Saturday morning reads 🔗
Notre Dame came far closer to collapsing than people knew. This is how it was saved. - This in-depth investigation of what happened in the minutes after the first fire alarm went off at Notre Dame de Paris is an incredible piece of journalism. The web-native graphics are worth it by themselves, and the reporting is great.
James Monroe Enslaved Hundreds. Their Descendants Still Live Next Door. - This is a fascinating read about a community of African-Americans who live just down the road from the plantation where their ancestors were enslaved. It’s a good reminder for Americans that our past is not actually in the past.
Rebuilding Jane Austen’s Library - A university in Canada has launched a virtual reconstruction of the library that provided Jane Austen with her influences. You can browse the library, see how the books were shelved, and even see images from inside many of the volumes. This is really cool, especially for a lit nerd.
Daniel Tiger is my personal parenting guru - Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood is the successor to Mister Roger’s Neighborhood. As the parent of a two-year-old, I can tell you that the little animated tiger has a whole lot of wisdom to share. We don’t do much screen time in our home, but when we do, it’s almost always for Daniel Tiger.
The long listen 🎧
Where Jonathan Haidt thinks the American mind went wrong - Since 2015, Jonathan Haidt has been arguing that overprotective parenting is creating an entire generation of Americans who are fragile and cannot mediate interpersonal issues without bureaucratic backup. Over the last four years the data has increasingly shown that there is something seriously wrong with the way we are raising our kids. Mental health issues are on the rise among Gen Z—and it’s not a small rise either. Suicide rates in teen girls are up 70%, and up 25% in teen boys. In this long interview with Ezra Klein, Haidt unpacks some of the (not very) surprising reasons behind these scary trends.
A new look 👀
In addition to renaming my newsletter, I have also moved it to a new platform, Substack. I’m excited about the new possibilities it will bring in the future.
Finally 👋
Thanks for subscribing and reading! I’d love to hear your feedback on the changes to this newsletter. Just hit reply to share them. Have a great weekend!
Brian