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.
Laverne Cox of Orange is the New Black talks about being a transgender woman, being an advocate, and what people need to learn about trans life.
(The Guardian, approx 13 mins reading time, 27109 words)
Cox was raised with her twin brother – who plays her OITNB character in her pre-transition scenes – by a single mother. She endured relentless homophobic bullying as a child, and has described other children at school calling her names such as “sissy” and “faggot”, as well as being chased home from school. A teacher once informed her mother: “Your son is going to end up in New Orleans in a dress if we don‘t get him in therapy right away.”
2. The real story behind the escaped killers
The story behind the lives of prison escapees Richard Matt and David Sweat – who had difficult childhoods and entered the world of crime early – is told in this fascinating piece.
(New York Times, approx 19 mins reading time, 3858 words)
Interviews with those who knew them from as early as when they were infants and those who put them away, as well as court documents, suggest little about them to admire. Both emerged from splintered families and curdled childhoods, the sort where you burn your own toys or run away on a stolen horse. They went on to compose bent lives, climbing their way up the ladder of crime to get to murder.
3. What the hell is code, anyway?
A long, long, long read about what code is. Great for those of us who really need to learn more.
(Bloomberg, approx 141 mins reading time, 28381 words)
There are lots of other neighborhoods, too: There are people who write code for embedded computers smaller than your thumb. There are people who write the code that runs your TV. There are programmers for everything. They have different cultures, different tribal folklores, that they use to organize their working life. If you told me a systems administrator was taking a juggling class, that would make sense, and I’d expect a product manager to take a trapeze class.
4. An oral history of the heave against Enda Kenny
TheJournal.ie‘s political editor Hugh O’Connell spoke to players and bystanders in the heave against Enda Kenny, giving a brand new in-depth look at what occurred.
(TheJournal.ie, approx 46 mins reading time, 9270 words)
Billy Timmins (Fine Gael TD and foreign affairs spokesperson): “In 2007 we hoped we would make it into government and we didn’t. But there wasn’t any issue with the leader per se. To me it was something that just happened very, very quickly.”John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael senator): “The decision to abolish the Seanad around the time of the presidential dinner [a Fine Gael fundraiser held the previous October] was the genesis, among my circle of senators, of widespread unease.”
Tilda Swinton wanted her teens to attend a great school. But none were good enough – so she joined forces with other parents and helped set one up herself.
(The Guardian, approx 18 mins reading time, 3861 words)
“There’s no grading, no testing at all,” Tilda had explained to me earlier. “My children are now 17, and they will go through this school without any tests at any time, so it’s incredibly art-based, practical learning. For example, they learn their science by building a Canadian canoe, or making a knife, or caramelising onions. And they’re all happy 17-year-olds. I can’t believe it – happy and inspired.”
Should euthanasia be allowed for people who have non-terminal illnesses? That’s what this piece explores.
(New Yorker, approx 44 mins reading time, 8920 words)
Tom immediately drove to the house of the friend, who offered him a drink and then explained that she and her husband had driven Godelieva to the hospital. Tom accused the couple of coöperating with a suicide. They were defensive: they said that it was Godelieva’s choice, and they didn’t want her to have to take a taxi to the hospital alone. Later, they admitted to Tom that in the car Godelieva was chatting and laughing, and they had begun to wonder if they knew her as well as they’d thought.
…AND A CLASSIC FROM THE ARCHIVES…
Everyone loves the original Jurassic Park, and with good reason. Here’s a look at how the film was made.
(Entertainment Weekly, approx 15 mins reading time, 3280 words)
When I saw the triceratops, I couldn’t believe it. Neither could Sam Neill – we were both freaking out. And like Sam does in the movie, we did lay ourselves over the belly and feel the belly moving in and out. I forced my way in, and [the puppeteers] let me go into the belly of the dinosaur and watch them work.
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