell of an echoless chamber in an old Minneapolis recording studio that drives visitors insane. I figured I’d give it a whirl.

Qatar: Inside The Emirate’s Culture & Traditions (DW)

On the surface, Qatar is a dazzling and colorful Arab country, home to sheikhs and big business. But migrant workers without Qatari citizenship make up nearly 90% of Qatar’s total population – the highest such rate in the world.

Anyone traveling to Qatar arrives with plenty of prejudices: that it is a corrupt, filthy-rich emirate full of forced laborers who have no rights; that it is home to businessmen whose practices are, at best, questionable. But for the Qataris themselves, and the millions of guest workers from all over the world who live there, the picture is more nuanced.

Yes, Qatar is a dictatorship with an emir who enjoys almost unlimited power. But at the same time, Qatar is remarkably open and progressive. The emirate is tiny, and yet tremendously fascinating – with its vast desert landscapes, its bizarrely-shaped mountains and its picturesque sandy beaches.

Preview: The New Yorker Magazine – Nov 28, 2022

Hokusai's Great Wave looms over the New York City skyline.

The New Yorker – November 28, 2022 issue:

Journey to the Doomsday Glacier

Two people looking out at a layer of ice from the inside of a helicopter.

Thwaites could reshape the world’s coastlines. But how do you study one of the world’s most inaccessible places?

Climate Change from A to Z

An animated series of drawings showing different effects of climate change.

The stories we tell ourselves about the future.

An Alaskan Town Is Losing Ground—and a Way of Life

For low-lying islands like Kivalina, climate change poses an existential threat.

THE BLADE RUNNERS POWERING A WIND FARM

In West Virginia, a crew of five watches over twenty-three giant turbines.

Perspectives: Harper’s Magazine – December 2022

Image

Harper’s Magazine, December 2022 – Should we be Rooting for the Apocalypse? Rachel Kushner on Timothée Chalamet’s Cannibal Turn Sasha Frere-Jones Searches for Perfect Sound A Christmas Story by Kate DiCamillo And More.

Apocalypse Nowish

The sense of an ending

READINGS

You Talkin’ to Me?

by Meghan O’Gieblyn

Martha Stewart Living

by Martha StewartChelsea Handler

His Folk Nation

by Darryl Pinckney

No Times Like the Present

A Forest of Berlin

by Brenda Coultas

Preview: The New Yorker Magazine – Nov 21, 2022

Disappointed elephant standing on red surf board.

The New Yorker Magazine – In the weeks leading up to the 2022 midterms, many pundits predicted that a “red wave” of Republican victories would sweep across the country. There was precedent for this: historically, the President’s party tends to lose seats in midterm contests. Republicans picked up some seats, but this year’s returns showed a much more even match than many had been expecting. With votes still being counted, it seems that the G.O.P. will most likely eke out a narrow majority in the House, and control of the Senate may not be decided for weeks. Whatever you call the over-all result in the country’s close political battles, it didn’t quite amount to a wave.

For the cover of the November 21, 2022, issue, the cartoonist Barry Blitt followed a long tradition and chose an animal to represent reality metaphorically: “The chance to draw an elephant—especially one on a surfboard—is irresistible for a cartoonist, but I can’t help thinking how counterintuitive it is to represent the G.O.P. in its current form with such a dignified, graceful, sensitive-seeming beast.”

Views: The New York Times Magazine – Nov 6, 2022

Inside the 11.6.22 Issue:

The Democrats’ Last Stand in Wisconsin

With the G.O.P. in control of a majority of statehouses, Democrats are fighting for seats in battleground states. Is it too late?

The Untold Story of ‘Russiagate’ and the Road to War in Ukraine

Russia’s meddling in Trump-era politics was more directly connected to the current war than previously understood.

A Championship Season in Mariachi Country

Every year along the Texas border, high school teams battle it out in one of the nation’s most intense championship rivalries. But they’re not playing football.

Previews: The New Yorker Magazine – Nov 7, 2022

Person sweeping sidewalk of dry leaves and medical masks.

Inside the The New Yorker Magazine, November 7, 2022:

How Election Subversion Went Mainstream in Pennsylvania

Doug Mastriano grilling on a voting booth.

In the state’s midterms—which could determine the balance of the Senate and the integrity of the Presidential race in 2024—Democrats are fighting for the vote. Republicans are fighting to undermine it.

Was Jack Welch the Greatest C.E.O. of His Day—or the Worst?

As the head of General Electric, he fired people in vast numbers and turned the manufacturing behemoth into a financial house of cards. Why was he so revered?

Is the Multiverse Where Originality Goes to Die?

A person reading a book in a colorful room full of cultural references from different shows about the multiverse.

The concept helps entertainment companies like Marvel Studios recycle old characters—but it can also unlock new kinds of storytelling.

Views: The New York Times Magazine – Oct 30, 2022

Image

Beyond Catastrophe – A New Climate Reality Is Coming Into View

There’s plenty of bad news. But thanks to real progress, we’re headed toward a less apocalyptic future.

The Try Guys and the Prison of Online Fame

This is what success looks like in the creator economy: Sometimes you have to beg millions of fans for mercy.