Ann Friedman - An organism of advanced age

On my little vacation last week, I paid a visit to what could very well be the world's oldest living organisms: a forest of bristlecone pines. The very oldest among them has a verified age of 4,855 years. I've been rolling that number around in my head and feeling like a cosmic baby ever since, fresh and new and brief in the universe. And—not to get all life-coachy about it—also comforted by the fact that the trees that live the longest are the ones that have faced the most adversity and figured out how to keep living, through it all. 

The return of the misguided political push for hetero marriage, searingly chronicled by Rebecca Traister, reminded me of this all-time classic piece of journalism by Katherine Boo about how wedlock is clearly not a pathway out of poverty. 

Morgan Jerkins on why Black audiences love Italian-American films that expose how thorny whiteness really is.

Artist and quiltmaker Avis Collis Robinson on the difficult history of denim. 

The Golden Bachelor mirrors our culture's ideas about aging and desirability, writes clinical sexologist Myisha Battle. (If you like this piece, you'll love her book and e-zine.)

The moving story of a murder in Texas, a death penalty, and how the progress toward execution changed both the killer and the family of the man he killed. Neelanjana Banerjee spent years reporting and writing this, and it's worth your time.

"Why did I need to shoot guns to write about guns?" Rachel Monroe asks—and answers—some questions about firearms and culture and Texas.

And writing fellow Paige Curtis casts her Bad Environmentalist eye on household pests. I read this one with vengeance in my heart for the mosquito who hides in my bedroom every day and bites the hell out of me every night.

A 3D rendering of Tenochtitlan. A Japanese factory that makes textiles with cassettes.

Or is it: Evolve and repeat?

'Every Friday my partner looks forward to me sending him all the links to these articles so he can read them out loud to me while I do paint by numbers. It’s our fav Friday tradition." - Monique. Reading aloud is its own love language.