President Joe Biden, “timeless” weddings, and more

I’m forever interested in the vibecession (which is a colloquially known, so-called recession on positivity and hope.) The awkward place we’ve found the national mood in post-pandemic has become increasingly difficult to define and understand. Things feel bad a lot of the time, and it can be overwhelming to try and comprehend it all, even on a week-to-week basis. That’s why I’m grateful to my super smart colleagues for taking the time to cover the most chaotic parts of our world, and succinctly explain why it all matters.

From the havoc the Olympics can wreak on a host city, to the current drama surrounding the election, it’s been a busy, weird month already. Stay cool and read, watch, and listen to our coverage across Vox, where we’re clearing up all your questions on what’s going on right now. However, don’t fret — it turns out the vibes are a lot better right now than you’d think, despite the heat!

—Melinda Fakuade, culture editor

📹  Can Paris fix its poop problem before the Olympics?

Paris is in a, well, shit ton of trouble leading up to the Olympics this year, which kick off on July 26. You might have heard about a “poop protest” in France, from citizens who are infuriated at the unsafe situation in the Seine. Swimmers are set to race in the river anyway, but some argue it’s a biohazard. This enlightening video on the issue explains what it’ll take for Paris to clean up its act in time for the games. 

🎧 The existential struggle of being Black

This thought-provoking episode of The Gray Area tackles philosophical movements like existentialism and Afro-pessimism in the Black experience. It’s a heady listen, but Sean Illing’s interview with author and professor Nathalie Etoke raises a question that has remained relevant across the world, for all of time, and that surely can be used as an empathetic framework for what’s going on in the news today: “What does it mean to be human when you've been historically dehumanized?

Scientists strapped cameras to a bunch of polar bears. The footage is breathtaking — and alarming.

Senior environmental reporter Benji Jones reports on the issues that the shrinking polar bear population is facing in the Arctic. While these fascinating videos seem cute, it’s also sad to see what experts are calling possible “acts of desperation,” as they eat berries and spend more time on land.

🎧 Joe Almighty

If you’re just as baffled as I am about what’s going on with President Joe Biden after that first debate, listen to this episode of Today, Explained, which unpacks the worrisome white-knuckling around the Biden reelection campaign.

The false promise of the “timeless” wedding

It turns out that when you try to make an event feel timeless, you can inadvertently end up making it feel dated anyway. This piece from senior correspondent Rebecca Jennings is a fitting response to the barrage of TikToks and articles that advise on how to creatively produce a picture perfect wedding that doesn’t feel frozen in time. Spoiler: it’s an impossible endeavor!

The world’s emotional status is actually pretty good, a new global report finds

I was surprised to learn in this piece from Future Perfect staff writer Oshan Jarow that people are actually much happier than one would expect, with young people leading the charge even during “the vibecession.” While “life satisfaction” is a different issue, on an emotional level, we’re not doing too bad — who knew!

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