The World Capital of Endangered Languages | The New York Times Magazine
There are more endangered and dying languages in New York City than anywhere else on earth. And, according to linguist Ross Perlin, there will likely never be this many in any single place ever again [link]
There are more endangered and dying languages in New York City than anywhere else on earth. And, according to linguist Ross Perlin, there will likely never be this many in any single place ever again [link]
The Man Who Invented the Trillion-Dollar Coin | New York Magazine
A Georgia lawyer was spitballing on a financial blog. He didn't expect Washington to listen [link]
A Georgia lawyer was spitballing on a financial blog. He didn't expect Washington to listen [link]
What's the Word? | The New Yorker
Linguists meet to assemble the first Oxford Dictionary of African American English [link]
Linguists meet to assemble the first Oxford Dictionary of African American English [link]
Steven Banks v. Homelessness | The New York Times Magazine
For 33 years, Steven Banks was a Legal Aid lawyer, suing New York City on behalf of homeless clients. Then the city put him in charge [link]
For 33 years, Steven Banks was a Legal Aid lawyer, suing New York City on behalf of homeless clients. Then the city put him in charge [link]
Jamaal Bowman Takes the Lead | New York Magazine
How do you show up for a hyper-local, door-to-door campaign for Congress when no one can go outside? [link]
How do you show up for a hyper-local, door-to-door campaign for Congress when no one can go outside? [link]
Sesame Street is Opening Up to Syrian Refugees | The New York Times Sunday Review
What happens when the people who invented educational television try to reinvent humanitarian aid? [link]
What happens when the people who invented educational television try to reinvent humanitarian aid? [link]
New York City's New Nightlife Mayor | The New York Review of Books
Tagging along with Ariel Palitz, the city's first "night mayor." [link]
Tagging along with Ariel Palitz, the city's first "night mayor." [link]
History for a Post-Fact America | The New York Review of Books
Jill Lepore has called history “the anti-novel” and “the novel’s twin.” Her new history of America comes at a time when the raw materials of the genre seem to be losing their hold. [link]
Jill Lepore has called history “the anti-novel” and “the novel’s twin.” Her new history of America comes at a time when the raw materials of the genre seem to be losing their hold. [link]
Slavery and the American University | The New York Review of Books
From their very beginnings, the American university and American slavery have been intertwined, but only recently are we beginning to understand how deeply. [link]
From their very beginnings, the American university and American slavery have been intertwined, but only recently are we beginning to understand how deeply. [link]
Roadwork | The New Yorker
Dushko Petrovich, a painter, writer, and adjunct professor, started a publication for roving teachers: Adjunct Commuter Weekly. [link]
Dushko Petrovich, a painter, writer, and adjunct professor, started a publication for roving teachers: Adjunct Commuter Weekly. [link]
Teachable Moments | The New Yorker
As part of their coursework, students at an all-girls high-school in Brooklyn designed and staged their own political protest. [link]
As part of their coursework, students at an all-girls high-school in Brooklyn designed and staged their own political protest. [link]
Ants of New York | The New Yorker's Elements
The American Museum of Natural History holds 16 million insects, but until earlier this year it lacked a single ant from the sidewalks and street medians of Manhattan. [link]
[Follow-up on the New Yorker Radio Hour]
The American Museum of Natural History holds 16 million insects, but until earlier this year it lacked a single ant from the sidewalks and street medians of Manhattan. [link]
[Follow-up on the New Yorker Radio Hour]
Glenn Greenwald's Encryption Guru | Politico Magazine
During the last year—and, though less forcefully, over the past decade-plus since U.S. national security has been reconfigured—Bruce Schneier has been an unrelenting rationalist in what can look like an increasingly irrational world. [link]
During the last year—and, though less forcefully, over the past decade-plus since U.S. national security has been reconfigured—Bruce Schneier has been an unrelenting rationalist in what can look like an increasingly irrational world. [link]
Literature is an Operation We Perform on Reality: On Fredric Jameson | Jacobin
Jameson turns to history to demonstrate not only that different worlds are possible, but that they have already existed, and to keep alive the potential for the world to change again. [link]
Jameson turns to history to demonstrate not only that different worlds are possible, but that they have already existed, and to keep alive the potential for the world to change again. [link]
Writing with Antonin Scalia, Grammar Nerd | The New Yorker's News Desk
The first time Bryan A. Garner, a lawyer and writer, met Antonin Scalia—over breakfast at the Washington, D.C., Four Seasons, in 2006—the Justice spent the early part of their conversation praising a magazine essay he had recently read on English grammar and usage. Garner, who has now written two books with Scalia, felt that it would be bad form to interrupt, but when the Justice had trouble remembering the essay's author, he suggested a name. [link]
The first time Bryan A. Garner, a lawyer and writer, met Antonin Scalia—over breakfast at the Washington, D.C., Four Seasons, in 2006—the Justice spent the early part of their conversation praising a magazine essay he had recently read on English grammar and usage. Garner, who has now written two books with Scalia, felt that it would be bad form to interrupt, but when the Justice had trouble remembering the essay's author, he suggested a name. [link]
Economic Decline | A research essay from Hope Deferred: Narratives of Zimbabwean Lives
In various rural exchanges, a single chicken could equal the value of: a pair of track shoes, a bar of soap, two bars of soap, five kilograms of maize, six kilograms of maize, ten kilograms of maize, two kilograms of maize seed, five kilograms of maize seed, a call on a mobile phone, or a visit to a clinic. [pdf]
In various rural exchanges, a single chicken could equal the value of: a pair of track shoes, a bar of soap, two bars of soap, five kilograms of maize, six kilograms of maize, ten kilograms of maize, two kilograms of maize seed, five kilograms of maize seed, a call on a mobile phone, or a visit to a clinic. [pdf]
