August 2025

bit more reading this month since we went away to acadia a few days and i didn't both to bring a book. 

Punch drink love [2002], the last letter from your lover [2021], tick, tick... boom! [2021]

the atlantic - Inside the USAID Fire Sale
the atlantic - Naturalized Citizens Are Scared
the atlantic - The Anti-Anti-Feminist Election
vox - Gen Z created a new type of man to avoid
natgeo - Inside the Controversial World of Slum Tourism
vox - What happened to the bestselling young white man?
bustle - Your Friends Deserve A "Millennial Thank You Note"
the atlantic - How a Recession Might Tank American Romance
the atlantic - The Least Common, Least Loved Names in America
pc gamer - I Just Found Out What Wi-Fi Means and It’s Sending Me
huff post - This Aggressive Baby Name Trend Is 'Alarming' Experts
stylist - Dreaming About Your Ex? A Psychologist Explains What It Really Means
vice - ‘It’s Unsettling’: The School Where American Kids Rehearse Militia Warfare
bbc - In the country with the world's lowest birth rate, fertility clinics are booming
npr - Ultramarathon runner breastfeeds her baby 3 times on her way to a surprise win
usa today - He’s decided to die. Strangers are sending him prayers — and dinner invitations
the independent - With fewer renters than ever having a living room, this is why the death of the communal space matters 

vox - Trump isn’t a toddler — he’s a product of America’s culture of impunity for the rich

the atlantic - You’ll Never Get Off the Dinner Treadmill
"...as of 2016, the last time the government counted, one-third of American adults ate fast food on any given day..."

vox - 3 takeaways from the most authoritative autopsy of the 2024 election yet 
i HATE all these analysis articles of why the dems lost the 2024 election because no one mentions the number reason: CONSERVATIVES LIE. that's basically it. the candidates, the party, the news media, they all LIE consistently, constantly, and about everything. and, obviously, it's hard to win an election when people are being fed what they want to hear, regardless of it being true or not. 

atmos -  The World Wants Matcha. Japan’s Farms Can’t Keep Up.
"Matcha as a flavouring—in ice creams, in coffee-adjacent drinks—only began in Japan in the 1990s when Western corporations like Haagen Dazs introduced products using lower grade matcha. “If you talk to an older Japanese person, they only drink matcha when they go to temple and there’s a special ceremony, like a wedding,” said Liu, adding that it was mostly white yoga moms, rather than her Asian customers, who sought out matcha at Miro when she first started the business."

"Some are using matcha fever to illustrate the glorification of Japanese culture, and erasure of Chinese history (powdered green tea originated in China during the Tang dynasty, before Buddhist monks introduced it to Japan); others compare the mainstreaming of matcha to chai, predicting Thai tea and Vietnamese coffee to be next in line for whitewashing."