The week of December 7, 2019 was feeling glad this was the one instagram ad we resisted; examining our obsession with Baby Yoda and the psychological toll on the Peloton husband; and finally, the k-pop drama we never knew we needed.

War And Pissoirs: How The Urinals Of Paris Helped Beat The Nazies

From phallic-shaped beacons to their more contemporary turret form, the fascinating story of Paris’s open-air urinals is one of secret sex, “grotesque delicacies,” and Resistance plotting during occupation.

via The Guardian

TikTok Suppressed Videos By Disabled, Queer, And Fat Creators

TikTok has been flagging videos by people that look, by their accounts, um…“bully-able”? Marginalized creators have been punished in an extremely misguided attempt to curb cyber-bullying — instead of just punishing, ya know, the bullies.

via Slate

Making Art From Migrants’ Belongings

Blankets, cellphones, medication, love letters, shoelaces, canned food, rosaries. Just some of the countless belongings thrown away by Border Control that Tom Kiefer, a janitor, began collecting.

via Los Angeles Times

Nipsey Hussle: The Light Of Los Angeles

Nipsey Hussle’s tragic passing was an enormous loss for the world, especially the South L.A. community he gave light. Learn the life and legacy of this tragically gunned-down rapper, activist, father, son, brother, lover, and friend, according to those who knew him best.

via GQ

How Cooking Turned My Life Around

Chef Raymond Li went from making “gulas” of instant ramen noodles in prison to opening his own restaurant. Here’s how the kitchen and cooking went from his only chance for a new life outside of jail, to a magic experience he can share with his son.

via Bon Appetit

Samoan Streets Deserted As Vaccination Teams Battle Measles

62 people have died after a measles outbreak that has left Samoa’s streets eerily quiet and households terrified. Samoan authorities believe the virus was first spread by a non-Samoan tourist. Vaccines. Save. Lives.

via The Australian

The Case Against Civilization

Maybe our hunter-gatherer predecessors knew what was up. From writing to agriculture, Walter Benjamin puts it best: “There is no document of civilization which is not at the same time a document of barbarism.”

via New Yorker 

Racing To Catch Up After Fleeing Ultra-Orthodox Life

“The world is much more than I ever knew.” Ruth Borovski was 27 years old and living within one of Israel’s cloistered ultra-Orthodox Jewish sects. When she fled, it was like landing on an alien planet.

via Washington Post

Law Professors School The Impeachment Hearings
“Did President Trump commit the impeachable high crime and misdemeanor of abuse of power?”

“We three are unanimous, yes.”

Mic drop.

via New Yorker