If you open one link this week, make it this incredibly moving story about two Auschwitz survivors who were reunited after 72 years (“They were both Jewish inmates in Auschwitz, both privileged prisoners. Mr. Wisnia, initially forced to collect the bodies of prisoners who committed suicide, had been chosen to entertain his Nazi captors when they discovered he was a talented singer. Ms. Spitzer held the more high-powered position: She was the camp’s graphic designer. They became lovers, meeting in their nook at a prescribed time about once a month. After the initial fears of knowing they were putting their lives in danger, they began to look forward to their dates.”)
We loved this video from the London Review of Books that explores the lost art of pasting up pages for publication. The labour that used to go into making a newspaper is MIND-BOGGLING
Four couples who met through Instagram DMs
Oh, burn: “I hope you enjoy your Airbnb stay at my home, a place I have never resided nor visited”
Here’s your summer TV watching sorted: New Yorker TV critic Emily Nussbaum had curated an insanely good Top Ten list of the best 2019 TV shows (Fleabag! Succession! Russian Doll!)
This food writer tested 42 different ways to cook a fried egg and the answer is obviously butter because obviously
One of the most accurate articles about online dating out there we’ve ever read (“The thing about talking to people on Tinder is that it is boring. I am an obnoxious kind of conversation snob and have a pathologically low threshold for small talk. I love people who fall into the category of Smart Sad People Flaunting Their Intelligence With Panache. I want a conversation partner who travels through an abundance of interesting material at breakneck speed, shouting over their shoulder at me: Keep up. I want a conversation partner who assumes I am up for the challenge, who assumes the best of me.”)
This apartment looks like a child designed it and we’re suddenly hating on our carefully curated, grown-up, minimalist homes
According to Merriam-Webster, the most searched for word in 2019 was they (thought to be connected to interest in non-binary gender identity), closely followed by quid pro quo (thanks Trump), impeach 🍑 (ahem, Trump), camp (Bow down, Met Ball) and exculpate (Trump, again). Turns out we’re all scratching our heads every time he opens his mouth.
This is a monumentally terrible idea
Why we need to stop fetishising morning routines (“But being productive in the morning is not simply a matter of strength and determination. While everyone has the same 24 hours in a day, not everyone has the wealth to make time for an hour on the treadmill by delegating tasks to personal assistants, nannies, and chefs. Nor does everyone benefit from making morning saintliness a part of their public image.”)
This piece on the Instagram vs. reality problem is phenomenal (“Instagram has a way of flattening lived experiences so that my best years look exactly like my bad ones, and that everything seems pretty good, all the time, for everyone.”)
A love letter to Little Women (“This kind of closed-mindedness overlooks the fact that there is much in Little Women that teaches boys and men about love, relationships, friendships, and rejection. Couldn’t America’s toxic masculinity and rape culture be treated with a healthy dose of teaching Little Women in schools? When Jo denies Laurie her hand in marriage, she imparts important lessons for all children—that girls are allowed to say no (even to Timothée Chalamet), and that boys are allowed to feel sad, and can recover from rejection.”)
“I’ve never had sex and now I feel like I never will”
