What Writers and Editors Are Reading: July 2023

Recommended by Justin Heckert: “I am a jacket enthusiast. Actually a big-time, I-have-waaaayy-too-many, jacket collector. And when Aidan stepped into the frame in the latest episode of And Just Like That … and we saw him again for the first time in years, I immediately knew something was wrong. Why was he wearing this? Why was it buttoned all the way up? Is it a size too small? Anyway, I’m sure the jacket is quality (it costs almost $600), but the whole thing was wrong. Felt wrong. Just to look at him. Apparently, the hilarious Rachel Handler feels the same.”

Recommended by Andrew Zaleski: “You probably never knew that the color of turmeric—a spice that even Gwyneth Paltrow has hawked for its supposed anti-inflammatory properties—was the result of combining the spice with lead chromate. That’s what gives the spice its yellowish coloring. In this great piece for Undark, Wudan Yan goes deep on the spice trade and discovers the lengths some scientists will go to fight food fraud.”

Recommended by Lauren Larson: “A blistering summer has made this 2002 piece by Malcolm Gladwell, a review of Eric Klinenberg’s study of a catastrophic heat wave in Chicago in July 1995, extra salient. The terrible deaths that Gladwell describes remind us to check on the vulnerable people around us during high heat. They might also remind us to judge systems and institutions not by “how they perform most of the time, under ‘normal’ conditions,” but by ‘how they perform under those rare moments of extreme stress.’ Those moments are less rare now than they were in 2002.”

Recommended by Jaya Saxena: “This was a great look at the realities of dining out when you’re blind, and brought up a lot of things that I, as a sighted person, hadn’t thought about before. Just a great layout of what it would take to make the experience actually equitable.”

Recommended by Dr. Andrea Wojnicki: “This is the first time I read the term ‘Fitfluencer,’ but I immediately understood what it means. Unfortunately, I know too well the negative impact that fitfluencers can have. I strongly encourage you to read this article to learn the 4 rules and 1 question that experts recommend we should all keep in mind when we’re on social media and consuming content from fitfluencers. This is important content that we should be reading—and sharing!”

Recommended by Derek Robertson: “Making Ron DeSantis look silly is not exactly a Herculean task. But here The Atlantic’s Helen Lewis plays a classic cultural-crit trick, taking a sure-to-be-forgotten TV interview with the Florida governor and flipping it into a subtle roast of his strange culture-war shadowboxing that transcends mere punditry. The takeaway in short: ‘Please let me play poker against this man.’”

Recommended by Bilge Ebiri: “As a soccer fan growing up in the US, I have seen the sport grow in fits and starts, and I’ve seen a lot of aging superstars come and go. Gabriel Debenedetti’s article really puts the new Messi phenomenon in perspective, while also arguing that this case may well prove to be different. Fascinating reading overall.”

Recommended by the author: “AI data workers are often among the poorest people in the world, despite providing the lifeblood of a multibillion dollar industry. Karya, an Indian nonprofit, promises to do things differently: not only paying workers high wages, but also royalties. My story explores their model, which doesn't exist anywhere else. ”