Writing I admire

33.   The southern gap:  In the American South, an oligarchy of planters enriched itself through slavery.  Pervasive underdevelopment is their legacy , by Keri Leigh Merritt and published by  * aeon , April 2, 2024.   Linked by Conor Friedersdorf for his weekly Recommended Reading Sunday, April 7, 2024 newsletter. I think most people have noted the imbalance of wealth in the South of the country from that of the North and West.  We've read it in books like Gone With the Wind and To Kill A Mockingbird and in present day writing like The Warmth of Other Suns .  These are examples that I can recall easily.  Many will name other literary examples.  We know it from movies; as in one of my favorite movies ever,  Sounder .  We know it from radio stories such as NPR's Story Corps with Francine Anderson's poignant and revealing  childhood story , television and from our own visits to the south. This essay is a clear and bracing e...

Update 05/06/2024:   I spent the morning with a good friend who is a professor and associate dean at a major public university in the U.S.  I had wanted to ask him about his thoughts on the Palestinian/Israeli campus protests.  He was trapped in my car for an hour while we drove home from our morning destination and it was a good opportunity.  I commented that I had read the essay posted below and he responded that he, too, had read it.  For some reason I was surprised.  I shouldn't have been; he and his wife are the most well-read people I know, by far.  He did not like the essay, thought is was one-sided and biased and further stated that he does not know why the Atlantic published this college sophomore's essay.  Overall, my friend feels that the reporting on campus protests has been distorted and falsified with the agendas of the reporting sources being given priority.  He supported his claim with much more than I will be able to write ac...

31 .   Resist the Pull of 'Us vs. Them' Thinking  by David Brooks.  Produced by Vishakha Darbha.  Opinion section audio essay, 6:02 long, The New York Times, March 20, 2024. Beneath the audio essay title:  A message for President Biden.  To this I would say, yes, but for greater completeness I would add:  A message for all Americans.

30.   Marilynne Robinson Considers Biden a Gift of God , by David Marchese, Photograph by Mamadi Doumbouya published in The New York Times Magazine, February 15, 2024. Beautiful interview.  Beautiful person.  Questions and answers both deeply respectful. I have only read Marilynne Robinson's book Housekeeping  and that was many, many years ago.  I remember that it had a deep impact on me.  I need to read more.  On a hint from the interview, perhaps it should be Gilead .

29.   Peoples Choice:  Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2023 Five photos compiled by Alan Taylor for The Atlantic , February 7, 2024. The Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest recently invited the public to vote for their favorite images from this year’s competition. The winners were just announced, and contest organizers have shared their top picks below. Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum in London. Captions are provided by the photographers and WPY organizers, and are lightly edited for style.

28 .  I think we all think we know this, but do we?  Here it is, in clear and straightforward language, and only 950 words with two graphs. Vicious Spiral Of Inequality by Valentino Larcinese & Alberto Parmigiani, published in the LPE Project, February 7, 2024.  Picked up in The Browser, February 11, 2024. Admirable writing for sure, but really important reading.

27.   Winners of the 2023 Ocean Art Underwater Photo Contest , photos compiled by Alan Taylor for The Atlantic, January 22, 2024.  Spectacular beyond words and a reminder that we remain ignorant of other beautiful life at our peril.