Julia Child’s Kitchens & Domestic Self-Defense

Featured Articles

Julia Child’s Kitchens

Places Journal • 4 Sep 2024 • ~5800 words

Julia Child is often celebrated for bringing French cuisine into American homes, but her influence extends far beyond just cooking. This article explores how her practical approach to cooking and her iconic kitchen set the stage for the Universal Design movement, making kitchens more accessible for everyone. Discover how Child's ethos transformed the way we think about the spaces where we cook and gather.

Her kitchens were distinctive but not glamorous or miraculous. Reflecting principles and skills Julia and Paul Child had developed in earlier careers, these were highly rational spaces, rigorously designed by the couple to support the varied activities and lives that played out there. Style was subservient to flexible functionality.

Who Gets to Kill in Self-Defense?

New York Times • 4 Sep 2024 • ~7150 words • Archive Link

In exploring the complex dynamics of self-defense in cases of domestic violence, this piece delves into the often experiences of women who kill their abusers. It challenges traditional notions of self-defense, highlighting the legal system's struggle to understand the long-term terror faced by these women. With gripping personal stories and insights, it sheds light on a critical issue that continues to impact countless lives.

Out of the 649 women included in the study, nearly three-quarters of them experienced intimate partner violence in the year leading up to their homicide-related convictions. The abuse was often directly related to the deaths, a phenomenon Ms. Mukamal calls the “abuse to prison” pipeline.

Recommended Articles

How to Make Six Figures By Reporting Idling Trucks

Curbed • 3 Sep 2024 • ~6500 words • Archive Link

What if you could turn your concern for air quality into a side hustle? The article discusses the Citizens Air Complaint Program in New York City, which allows citizens to report and earn rewards for catching vehicles that idle illegally. It explores the motivations and experiences of the "citizen complainants" who have turned this into a lucrative side hustle, as well as the city government's efforts to undermine the program. The article also asks whether this citizen-driven enforcement model is an effective way to address air pollution or if it has become more about the money than the environment.

Wu uses his phone’s camera to capture the license plates and company markings on the buses, then a nearby address, then the school’s façade. I’ve known him to hide his phone in an empty cardboard box with a cutout, or in a shower caddy as if he were innocently ambling toward a t’ai chi session, or to thrust it discreetly through some bushes, but today he braces it in front of himself awkwardly in a pantomime of texting, so the school staff notice and call the cops on him.

Writer on Board

The American Scholar • 5 Sep 2024 • ~4400 words

This piece explores the history and evolution of cruise ship travel writing, examining how authors like Mark Twain, Evelyn Waugh, and Paul Theroux have approached the cruise ship as a setting and subject. It also discusses the challenges and perspectives modern travel writers like Gary Shteyngart face when writing about cruise ship experiences and passengers.

Sending someone on a cruise who has little experience with the kinds of people who cruise can result in fresh insights, amusing encounters, meaningful connections—all the good stuff of travel, and the writing about it. But it also runs the risk of accentuating differences and deepening an already sizable divide.

The race for Lambeth Palace

New Statesman • 4 Sep 2024 • ~4100 words

As the Church of England prepares for the next archbishop of Canterbury, the intricate dance of ambition and tradition takes center stage. This piece from New Statesman delves into the unspoken rules surrounding this high office, exploring the challenges and expectations facing potential candidates in a rapidly changing society.

No smoke will rise from the Sistine Chapel when Welby’s successor is chosen, but the successful candidate must navigate an opaque selection process. Asked in 2002 what the procedure was for replacing the then archbishop, George Carey, a CofE spokesperson comically replied: “I just don’t know.”

Inside One Governor’s Crusade to Tear Down the Wall Between Church and State

Rolling Stone • 4 Sep 2024 • ~4550 words • Archive Link

The article provides an in-depth look at Jeff Landry, the current governor of Louisiana, and his efforts to bring more religion into government. It explores his controversial policies, such as requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in public schools and his close ties to the Trump family. The article also discusses Landry's potential future political ambitions and the broader implications of his actions for the Republican party and the separation of church and state.

According to his interpretation of the First Amendment, the government can’t persecute citizens for failing to worship a specific religion. But that, in his opinion, doesn’t mean the majority is barred from governing as they see fit, including incorporating religion into government.

Four Days With Phish, America's Greatest Jam Band For Forty Years and Counting

GQ • 4 Sep 2024 • ~7400 words • Archive Link

What’s it like to spend four days with Phish, one of America's most enduring jam bands? This piece takes you behind the scenes with the band, exploring their unique journey through highs and lows and how they’ve built a loyal community over 40 years. It’s a look at the culture and camaraderie that keep Phish thriving, even as they navigate the challenges of life on and off the stage.

This, turns out, is the wonder of a Phish festival and maybe the band itself: Over four days, amid constant interactions with people who’d slept in crowded fields to see a 41-year-old quartet play for a dozen hours, I’ve encountered just one grumpy person—in the United States, in 2024.

Made by the Revolution

London Review of Books • 5 Sep 2024 • ~10000 words

In this book review of a biography of Zhou Enlai, we learn more about this prominent figure in the Chinese Communist Party and the premier of the People's Republic of China for nearly a quarter century. By delving into Zhou's struggles and moral dilemmas during one of China's most tumultuous eras, the piece reveals how his actions were often at odds with Mao’s oppressive regime, painting a more intricate portrait of a leader caught between duty and conscience.

Mao and Zhou were human beings made by the revolution, and even someone like himself, born after 1949, should be self-critically aware that he too was in some fashion formed by it. Rather than simply extolling or rejecting revolution, what is needed is to understand the reason revolutions occur and, when they go wrong, to find the right path to a better future.

The heiress at Harvard who helped revolutionize murder investigations — and the case she couldn’t forget

BostonGlobe.com • 14 Aug 2024 • ~6150 words • Archive Link

The article discusses the life and work of Frances Glessner Lee, a wealthy heiress who revolutionized forensic science and crime scene investigation in the United States. It explores her efforts to establish the first forensic science program at Harvard Medical School, her involvement in a high-profile murder case, and the lasting impact of her contributions to the field.

Lee’s files at Harvard are full of letters from medical examiners and police officers from across the country, saying they are deeply indebted to her for making them more observant detectives, even as the field of forensics has come to include DNA analysis and other advances she never could have dreamed of.

Can AI scaling continue through 2030?

Epoch AI • 20 Aug 2024 • ~18150 words

The rapid growth of AI training compute raises questions about its sustainability. This article delves into the potential constraints that could hinder this expansion, including power availability, chip manufacturing capacity, data scarcity, and the latency wall. It's a detailed exploration for anyone interested in the future of AI and its technological limits.

One of the most likely reasons that training runs above these scales might be infeasible is the amount of power that can be supplied by the grid. Substantially expanding the data center power supply by 2030 may be challenging due to grid-level constraints, carbon commitments, and political factors.