IT’S A DAY of rest, and you may be in the mood for a quiet corner and a comfy chair.
We’ve hand-picked the week’s best reads for you to savour.
Are you a summer-lover, or do you find it uncomfortable and annoying?
(The Guardian, approx 7 mins reading time)
But today I know I am not alone in my aversion to everything that comes this season – hay fever, paralysing heat, climate-crisis anxiety, the fatigue and depression of summer Sad (seasonal affective disorder), even just the pressure to be happy. “It’s never just summer, it’s ‘Summer!’: the time when you’re expected to be out every evening and weekend,” says Chris Haigh, 31, from Leeds. He compares it to another high-pressure chunk of the year: “It’s Christmas on hard mode, because even Christmas only really lasts a day, whereas summer is all-encompassing for months.”
An interview with Paddy Considine about his new role in the upcoming Game of Thrones prequel, House of the Dragon.
(New York Times, approx 14 mins reading time)
Over a two-decade career in film, TV and the occasional blockbuster play, Considine has thrived within that difference. He has crafted performances that demand to be seen, partly because they forgo performative pyrotechnics in favor of a palpable, at times unsettling sense of the real. The fact that he hasn’t had what you might call a signature role hasn’t kept him from becoming many British actors’ favorite actor. “I just believe him,” said Olivia Colman, a longtime admirer. “You sort of look into his eyes, and he’s feeling it all, and he means it all.”
3. Making the most of your time on earth
End-of-life doula Rachel Friedman on what she’s learned doing her training to help people through the process of dying.
(Vox, approx 8 mins reading time)
The next time you’re having a conversation with someone who is sharing important information or struggling in some way, you might try it. Ask open-ended questions. “How are you feeling about X?” “Do you want to talk more about Y?” Give their answers space and silence to settle. Reflect back what you think you’ve heard. Be open to being wrong about what you think you’ve heard. Be supportive, but don’t try to fix the situation with advice or talk them out of what they are feeling. Avoid platitudes like “give it time” or “it wasn’t meant to be.”
Caitlin Dickerson investigates the US Government’s history of family separation.
(The Atlantic, approx 106 mins reading time)
Mateo Salazar, a Bethany therapist, went to his office in the middle of the night to meet a newly arrived 5-year-old Honduran girl. At first, the girl was stoic, but when the transportation-company employees started to leave, the girl ran after them, banging on the glass doors and crying as she fell to the ground. Salazar sat with her for two hours until she was calm enough to explain that her mother had made her promise—as Border Patrol agents were pulling them apart—to stay with the adults who took her no matter what, because they would keep her safe.
A look at why some parents are spending more time in jail than the people who abused their children – all because of ‘failure to protect’ laws.
(Mother Jones, approx 38 mins reading time)
Less than a week later, King was sitting inside in her pajamas when a police car pulled up to her house around 11 a.m. Two white officers asked her to come with them for an interview. “I didn’t want him to hurt my baby,” she told them. “I was trying to prevent this.” But the officers didn’t buy it. They wanted to know why King waited so long without seeking help for her daughter. Why had she held Lilah down for the beating? Why didn’t she call 911?
6. The cultural dominance of Elon Musk
Could Elon Musk find himself even more culturally dominant after his battle with Twitter comes to an end?
(Intelligencer, approx 12 mins reading time)
Whether Musk was making dubious claims about his company’s production capabilities (“1000 solar roofs/week by end of this year”), applying reverse psychology (“Tesla stock price is too high imo”), or hyping other meme stocks on the side (“Gamestonk!!”), Tesla’s stock went up — first by a little and then, during the pandemic, by a lot. His followers spent their stimulus checks on Tesla shares, then they discovered the options market, magnifying the gains. In late 2021, Musk’s net worth touched $315 billion, prompting Forbes to declare him the richest person who had ever lived.
…AND ONE FROM THE ARCHIVES…
This 2021 article about a freediver is a written and audiovisual feast.
(On Just One Breath, approx 32 mins reading time)
Our bodies are slightly less dense than water, so we float near the surface and need to kick hard to dive down. But the deeper we go, the more the water above squeezes us. As the pressure increases, so does our density. Eventually, it becomes too much, and we start to sink like a stone. There’s no need to kick. Gravity takes us — we’re in free fall. Alenka surrenders to the pressure, and it’s the most amazing feeling. As she descends, she is nowhere but in the present moment, and nothing above the service of the water — not even her own identity — exists. She is alone, but she feels connected to everything. I am falling to the center of the universe, she thinks. This must be what flying feels like.
Note: The Journal generally selects stories that are not paywalled, but some might not be accessible if you have exceeded your free article limit on the site in question.
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