I don’t think I’ve ever read a book review quite like Michiko Kakutani’s take on Volker Ullrich’s Hitler: Ascent, 1889-1939 for the New York Times. The review generated headlines of its own. The Huffington Post said, “New York Times Brutally Subtweets Trump With Hitler Biography Review.” The Washington Post’s take was, “This New York Times…
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Recommended Reading
Yesterday, the New York Times published a fascinating story by Ellen Barry on young rural women in India who are recruited to move to Bangalore to work in factories. There, the women — some of them teenagers — make products for Westerners, including Marks & Spencer miniskirts. The work is relentless, the hours are long,…
Recommended Reading: Painkillers and Prince
The Los Angeles Times has published a must-read story about how the promotion of OxyContin helped set off the prescription opioid epidemic in the U.S. The investigation by Harriet Ryan, Lisa Girion and Scott Glover found that even before OxyContin went on the market in 1996, clinical trials showed that the effects of OxyContin showed…
Recommended Reading: “Last Men Standing”
George Michael’s quote in yesterday’s post about “the years when HIV was a killer” reminded me that I’ve been meaning to share the San Francisco Chronicle’s “Last Men Standing” project. The Chronicle described its package of print and digital stories and film this way: “They outlived an epidemic, but San Francisco’s AIDS survivors are still…
Throwback Thursday: Daisies and Dave Stewart
Erica M. Blumenthal, writing for the New York Times Thursday Styles section, has declared that this is the year of the daisy: “Expect a floral explosion as spring fashion starts to arrive in stores, and no flower is getting more love this season than the daisy. The relentlessly cheerful print, iconic in a grungy way…
Recommended Reading and Week in Review
While sitting in a waiting room early this month, I dug through the pile of old magazines until I found an October Rolling Stone with Keith Richards on the cover. Later that night, at a holiday party, I bumped into a friend of mine who is a longtime music journalist. We chatted about various musicians,…
You Might Literally Die If You Miss My Jewelry Sale
If you missed Jessica Bennett’s recent New York Times story on the latest developments in Internet-speak, you better read it if you ever hope to communicate with me again. Srsly, the new jargon is so second-nature for me now that I just can’t even when people don’t use it. When I get a text, email…
Throwback Thursday: My Big-Hoop-Earring Prediction
Last year, I declared that big hoop earrings were due for a comeback after the fashion-world frenzy for ear cuffs, ear climbers, earring jackets, “front-back” earrings and mismatched studs. About the latter style, I said, “This look has fashion editors hitting the piercing parlors so they can load up on more studs.” Today, multiple ear…
Recommended Reading: Ketzel the Composing Cat
I’ve written before that the most beneficial way to read a newspaper is in its print form, even though it’s not always beneficial for newspapers to continue to produce a print edition these days. But as long as print exists, I’ll read it, because act of turning the pages means I come across articles that…
Things I’ve Read: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Several recent articles have grabbed my attention for various reasons — sometimes, unpleasant reasons. Starting out on the bright side, I enjoyed the Wall Street Journal’s story about how Janis Joplin came to write the acapella song, “Mercedes Benz.” CLICK HERE TO READ THE WSJ STORY ABOUT JANIS JOPLIN. As a designer, I’m always interested…