The week of November 16, 2019 was celebrating Fred in all his iterations; loving nerds; and considering the algorithms behind our flight choices. Also: Change your underwear, people. Seriously!

Mash-Ups In The News:

How Hip-Hop Dance Groups Have Helped Asian Americans Find Belonging

Or, how the mash-up experience of hip-hop found the mash-up experience of being Asian American. Here’s how Azns around the country have found community, connection, and self-expression.

via Vice

A Public Art Project In El Paso and Ciudad Juárez Is Spurring Cross-Border Conversations

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s interactive ’Border Tuner’ invites people to operate massive robotic searchlights on either side of the U.S.-Mexico border. When two beams of light cross, microphones and speakers switch on to allow communication across the border.

via Texas Monthly

As A Native American, I’ve Found A Way to Celebrate Thanksgiving

“There is no need to make Thanksgiving about a false past. It is so much better when it celebrates the beauty of the present.” Sean Sherman, a James Beard Award-winning cookbook author and Oglala Lakota Sioux member, focuses on what everybody’s already thinking about: the food.

via Time

What Was It Like To Be Edited By Barack Obama?

What does one learn writing speeches on history, civil rights, and faith — with the first Black president of the United States as your speaker and editor? Former speechwriter Adam Frankel talks about his experience with the leader we miss more than ever.

via Lithub

Those Amazon Returns? They’re Killing The Environment.

Learn to love those bad gifts or ask for gift cards this year — “National Returns Day” (and our culture of constantly returning online impulse buys) is creating a hidden environmental crisis.

via Bloomberg

‘Float’ Is The First Pixar Film To Feature Filipino Americans

If you already caved and joined Disney+ you might as well watch the best movie on the platform: The Pixar original animated short, “Float.” A father-son story about a child’s difference and the acceptance by his parent, wholly and fully. Great, already crying.

via Angry Asian Man

Climate Change Will Affect “Every Single Stage” Of A Child’s Life And Health, Warn Researchers

“New findings validate the angst that many young people experience when they contemplate the world they will inherit. It’s also a reminder there are people alive right now who have stakes in how hot the planet will be in 2100.”

via Vox

Go Back To Your Country, They Said

Go back to your country. Go back to Africa. Go back to China. Go back to Mexico. We’ve heard it throughout American history. But telling people they don’t belong, that this is a country for white people, is now on the presidential podium.

via Huffpost

TIME’S 100 NEXT: Jess Morales Rocketto

“Tireless and fearless.” A personal heroine of Mash-Up HQ, Jess Morales Rocketto has gone from leading chants for the 2016 elections, to leading efforts to reunite children with their loved ones, to launching an organization dedicated to gender equity, and so so much more. We love you Jess!

via Time