Day: September 10, 2020

This week: How to hold it all together / Celebrating Spanish women writers / Improving one’s life during the pandemic / Einstein proven right again / The return of art deco

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1. Holding it Together, Falling Apart
By Matthew Salesses | LitHub | September 2020
“Holding it together (as apt a phrase as any for this moment of self-isolation, anxiety, and political failure) implies that there is something coming apart. But what?”

2. Remembering the Forgotten Women Writers of 17th-Century Spain
By Theresa Machemer | SmartNews :: Smithsonian Magazine | September 2020
“A show in Madrid highlights female authors who penned histories, biographies, poetry, novels, scripts and more”

3. The Age of Innocence is a masterclass in sexual tension
By Sam Jordison | Reading Group :: The Guardian | September 2020
“In Edith Wharton’s wonderful novel about New York high society, a simple tap of a fan or glance across a crowded room can feel intensely charged”

4. 11 Ways Smart People Are Using This Crisis to Improve Their Lives
By Andrew Snavely | Primer | September 2020
“In this strange, unprecedented time, we have been given a unique opportunity with social distancing: More space and more time.”

5. Is it safe to open mail and packages during the pandemic?
Viral Questions :: Associated Press | April 2020
“There is no evidence that COVID-19 is spreading through mail or parcels, according to the World Health Organization and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

6. A star orbiting the Milky Way’s giant black hole confirms Einstein was right
By Emily Conover | Science News | April 2020
“Decades of observations revealed the rotation of the star’s elliptical orbit”

7. A century after art deco’s birth, designers say we’re due for a revival
By Michelle Brunner | The Washington Post | April 2020
“A hundred years after the 1920s came roaring in, the era’s signature aesthetic continues to inspire design snobs and regular folks alike. Art deco — that familiar style of art, architecture and design with a sometimes-wacky blend of historic and futuristic influences — is still beloved. And if trend forecasters are to be believed, we are ripe for a full-scale art deco revival.”

8. I Dream of COVID
By Grace Gravley | Spring 2020
“I was curious to know how the anxieties of the moment would translate to our dreams.”

9. Can You Tell If Someone Is Smiling Just by Their Eyes?
By Katie Heaney | The Cut :: New York Magazine | April 2020
“Though Tyra Banks taught us to smize, I personally have gotten the sense that people I’ve smiled at from behind my mask haven’t really understood that I’m smiling at them.”

10. The charm of elderberries
By Niki Segnit | 1843 :: The Economist | December / January 2020
“A cooked elderberry tastes somewhere between a ripe red plum and a prune. Just don’t eat them raw”