Links for December 19th... and the year
Everything from the early days of the pandemic in China to the NBA bubble wine club
Hello, hope you’ve had a good week.
So the conception of this newsletter came about because each year on Twitter, I do a big thread of links. It’s not exhaustive, and it tends to run toward my taste: how a system or process works, human-interest features that fall in the news or politics realm, warm but melancholy stories about something that’s over, short as-told-to interviews, kind of fratty sports stuff, etc.
I’m putting all those links in this newsletter, many of which I have already shared weekly. Unlike the Twitter thread, I’ve sorted them into loose categories, so if you can’t read anymore about the pandemic, just scroll onto the next section. The way I think about the end-of-the-year links are they’re like a diner menu, and you might only see one or two things that really jump out at you (usually I imagine this reader waiting on the tarmac, on which you probably will not be waiting). But if you’re bored in a week and want to read something, this email might prove useful.
Here are a few things from this week, though:
a. The vaccine entering the building, set to the NBA on ESPN theme,
b. This piece on what happened when a young, black Democratic operative tried to address workplace racism — unlike maybe what you might expect, this story has some sharp and complex things to say about what people consider “gossip.”
c. This is an interesting piece about money, bitcoin, and the internet, filtered through a single dinner party several years ago.
d. Will a Tea Party 2.0 come about via Donald Trump’s refusal to accept the ol’ results? My colleague takes a look at the reinforcing nature of conspiracies for some.
Thanks for subscribing; I enjoyed doing this on Friday nights or Saturday mornings this year. I will probably do one last newsletter before New Years, maybe focused a little more on books. I hope you have a great Christmas and/or New Year’s.
Links from the full year
Note: In parentheses, I’ve noted off which pieces are shorter like so “(This is a shorter read.),” otherwise assume it’s less quick, more sit-down. As an editor, I respect pieces of all lengths, I just am aware that sometimes you’re not looking for something to read that is 3,000+ words long — and sometimes you are!
Pandemic
This story, about a Chinese doctor, came out the first week of March and what made me really get it. There’s some vivid scenes herein that would play out obviously here too but are still compelling, months later. (This is a shorter read.)
This piece about an New York doorman and one of the earliest deaths from COVID is incredibly memorable, especially about his family life, and the waves of people who began to check in because he'd always checked in.
This story about one family — including what was totally unique about the people who died after getting COVID — is particularly devastating.
This essay Gabrielle Hamilton wrote in the spring about her restaurant, restaurants in general, time, and the pandemic deals so elegantly with so much and is a great read. (This is probably my favorite thing I read all year.)
This a great story about logistics, supply, and the enormous pressure on individuals to make decisions during the pandemic — the last grocer in a N.C. county trying to keep people supplied, stay in business, and not get sick.
Can't recommend enough this story on a teacher in San Francisco and several of his students; it follows their spring semester as they try to make it to the AP test, some of them under enormous constraints.
This from early in the pandemic gets at a question that will might be big years from now: Gen Zers worried their lives are stalling out early.
Here's the rare interview about the pandemic (this is from very early on, in March) that is actually funny and heartening, with an 84-year-old Alabama native who now lives in Phoenix. (This is a shorter read.)
The Times asked a bunch of NYC-based illustrators to draw what was outside their window during the pandemic, and it's both lovely and kind of wild to see how different people's perspective and style is with that singular assignment. (This is a shorter read.)
This guy's essay on how he set up his fans/ventilation in his house was actually maybe the most fun piece I read this year: "Light a cigarette anywhere in my house, and you’ll be dazzled by the flow of the smoke." (This is a shorter read.)
These short interviews with kids returning to school (and great photos!) are really fun. (This is a shorter read.)
General news + politics
This is a gripping, unique, and deeply affecting account of what Uighurs detained in China go through when the police come for them.
I'm always interested in is what happens when politicians lose, like this scene at a Trump merch stand in Pennsylvania at the exact moment the race was called for Biden is totally unique... (This is a shorter read.)
And this one, too, about how rapidly and surreally the Democratic primary changed last winter and how inside the Sanders campaign they were trying to make sense of it — you can see the nebulous thing turning.
These interviews with black voters in S.C. ahead of the primary there were really far-reaching in terms of the politics, and especially great are the portrait photos that go along with them.
This was a fantastic little, weird scene: inside the Biden-supporting house across the street from a Trump rally just before the election. (This is a shorter read.)
This compelling story about Kamala Harris's parents — how they met, what their lives were like before coming to America and afterward.
This is a very wide-ranging examination of Mormonism and what it means to have an American identity.
Turns out I didn’t know very much at all about the election of 1800 and this is really compelling about where there are (or aren’t) echoes in American history. (This is a shorter read.)
General culture
In terms of capturing the sincere and earnest in the spring of real bleakness in New York this year, you can’t beat this Spike Lee short, shot on super 8. (This is a video.)
Jerry Saltz revisited a bunch of renaissance (or similarly old) paintings year and each is a true, immersive delight (you learn something, it's fun to read, everything!), and I especially enjoyed this one on Castagno's and da Vinci's The Last Supper.
These short interviews with black hair stylists are filled with little great lines and insights of personality, such as: "Every time I wear color, I just feel vibrant. And I know when people see color on me they get the same feeling." (This is a shorter read.)
This story about the NBA wine club inside the bubble is cool, but especially cool are all the logistics of the NBA bubble itself. (This is a shorter read.)
If you like Jane Austen (and/or explorations of a writer's intent), gotta check this out. It works through so much about social commentary and her novels.
If you like the NBA and/or have any kind of interest in the way Instagram is changing how people behave in real life, gotta check this out, on the BIG business of high school basketball Instagram and how it's changing the college game especially.
These anecdotes about Carl Reiner from other actors (and what a kind and funny person he was) are really a delight to read. (This is a shorter read.)
This is a great interview with the former executive director of a New York nonprofit who led Princess Diana's tour in 1989 (as featured on The Crown). (This is a shorter read.)
This is more an Instagram rec because I get more enjoyment following Daniel Kanter — who restores old homes, or tries to keep the old character of old homes — on Instagram than anything else, but check out this kitchen he did for pure relaxing before/after. (This is a shorter read.)
This is a great piece about the nature of taste and bad TV (and just fun to read even if you haven’t seen this show). (This is a shorter read.)
A real powerhouse, atomic bomb of a poem.
This is a very sad and short piece about friendship and when places close, especially after a death. (This is a shorter read.)
This piece has interesting things to say about this year, time, and depression, even if you're not into video games. (This is a shorter read.)
This piece has a lot of great lines in it from a complicated person: "I did not see that the game was over. I did not know the clock was running. I never lose, but I do run out of time. It turns out this was basketball and not baseball."
For pure niceness, there's these little interviews with postal workers in Queens. (This is a shorter read.)
A note on all this
Thanks for subscribing. Hope you enjoy. The goal here is just to offer up some links you may have missed, and maybe the occasional commentary on something in politics or a book I may have read that you, the reader, might enjoy. If you have thoughts on any of this, hit me up at katherinemillernyc@gmail.com or just tweet at me.