Welcome to week 14 of Internet of Literal Things. The weird, wacky, wonderful, and wild of the world wide web seems to be several-too-many “w’s” and a perfect place for me to start. I’m Sara Nason, a fellow person on the internet, who happens to have many hours on hand to read random articles that are tucked into multiple crevices in my phone.
If you’re just now joining this newsletter, welcome, welcome. You’ve missed my many weekends of ranting about the mysterious spaces that appear in some of my sentences due to a broken keyboard that I refuse to fix. I’ve learned today that in some copy-pasting (Command-C, Command-V for the youngin’s here) exercises I’ve been performing as of late, new spaces appear? I’m not sure what’s happening, and I can guarantee you I won’t find out why it’s happening, but thank you for joining me as I continue to complain — the self-fulfilling prophecy of every 90-year-old’s idea of what only my generation does.
You may be wondering why I titled this weekend’s newsletter I Almost Forgot — well, in an attempt to spend my weekend off of my computer, I almost forgot that I send out this newsletter every Sunday. I was trying to… how do you say… adult, which can’t be taken as a serious attempt because, this week, I made my friend FaceTime me from Dallas, TX to digitally hold my hand while I cut my bangs by myself for the first time (and managed to have a minor panic about the type of scissor I used and if I was allowed to cut my own bangs). For those of you asking, Sara, how did the bangs-cutting-excursion go? Well, I did it. My bangs have been successfully trimmed.
I’ve also now made plans with my neighbor in twenty different ways that we will both not follow through on, including, but not limited to: paddleboarding, playing tennis, going kayaking, having a barbeque, planting a garden in our shared backyard, her taking care of my tomato plants while I’m out of town. Am I doing this adult thing right? Don’t let me know.
So, strangers of the internet, here we go. I Almost Forgot! for the Internet of Literal Things #14.
(While we’re at it, become a paying subscriber for $5 a month to support all of the links that bring this W-focused newsletter your way every Sunday.)
What I’m Reading
How birds and bees survive in the city (CityLab)
With more storms and rising seas, which US cities should be saved? (NY Times)
A corrected map error from 1897 creates more headaches for Charleston (US News)
Brand logos viewed from above (why do birds)
Why these Hong Kong protests are different (CityLab)
Data is person: 42 interviews in rural America (Medium)
Facebook’s content moderation sweatshops in America (The Verge)
Ta-Nehisi Coates’s testimony on reparations (The Atlantic)
Who profits when pain becomes art? (Garage)
How Senator Elizabeth Warren would try to ban private prisons (Politico)
How New York’s media covered the Stonewall Riots (CityLab)
‘Queer Eye’ renewed for Seasons 4 and 5 (Variety)
Naked, Afraid, and Transgender: ‘The wilderness couldn’t care less’ (NY Times)
What I’m Visually Experiencing
A subway map of human anatomy in the style of the London Underground (Open Culture)
Tan France gives John Mulaney a hypebeast makeover (YouTube)
Seth and Rihanna go day drinking (YouTube)
Wyclef Jean - Under A Rock with Tig Notaro (YouTube)
What I’m Listening To
Sunny Day Playlist (Spotify)
🏆 A Photo of An #UglyDogs Related Thing On The Internet 🥇
Subscribe for $5 a month to support the number of links I have to read a week to provide this meta-commentary on my life and Gen Z society. You’ll also get an essay of more meta-commentary every so often from me and will support the creation of my eventual move to podcast.