Hello reader! I come to you again on a Wednesday, and I’ve been writing this issue at express pace because I have some work travel early tomorrow morning. I have been highly efficient with my domestic tasks today and that truly gives me no end of joy. I’ve been late to the mango-loving party this summer, but boy am I digging in now. I also plan some mango-related ferments soon (in addition to the aam kaasundi I’ve been making and eating and gifting all summer).
So! I will go and pack my suitcase and put all the drying dishes in their right places and make sure everything is all set. To be honest, one of the most unpleasant parts of living alone is the sheer number of times I have to “pack up” the house. Anyhow… I will be back soon this time at least.
Enjoy this week’s list! I think it’s a good one. And if you did, please tell me by replying to this email :) I’d love that.
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1. What We Search For (Alpinist Magazine):
Absolutely heart-wrenching story of the effort to find Matthew Greene, who was lost in the Sierra mountains of California, USA. The author, Jason Nark, weaves this story with his own, where he tries to pay off debt in the “cosmic ledger” related to the death by suicide of one of his best friends.
2. Vigilantes for views: The YouTube pranksters harassing suspected scam callers in India (Rest of World):
Just wow. Also the world of internet media never ceases to amaze me.
3. Ways to weigh a neutrino (Symmetry Magazine):
I do miss being a physicist, and much to my surprise, I am coming back to liking these popular science articles explaining research progress (I didn’t like them earlier). Measuring the mass of a neutrino is hard! And people are doing it in clever ways.
4. The women who are reclaiming Warli art (Scroll):
Warli art is one of the most iconic indigenous art forms in India at the moment, which is a good thing. However, as it rose in prominence, it sidelined many of its community-focused activities as well as its common practitioners. This is a story about that.
5. Concrete Built The Modern World. Now It’s Destroying It. (Noema Magazine):
I really liked this article, because it’s not all pessimism. It describes some of the shortcomings of modern concrete, but also showcases some ways in which concrete can be made more sustainable and long-lasting. It’s very fascinating, and lest we forget, we’ve reached a stage where human-made materials weigh more than all life on earth. It’s a lot.
6. The Genius of Lionel Messi Just Walking Around (The New Yorker):
I suppose I’m a few months too late with this article considering the FIFA World Cup ended a long time ago, but here we are anyway.
7. Art is Not Therapy (Quilette):
Wow, I’m sharing something from Quilette. It’s still a good one! This essay talks about two movies which are often touted as cathartic, healing generational trauma, and as effective as a therapy session: Everything Everywhere All at Once (which I have watched) and Turning Red (which I have not). It makes lots of good points. This is the final paragraph of the essay:
At its best, art can acknowledge the universally tragic nature of life, which defies simple logic. Our approach to culture should account for rigor and complexity, not defer to trite solutionism. Creators, critics, and audiences must refuse rather than absorb the frictionless language and myopic scope of contemporary mental wellness. We should recall catharsis in its fullest sense—the expurgation of pity and awe, the plumbing of the subconscious’s deepest recesses—to recover art’s value from the merely therapeutic.
8. How to Read English in India (LA Review of Books):
To be honest, I read this a few months ago, so I don’t even know what to write here! But a good essay about the role that English plays as a mark of legitimacy, as a way of climbing the social ladder, as a way of facilitating “quality” education, especially in India, is worth reading.
9. What Is To Be Done? (The Convivial Society):
Another gem from LM Sacasas. I’ve shared a bunch of essays from his newsletter in the past, this is a slightly different one, as it has a bunch of loosely connected thoughts and paragraphs in a list rather than a long essay. This is point no. 5:
I find it helpful to think about my choices with regards to technology as falling into three general possibilities: embrace, negotiation, refusal. More often than not we ought to be negotiating. There are occasions to either embrace or refuse technologies, depending, of course, on our situation and our aspirations, but in neither case should we do so thoughtlessly.
10. Muleskinner (The Bitter Southerner):
Lovely photo essay about muleskinners, the term used for mule drivers.
Later, alligator or While, crocodile , whatever suits your boat. See you ne