Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
Graphic: Michael Harriot (The Root; photo via iStock) Every so often a new phrase emerges that encapsulates the cunning Caucasian ability to keep power and dominance within their clutches by painting themselves as the oppressed class. Whether it is “reverse racism,” “Make America great again” or “separate but equal,” coining catchphrases as a means of…
LOS ANGELES — As a son of Chinese immigrants growing up in apartheid South Africa, Patrick Soon-Shiong spent his afternoons racing through the streets of Port Elizabeth selling the evening newspaper. The job, he likes to say, shaped his views on the power of the press and the plight of the underdog. “The newspaper is…
For people interested in a no-frills way to spin up a new personal newsletter, there are more alternatives to Mailchimp-TinyLetter than ever. Prominent newcomers like U.S. startup Substack or the Netherlands-based Revue have focused on simplifying writing tools and streamlining software for the entire newsletter management process, from writing to sending to maintaining the subscriber…
A pair of women ride a LimeBike scooter. Photo by the author The Bay Area serves as America’s sandbox. The tech world’s most far-fetched ideas are often sketched and tested here, and if they’re successful, they’ll spread throughout the country. The latest trend to materialize here is motorized scooters you can rent through an app….
Our nation’s present uproar over the deleterious effects of social media on society and fretting about the decline of trusted news outlets is nothing new. What’s new is the fact that the straightforward ways to prop up the Real Journalism industry have never been more obvious. For two decades, professional thinkers—most of them employed in…
Oh hai, Batman. Last month, Variety reported that Hangover director Todd Phillips was in talks with Joaquin Phoenix to star in the stand-alone Joker origin film—a compelling choice to play the Batman villain who could probably give the character a depth we haven’t seen since Heath Ledger. But following Variety‘s announcement, another actor unexpectedly threw…
One officer involved in the city’s massive corruption scandal said officers kept the replicas “in case we accidentally hit somebody or got into a shootout, so we could plant them.” Last week, the beginning of an explosive corruption trial involving eight members of Baltimore’s elite Gun Trace Task Force revealed that a handful of Baltimore…
The Journalist and the Con Artist It wasn’t even a well-executed story about a golf club. Most people agree now, broadly, about Grantland’s failings toward transgender people in its telling of—and creation of—the tragic story of the golf-club inventor Essay Anne Vanderbilt. Bill Simmons, the founder and editor-in-chief of the prestige-sportswriting website, signed off…
Tom Scocca is leaving us, after a combined six and a half years at Deadspin, Gawker, and the Special Projects Desk. Here’s how we’ll remember him. Sam Biddle One time I had an anxiety nightmare that consisted entirely of Tom Scocca walking up to me in a dark room (I was seated) and saying “you’re…
Two months shy of its 10th anniversary in a glass-and-steel showpiece on Washington’s most prestigious thoroughfare, executives at the struggling Newseum will meet Thursday with a top real estate firm to explore options that include selling their building or moving to another location. The previously undisclosed talks with officials from the international firm Eastdil Secured —…