The week of June 3, 2017 was absorbing the wisdom of Queen Crissle; booking tickets to Covfefe; and making the most of delayed subways. The world may be going to hell in a handbasket, but we will celebrate every damn moment, fam!

Also, NBD, but The New York Times named us one of its favorite podcasts on race and identity. If you don’t already subscribe, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? Do it.

Mash-Ups in the News:

The Addicts Next Door

This thorough article by the New Yorker gives a glimpse of the America that gets swept under the rug — the drug addicts of West Virginia neighborhoods who overdose at supermarkets or their kids’ softball games. This is about desperation, shame, escape, and a need for better understanding.

via New Yorker

Trained In A Barbershop, 12-Year-Old Becomes Baltimore’s First National Chess Champion

“In chess you can’t give up. You’re never out of it.” At this year’s national chess championship, 12-year-old Cahree Myrick made Baltimore (and the barbershop he trained with) proud by bringing home the national title. We want a movie about this. ASAP.

via Baltimore Sun

Japan Suicide Rate Finally Falling, Due To Government Measures

Japan is a country where being stressed and overworked is seen as a virtue, and mental health issues are left undiscussed. But with government measures to eliminate the stigma and taboo around suicide, more Japanese citizens are choosing to talk about their stress and depression than take their own lives.

via Newsweek

All Spicy Food Is From Latin America

Some countries eat their food spicy to the max, while other countries consider salt a spice. No matter what your preference is, that chili“pepper” hotness found around the world can be totally traced back to Latin America. Globalization runs deep y’all.

via The Awl

Immigrants Keep An Iowa Meatpacking Town Alive And Growing

A small town in Iowa seems an unlikely place to find a population of people from all over the world, but thanks to its huge influx of immigrants and refugees from Asia, Central America, and Africa, these otherwise dwindling meatpacking towns are being saved by those aiming for their American Dream.

via New York Times

Roy Choi On Feeding America’s Inner Cities

As if bringing us Korean taco trucks wasn’t enough, Roy Choi is now focused on making healthy and affordable food available in poorer cities in America through his new endeavor, LocoL. Some people are just too good for this world.

via Recode

The Most Misspelled Words In Every State (Wisconsin, We Have To Talk)

This week, a Mash-Up kid won the National Spelling Bee spelling words like “esquamulose” and “vivisepulture” on live television. Meanwhile, residents of five states in America don’t know how to spell “beautiful,” one state can’t spell “nanny,” and Wisconsin can’t even spell “Wisconsin.”

via Good

To Keep Crops From Rotting In The Fields, We Need More Workers

It’s hard to believe sometimes, but our food doesn’t appear in grocery stores and on our plates through magic — we depend on those who farm our crops to keep our country from starving. By locking out the immigrant guest workers who keep our crops alive, everyone loses.

via Los Angeles Times

Noose Found In National Museum Of African American History And Culture

Every week we’re reminded by acts like this that we’ve still got a long way to go. Even for celebrities like LeBron James, his race makes him and his family a target for slurs and threats of violence. After this horrifying incident, the museum director wrote: “We’re witnessing a moment when there are tremendous challenges to the country that we built on pluralism and democracy…We will continue to help breach the chasm of race that has divided this nation since its inception.”

via Smithsonian Magazine

The Loneliness Of Donald Trump

This piece by Rebecca Solnit is the kind of essay we’ll be teaching in history classes in a generation. It’s the story of the man who “as of this writing, the most mocked man in the world.” It’s the story about the destructiveness of unchecked privilege and indulgence, and what happens when that destruction is given complete power.

via Lit Hub

Are We About To Witness The Most UnequalSocieties In History?

As machines and AI robots are rapidly replacing human workers, we see an entire population of workers at risk of becoming redundant. Take it even further, and the future of biotechnology might create classes that are not only economically unequal, but biologically unequal. It sounds like a dystopian horror movie, except it’s, you know, kinda our future.

via Guardian

Inspo of the Week:

These Mayors Are Savage

Let’s hear it for our Mayors! The President might be chill with risking the future of our planet by denying global warming, but the Climate Mayors have agreed to honor and uphold the Paris Climate Agreement goals no matter what. Austin’s mayor is his own kinda special, too.

via Medium