Sunday Morning Reading

It’s Sunday morning. So here’s some Sunday Morning Reading to share. There’s no theme. Just a collection of topics and writers that caught my eye and tugged a bit on the heartstrings.

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Chris Welch on The Verge lets us know that Samsung and NYC’s Metropolitan Museum of Art are collaborating and expanding the collection of art that is available to view in your home on Samsung’s Frame TVs. I didn’t know this was a thing. I’m sure some art lovers are glad it is. Would be nice to see this picked up by other museums and Smart TV makers. Check out Samsung Is Bringing Artwork From The Met Museum To Its Frame TVs.

On the politics beat, Susan Glaser pens The Rage of The Toddler Caucus On Capitol Hill. If they title doesn’t tell you what it’s about, you’re not paying attention.

When and why does time matter? Check out Philip Ogley’s The Clock Watcher. Make the time.

What happens if turbulence in the brain’s waves can carve indentations and pathways over time in the same way that water does in stone? Check out Newly Discovered Spirals of Brain Activity May Help Explain Cognition by Shelly Fan.

David Todd McCarty penned an excellent and very personal piece this week about his family coping with drug addiction and its aftermath entitled Bear With Me, I Want To Tell You Something. Beautiful stuff. Tough. Coconuts and plungers.

These are tough times to wade through. Ana Marie Cox says We Are Not Just Polarized. We Are Traumatized. I think she’s correct. And remember, cynicism is a trauma response.

A devilishly good piece by Natasha MH, In Bed With the Devil.

Mark Jacob in Courier Newsroom let’s us in on The Republican Trick To Spin Straw Into Gold. There are no surprises. But we all need to recognize it when it’s happening.

Changing the channel, M.G. Siegler takes a look at the end of the Cable TV bundle in Cable Bites the Dust, and predicts that we’re going to be bundling again as we continue down the path into streaming entertainment consolidation.

And as we head into a week when new iPhones are arriving around the world, finally equipped for USB-C charging, Jay Peters on The Verge writes an almost mournful obituary for the Lightning Connector in Lightning was Great Actually.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here.

Sunday Morning Reading

Celebrating the grandson’s second birthday this weekend but there’s still a bit of Sunday Morning Reading to share. As usual it’s a myriad collection of writing on different topics featuring some history, some politics, some Shakespeare, and some writers with some personal things to share.

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First up are a couple of interesting pieces about Shakespeare. In August Drew Lichtenberg wrote a provoking piece in the New York Times about the latest attempts to cancel Shakespeare in the wake of all of the current nonsense going on in educational and political circles. The title, Cancel Shakespeare, might turn you off. Don’t let it. It’s worth a read for the turn.

In a follow up to that piece, Shakespeare’s ‘Sublimely, Disturbingly Smutty Effect’ Must Endure, Lichtenbeg lists some Shakespearean passages that readers say “got their blood flowing.”

And while I’m sharing pieces on how politicians think banning and banishing books, topics and history can change the future, this Politico piece by James Traub, Virginia Went to War Over History. And Students Actually Came Out on Top is worth considering. This in depth piece is worth hanging on to if we ever come to our senses and someone chronicles this period of insanity for future generations.

And speaking of history, you might not (or might) be sipping some whiskey with your Sunday Morning Reading, but this piece from Jason Willick on What a 1790’s Rebellion Shows About the Campaign to Disqualify Trump takes us back to the Whisky Rebellion. It’s worth considering in light of all the talk about the 14th Amendment disqualifying Trump from holding office again. FWIW I wrote a little something about that here.

And one thing follows another. Nate White, a British writer, delivers a terrific takedown of the orange guy in British Writer Pens The Best Description of Trump I’ve Read.

Jay Rosen is always worth following if you’re interested in what’s going on in journalism. This sketch of a lecture he was going to give in 2013 resurfaced in my feeds and I thought “Old Testatment and New Testatment Journalism” was worth sharing.

And on a somewhat personal note, I’ve contributed a few pieces to a Medium publiciation Ellemeno, thanks to the prodding of David Todd McCarty. The publication hosts some excellent writers with fantastic writing from a personal perspective.

I recommend two such pieces here if you want to get a taste. First up is McCarty’s All On My Own. As he describes it: “The art of being alone without being lonely, or one man’s semi-solitary adventure through time and space.”

Next up is Natasha MH with Why Are You Obssesed With Me? I’m thinking it has something to do with her writing.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here.

Sunday Morning Reading

Summer is inching its way to fall. So here’s some Sunday Morning Reading to share for a long sleepy Labor Day weekend here in the US. Grab some coffee.

Cup of coffee and newspaper

Speaking of sleepy, here’s A Look Into the REM Dreams of the Animal Kingdom from Carolyn Wilke at Ars Technica.

And following that theme, Amanda Gefter explores What Are Dreams For?

There’s lots of words being written about the shaky state of theatre in the US at the moment. (I expect I’ll spill out a few this week.) MIchael Paulson has a good take about the challenges of the subscription model and what that might mean for the industry in Hitting Theater Hard: The Loss of Subscribers Who Went To Everything.

David Todd McCarty takes a look at Why Sports Matter.

Proust. Yeah, that guy. There’s seemingly a Proust for everybody and Adam Gopnik takes a look into what might be the real one in What We Find When We Get Lost in Proust.

ProPublica has a an excellent piece from Cheryl Clark about the crazy challenge you might have if you have to appeal to your health insurance company for a denial of benefits in I Set Out To Create a Simple Map for How To Appeal Your Insurance Denial. Instead, I found a Mind-Boggling Labyrinth. Call it a horror story.

And since my wife and I are celebrating our 23rd Wedding Anniversary this weekend here are two pieces that caught my eye this week.

In The Day The Circus Came to Town Natasha MH isn’t clowning around as she takes along for a very personal story.

Max Meroni takes us on a bride’s One Way Ticket train ride into a voyage of self-discovery.

And if you’re enjoying a cup of coffee with your Sunday Morning Reading don’t toss out the coffee grounds when you’re done. Check out Scientists Discovered How To Make Concrete 30% Strong With Used Coffee Grounds by Joshua Hawkins.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here.

Sunday Morning Reading

Summer is heading towards Fall and we’re on lake time this weekend. So a shorter list of things to share. As usual it’s a potpourri of topics and great writing. Enjoy!

Mug shots were the talk of all the towns this week. David Todd McCarty takes a look at a bit of of mug shot shooting history in The Lost Art of Shooting Criminals.

Always fun to look back on the history of old school Chicago politics. Edward Robert McClelland takes just such a look back as he looks ahead in The Machine Has Given Way to Organizing.

This piece is a real pleasure from Natasha MH. Worth lingering over for more than two minutes. Check out A Two-Minute Pleasure.

In this world where the reliance on facts keeps diminishing Jonathan Taplin takes a look at How Musk, Thiel, Zuckerberg and Andresseen-Four Billionaire Techno-Oligarchs- Are Creating an Autocratic Reality.

And if Autumn is approaching so too is football. David. K. Li takes a look back at the Supreme Court case that changed the game (or rather the money behind the game), in Meet The Man Who Thinks He’s Screwed Up College Football With A Supreme Court Win.

An another harbinger of Fall is the build up and anticipation of new Apple gear. Jason Snell takes yet another look at the never ending debate surrounding the purpose of the iPad in Giving Up The iPad-only Travel Dream.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here.

Sunday Morning Reading

Here’s some Sunday Morning Reading to share. It’s an interesting mix of topics that caught my eye (and prompts a bit of editorializing). Hope something catches yours.

Sundaynewspaper With this being the 25th year anniversary of the iMac, Jason Snell writing for the Verge tells us How The iMac Saved Apple. Well worth your time if, like me, you have any interest in Apple and its hardware.

Work From Home is probably going to be a topic of interest for quite some time as we try to grapple with how we’ve changed since the pandemic began. (Hint: We haven’t come close to understanding how we’ve changed.) Jessica Grose has an intriguing NYTimes piece that takes the discussion a step deeper beyond just where we work but also how long we work in Leaving the Office at 5 Is Not a Moral Failing.

Chris Jones in the Chicago Tribune has an excellent piece called What Happened to Theater in Chicago. Looking at the doldrums we seem to be in following the pandemic, the piece hits many of the issues head on. Except one. High ticket prices. It’s not just Chicago. It’s nationwide.

A great piece of writing from Dorothy Gallagher called My Father’s House reminds us that a house is more than just a home.

And back to Apple stuff for a second, M.G. Siegler takes a look at StandBy for iOS 17, which is looking like one (if not the one) tent pole feature of the new release. If you ask me, if this type of feature, no matter how cool, is where we are with smartphone evolution, we’ve more than reached the end of the curve.

Artificial Intelligence is still the topic of the moment and probably will be for the rest of our lifetimes. Charles Jennings takes a look in a very good article with a title meant to provoke, There’s Only One Way to Control AI: Nationalization. If you ask me, it’s time to provoke and heat up the discussion.

Lisa Weatherby in the NYTimes takes a look at the eye-popping cuts now happening at West Virginia University. If projected decling enrollments suggest cutting programs in the liberal arts and humanities, it sounds like the game to make the world a bit dumber is succeeding.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here.

Sunday Morning Reading

On the road spending time with the grandson this weekend. So I’ll be brief. But these writers and articles are worth spending some time with this Sunday morning. A few of them writing about, well, writing.

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I’ll kick off with a controversial piece by Adam Thirlwell in The Guardian who takes a look back to the French Revolution to perhaps find clues into why we’re writing and expressing ourselves quite so much today. Too much writing? Too much self-examination? Depends on what you call writing if you ask me. Anyhow, check out ‘We’re Gripped by graphomania’: why writing beame an online contagion and how we can contain it. I’m not one for containing any of this. The terrific examples below I think illustrate why.

Baldur Bjarnson is one of the thinkers I’m following when it comes to the topic of AI. He’s written a terrific piece called Authorship, in which he explores what happens when creative work, in this instance he’s using film to illustrate, becomes less about the author and more about the aggregator.

One of my most recent discoveries NatashaMH has written two excellent pieces that I recommend. The first is The Need To Write And The Will to Heal From Our Traumatic Experiences.It’s quite a journey. The second is A Portrait of A Woman and is also more than worth your time. Great stuff.

Natasha tells us this piece by David Todd McCarty, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For inspired her to sketch A Portrait of A Woman. I’ll take her word for it. It damn sure stands on it’s own and sorta makes me hope he never does find it.

Talking at The Texaco is another McCarty piece worth your time. As you read it and you think you know where it’s headed, hang on. You don’t.

So much, too much, of our energy is being taken up with all of the news surrounding the orange buffoon and the shit he’s dragged us all into. It’s worth remembering we’ve been here before. While I’m not a fan of Rich Lowry, this look back at Huey Long is a good reminder. We’ve been here before. Damn shame we’re so good at burying those memories.

And to close this out and look ahead, the Farmer’s Almanac is out with it’s predictions for the winter. If they’re correct, many of us might be bundling up this winter.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here.

Sunday Morning Reading

Back home after a two-week road trip supporting my wife teaching her summer acting camp. Needless to say we’re pooped. The kids were amazing. Regardless, here’s some Sunday Morning Reading to share.

Movies are big news this summer because of a couple of big original ones (Barbie and Oppenheimer), but also because the unions for writers and actors are on strike. James Surowiecki in The Atlantic lands a take on the strike and says Netflix opened the door for this upheaval in A Strike Scripted by Netflix.

One of my favorite writers I’ve recentlly discovered, Natasha MH, pens an incredible review of Barbie entitled The One About Barbie.

And while I’m raving about Natasha MH, take a look at this incredible piece of hers, The Need to Write and The Will to Heal From Our Traumatic Experiences. Excellent.

And since it’s Sunday, I think this piece by Jake Meador called The Misunderstood Reason Millions of Americans Stopped Going to Church is a worthy read. I’m not so sure it’s so misunderstood.

George Dillard in Rome Magazine tackles the orange guy racking up indictments like bowling pins in Trump’s Defense: I’m a Stupid Liar.

I rarely link to pieces I find ridiculous in Sunday Morning Reading. But this one is rarely ridiculous in how the logic turns in on itself and defeats the entire point. David Brooks takes on the what’s happening in American politics and wonders What If We’re The Bad Guys Here? Think of it as comedy.

And to close out this week, here’s an excellent piece by Elizabeth Lopatto in The Verge, What Would The Internet Of People Look Like Now? Hits to how we got to where we are today in this crazy thing called “online.”

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here.

Sunday Morning Reading

Here’s some Sunday Morning Reading to share. From arts in space and on the stage, to booby trapped tombs and age-old pathogens thawing out of the ice, here’s an electic mix of topics that might or might not connect together as we sweat and swelter through the Dog Days of Summer. Enjoy.

The Lunar Codex is an archive of various forms of creativity including contemporary art, poetry, podcasts, film, images, and other Earth bound cultural artifacts that’s on it’s way to the Moon. Headed up by Samuel Peralta it will travel on several rockets and include works of 30,000 artists, writers, musicians, and filmmakers from 157 countries. J.D. Biersdorfer tells us about it in the New York Times.

Back to Earth it seems that archaeologists are afraid to look inside the tomb of China’s first emperor. You know the one guarded by the Terra Cotta army among other things. Apparently it’s not just what might be disturbed by digging or what might be disturbing if they do, but there’s a theory that the place is booby trapped. Sounds very Indiana Jonesish. Tom Hale writes about it in IFLSCIENCE.

The Stage Is Yours according to Natasha MH in this Medium post on Ellemeno. It’s a great piece about arts, artists, dance, theatre, authenticity, and those hidden fears and secrets inside of us all. You know, the ones we choose not to share when we offer ourselves up. Or do we?

The strikes by the actors and writers unions have pointed a spotlight on AI and how that might replace creatives in film, TV and other industries. Studios see financial savings from reduced costs. But maybe they should take a look at Michael Grothaus’ piece in Fast Company as he theorizes that AI might even replace the studios themselves.

In what sounds like science fiction, scientists have woken up a 46,000-year-old roundworm from the Siberian permafrost. Carolyn Y. Johnson in the Washington Post tells us about that. But if tinkering with what many might think should be left alone doesn’t sound John Carpenterish enough for you, we’re also hearing about frozen pathogens that are waking up on their own in cold places that are warming up. (Can you say Climate Change?) Corey J.A. Bradshaw and Giovannie Strona wrote about this in The Conversation and I caught the article from Science Alert.

Ryan Busse is a former gun company exec who is now warning about the dangerous growing radicalization in his former industry. Corey G, Johnson talked to him for this article in ProPublica.

The social media world is certainly in a state of flux given all the damage Elon Musk has done to Twitter and the scramble by others to provide venues that might offer some of what Twitter used to be before it was X-ed out. Craig Grannell has a great piece called X Marks the Rot. Don’t Buy Into Elon Musk’s Lifelong Crusade.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here.

Sunday Morning Reading

On the road this weekend, so this edition of Sunday Morning Reading will be a little brief. There’s always something to share though.

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On the Artificial Intelligence beat, Catherine Thorbecke at CNN reports that AI might not be quite the time saving boon some have promised. Imagine that.

Who knew Country Music would get embroiled in the so-called “Culture Wars.” Well, unless you haven’t been paying attention, just about everybody. Because hey, just about everything gets caught up at one time or the other. Emily Nussbaum has a terrific long read in Country Music’s Culture Wars And The Remaking of Nashville. FYI: No mention of some guy not born in a small town but singing as if he was.

If you’re looking for a collection of good writers and good writing you won’t go wrong with Ellemeno Magazine on Medium. Some top notch and provactive stuff going on there. Because there’s so much quality writing, I don’t feel so guilty for not recommending more this selections this Sunday.

If you’re interseted in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here.