Seeing Distorted Faces & Clean But Illegal Drugs
A disease that twists the faces of the people you look at. Also, an illegal movement fighting to be able to provide a safe drug supply
Featured Articles
How a Rare Disorder Makes People See Monsters
The New Yorker • 1 Aug 2024 • ~3600 words
Imagine looking at a friend's face and seeing it twist into something grotesque. This intriguing article from The New Yorker explores a rare neurological condition called prosopometamorphopsia, where individuals perceive faces as distorted. Research into this condition also helps us better understand how the brain processes facial recognition and perception. It’s a fascinating dive into the complexities of human perception that might change how you think about the faces around you.
English is replete with expressions such as “to lose face,” “say it to my face,” and “two-faced,” which emphasize that faces are a way to access our most authentic selves. To “deface” something is to destroy it. But PMO is a painful reminder that when we look at someone else, their appearance is partly constructed in our minds.
The War Over Safe Drug Supply in Vancouver
Macleans.ca • 15 Jul 2024 • ~5200 words
In the shadow of Vancouver's overdose crisis, two activists, Eris Nyx and Jeremy Kalicum, are challenging the status quo by advocating for a safe drug supply. Their initiative, the Drug User Liberation Front, works outside of the law to provide tested and untainted drugs to users, fighting against both public outrage and regulatory hurdles. This article explores their bold approach and the complex debate surrounding harm reduction in the face of a growing crisis. This is a good read, no matter which side of the debate you find yourself on.
At first, Nyx wasn’t at all certain they’d get away with what they were doing. In 2023, she told a reporter from The Economist, “The fact that we’re not in jail is unbelievable.”
Recommended Articles
This Scientist Wants to Block the Sun to Cool the Earth
New York Times • 1 Aug 2024 • ~2500 words • Gift Article Link
In a world grappling with the intense realities of climate change, Dr. Keith is exploring a controversial solution: intentionally releasing sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere to cool the Earth. This thought-provoking piece delves into solar geoengineering's complexities and ethical dilemmas, highlighting the fierce debates among scientists and environmentalists about its potential benefits and risks.
But of all these ideas, it is stratospheric solar geoengineering that elicits the greatest hope and the greatest fear. . . . Proponents see it as a relatively cheap and fast way to reduce temperatures well before the world has stopped burning fossil fuels. . . . But many scientists and environmentalists fear that it could result in unpredictable calamities.
The People Who Feed America Are Going Hungry
Eater • 30 Jul 2024 • ~3700 words
In this article by Eater, originally published on Grist, through the experiences of farmworkers like Jesús Morales, we see how rising food prices and inadequate wages create a crisis of hunger among those who sustain the US agricultural system. While the article calls for legislative action to improve wages and labor protections for farmworkers to tackle food insecurity, these workers are also some of the more underrepresented groups.
The very people who ensure the rest of the country has food to eat are going hungry.
"Western civilization" vs. "World literature"
Woman of Letters • 30 Jul 2024 • ~3100 words
This piece in Woman of Letters discusses the debate between promoting a "Western civilization" canon of literature versus a more diverse "world literature" approach. While the "world literature" perspective is valuable, it requires actually engaging with and understanding non-Western literary traditions, which many academics have failed to do. Is it better to focus on your cultural tradition rather than covering many traditions superficially? Read more for a good debate.
Something can be good without us having to insist on its goodness; conversely, if we insist something is good but don’t read it ourselves, then is it really good?
Excavating a Language at the End of the World
Nautilus • 31 Jul 2024 • ~2100 words
In this interesting exploration of language and culture, this piece delves into the Yaghan people of Tierra del Fuego and how a 19th-century dictionary offers valuable insights into their ancient ways of life: Scholars highlight the potential of linguistic clues to unlock the mysteries of a culture that has largely been lost to time. This article invites you to discover how words can serve as a bridge to understanding a rich heritage and the deep connection between people and their environment.
Dictionaries, such as the one created for the Yaghan language, it turns out, can be excavated for rich and nuanced information missing from the physical archeological record.
