Welcome to the latest edition of Weekly Reader, where I post articles that I find on the internet in order to share them with you. Got something you’d like to show off? Leave a link in the comments!
The Uninhabitable Earth (from New York Magazine–Warning! There is some ableist language in this article. Proceed with caution!): “Even when we train our eyes on climate change, we are unable to comprehend its scope. This past winter, a string of days 60 and 70 degrees warmer than normal baked the North Pole, melting the permafrost that encased Norway’s Svalbard seed vault — a global food bank nicknamed “Doomsday,” designed to ensure that our agriculture survives any catastrophe, and which appeared to have been flooded by climate change less than ten years after being built.”
Separated parents unknowingly gave up reunification rights, lawyers say (from PBS): “The declarations detail several examples in which parents were not given enough time to make sound decisions, including having “only a few minutes to decide whether or not to leave their children in the U.S.,” a decision that one lawyer’s declaration said has been done in a room of up to 50 other people.”
I’m Tired Of Writing About Dead Black Girls (from the Huffington Post): “But while Nia’s slaying resulted in an arrest and sparked marches and remembrances across social media, a week after her grisly murder, national cable news has remained eerily silent.”
Worshiping the False Idols of Wellness (from the New York Times): “Wellness used to mean a blend of health and happiness. Something that made you feel good or brought joy and was not medically harmful — perhaps a massage or a walk along the beach. But it has become a false antidote to the fear of modern life and death.”
Three Children, Two Abortions (from The Atlantic): “Five and three, I write. Five pregnancies, three live births. But these numbers do not tell the whole story, either about my health or about the gap between births Nos. 2 and 3. And it is in the delta between all these numbers (along with the answer to the question left out—namely, how many of those pregnancies were planned?) wherein everything I hold dear about Roe v. Wade resides: a woman’s right to choose what’s right for her, her family, her body, and her life at the time she finds herself pregnant, whether intentionally or not.”
The Miserable People (from John Pavlovitz): “These are the wildest of ironies: Their President is in the White House, their politicians commandeer the House and Senate, the Supreme Court is tilted In their favor—and yet they still manage to feel themselves oppressed, still picture the world unfair, still rage against a machine they’ve made and are part of. So many of them claim faith in Jesus, and yet live in almost polar opposition to his example.”
What Not to Say to Grieving People (from John Pavlovitz): “What I knew about my father’s passing is that it wasn’t fixable. I know there weren’t words that were going to replace him or counterbalance my heartsickness. Nothing anyone said was going to rewind the clock back to a time when I felt the way I felt before he left, or fast forward to some future place of greater peace. I knew I was just going to have walk through hell and to let it hurt and to allow time to do the work that only time can do.”
The National Rifle Association, America’s most powerful lobby, claims it’s in financial crisis. What? (from Vox): “The threats amount to a series of warnings and regulatory actions by the New York state government targeting insurance companies and other financial entities doing business with the NRA, warning that working with the group would put financial businesses in legal jeopardy or damage their public reputation. While it’s in the NRA’s interest to exaggerate the danger Cuomo and his allies’ actions pose to the group (so as to strengthen the lawsuit’s case), the complaint argues that Cuomo’s actions could wind up threatening the NRA’s continued existence.”
And with that, we draw this week’s issue to a close. Stop by again next week when I post more tidbits from the internet. Until then, happy reading!