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“handsome and pretty and educated and white”, who, according to the Times, not only “believed they owned the world” but “had reason to”. She was from a Pittsburgh suburb, Upper St. Clair, the daughter of a retired Westinghouse senior manager. She had been Phi Beta Kappa at Wellesley, a graduate of the Yale School of Management, a congressional
... See moreJoan Didion • After Henry: Essays
In April 2017, a confidential document is leaked that reveals Facebook is offering advertisers the opportunity to target thirteen-to-seventeen-year-olds across its platforms, including Instagram, during moments of psychological vulnerability when they feel “worthless,” “insecure,” “stressed,” “defeated,” “anxious,” “stupid,” “useless,” and “like a
... See moreSarah Wynn-Williams • Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism
The Atlantic • Cities Aren’t Built for Kids
Analyzing sexism through female celebrities is a catnip pedagogical method: it takes a beloved cultural pastime (calculating the exact worth of a woman) and lends it progressive political import.
Jia Tolentino • Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion
The death of the public intellectual
substack.comGore Vidal called Samantha a “hooker” in the pages of The Atlantic, in the voice of the purest most cynical cronyism: “Look, am I going to sit and weep every time a young hooker feels she’s been taken advantage of?” At any rate, there’s a chance that she knew she had some power, some sexual pull. And in just a year, I would know too. The next year
... See moreClaire Dederer • Love and Trouble
Kids are no longer allowed to drop out of school in order to work, and the world now requires more and more schooling to succeed. What’s more, parents feel a great need to protect their children. Many, especially in the middle class, have waited forever to have them. They fear for their physical safety and economic security.
Jennifer Senior • All Joy and No Fun
“Too many parents make life hard for their children by trying, too zealously, to make it easy for them.”