You should read this for 1/27/2019:
Art and Film
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the History of Dance, Gender, and American Identity
But while many in the media celebrated the sight of a youthful Ocasio-Cortez and her Boston University pals dancing together, missing from these conversations was an appreciation of the role that dancing bodies have long played in American political life.
Books, Writing, and Language
I’ve been reading and enjoying the Phryne Fisher murder mysteries by Australian writer Kerry Greenwood. They’re fun well-written well-researched historic post World War I mysteries set in Australia (mostly) featuring a female detective who has been favorably compared to a feminist Lord Peter Wimsey (Dorothy Sayers).
Education
Who Wants to Be a College President?
Food and Drink
Via Wirecutter: Everything You Need to Start Baking Bread
History and Archaeology
What I’m Reading: An Interview With Historian Stacy D. Fahrenthold
A Tyrant’s Temper Tantrum
King Charles I of England, frustrated at the limitations of his otherwise powerful position, decided to dissolve Parliament in March of 1629 and to clap several of the opposition’s leaders in irons. The monarch had come to an impasse over issues as lofty as religious conformity and as mundane as the regulations concerning tonnage, eventually finding it easier to simply dissolve the gathering than to negotiate with them. Historian Michael Braddick explains that the “King was not willing to assent to necessary measures” in governance, and that Charles was intent on “upholding his right to withhold consent” as he saw it, believing that “without that power he was no longer a king in a meaningful sense.” Charles was a committed partisan of the divine right of kings, truly believing himself to be ennobled to rule by fiat, and regarding legislators as at best an annoyance, and at worst as actively contravening the rule of God.
Science and Nature
An Indian researcher uncovered why some lizards have stripes and others don’t
Gemologist Finds Insect Trapped in Opal Instead of Amber
Society
Socially conscious investing has quadrupled in the past decade
In short, what constitutes socially responsible investing is often in the eye of the beholder. Acceptable criteria is subjective and broad, spanning the gamut of investors’ personal values. But stringency may be an effective insurance policy in the long run: environmental or governance disasters often come with high associated losses—not least in terms of public relations.
Atlantic Readers Respond to Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘Letter From Birmingham Jail’ “In the August 1963 issue, The Atlantic published King’s famous letter under the title “The Negro Is Your Brother.” Readers’ responses were largely positive.”
H/T Jeff Carlson: This Seattle concierge has secrets he won’t tell
Technology
Via Stephen Hackett of RelayFM and 512Pixels: Twitter is Over
I like my little community on Twitter, but I know it is a hellscape of abuse for many. I use it to promote my work and to talk with my audience, but every time I open my replies, I brace myself for something terrible to be there, waiting for me to see it.
Digital detoxes are a solution looking for a problem
Research often tends to treat all technology use as equal. This assumption overlooks the fact that we have a different experience with each kind of technology we use. For example, mindlessly scrolling Instagram is very different to chatting on WhatsApp, or using a fitness tracker.
Women’s Work
The night I was mistaken for a call girl
They had relegated me to the corner by the loos simply because I was an unaccompanied woman.
Via Alison Smith for Granta: Her Left Hand, The Darkness
H/T Bronwen: The two Lucys: Kiwi botanists in their brothers’ shorts “Two trailblazing women, both called Lucy, explored some of New Zealand’s most remote places in the name of botanical knowledge.”
California’s new surgeon general changed the way we understand childhood trauma
Years of treating underprivileged kids in Bayview-Hunters Point, one of San Francisco’s poorest neighborhoods, had shown her that the kids with the most severe history of trauma often exhibited the worst symptoms.
That realization would lead her to change the way she treated patients—and to become one of the chief advocates in the US medical community about how screening kids for early adversity can help them become healthier adults.
💩🔥💰 Trumpery 💩🔥💰
Via Medium: Vicky Alvear Shecter What Happened When a Trump Supporter Challenged Me About the Wall
The US bought $108,000 worth of ammunition to fend off an unarmed migrant caravan
There’s More Here Than People Realize
With Michael Cohen’s decision to postpone his testimony before Congress, people are starting to focus on President Trump’s repeated attacks on Cohen’s unnamed “father-in-law”. It is outrageous that a sitting President would repeatedly threaten anyone with legal action, especially in a case when it is done with the intention of squelching testimony against him. But this isn’t just out of the blue character assassination.
Pay It Forward and Make It Better
Librarian Honors a Dying Tree by Turning It Into a Little Free Library
H/T Lisa Carnell: How to assist federal workers impacted by the shutdown
Hundreds of thousands of government employees — many still required to come into work — are turning to food banks and other programs to make ends meet.
The national park system, airports, and even the space program have all been impacted. Meanwhile, average citizens are stepping up to help those in government service who are not getting paid. They are also volunteering to take care of national institutions that ordinarily rely on government employees.
There are many opportunities for you to make a difference.
Half a million rank-and-file Marriott employees are now watching for sex traffickers
