Hi there!
Trying out something new here. I’ve been putting together lists of the best things I’ve read lately for a while (usually culled from Twitter, Pocket, The Sunday Long Read, and the New Yorker). It’s one of the rare times I post anything on Facebook, which is a less than ideal publishing platform for many reasons. So, like everyone else who is media- or journalism-adjacent, I’m trying my hand at SubStack. I’m not looking to make any money or even reach a wider audience — I just want a place to share recent articles I’ve read, and if people care to, discuss them.
Here are links to some previous #GluckReads, if you’re interested in them:
August 2020: https://www.facebook.com/gluckstadt/posts/10110209074829009
December 2019: https://www.facebook.com/gluckstadt/posts/10109257915405119
December 2018: https://www.facebook.com/gluckstadt/posts/10108200888076359
June 2018: https://www.facebook.com/gluckstadt/posts/10107616278229179
March 2018: https://www.facebook.com/gluckstadt/posts/10107369109886519
December 2017: https://www.facebook.com/gluckstadt/posts/10107074653145189
November 2017: https://www.facebook.com/gluckstadt/posts/10107023394552819
And now, some caveats! I read a lot of great pieces about Covid, Trump, and other current events that were plenty enlightening, but not the kind of thing I could bring myself or encourage others to revisit.
Also, the way I put this together is to go through my archives on Pocket, which means I tend to forget about most of the things I discover in print (New Yorker, New York Magazine, NYT Weekend Edition).
Enough throat-clearing, here’s some great stuff I’ve read lately:
The Most Magical Place on Earth: Inside the great NBA bubble experiment, Taylor Rooks
I don’t think we’ll ever see anything like the NBA bubble, a summer-camp/social experiment/world class athletic competition. Rooks didn’t just have access, she’s got plenty of writing chops, and a penchant for finding the best stories that only could have taken place in the bubble, like when Kawhi Leonard texted his old boss Masai Ujiri about his early morning exercise routine, because he happened to be in the room downstairs.
Pour One Out for the Sports Bar, Steve Rushin
Rushin was one of my favorite writers growing up (always preferred him over Reilly in the SI of my youth), and he does a wonderful job paying tribute to the sports bars we’ve lost — less than a month later, I’d lose my go-to spot, Finnerty’s in the East Village.
'People in their 40s were crying': the sad final days of New York's coolest record store, Si Hawkins
Other Music closed well before the pandemic, but this remembrance (which references a new documentary about its last days) brings out some of what I loved and hated about the place in college where I bought most of my music. Though I don’t think anyone well capture it as well as Aziz Ansari did here:
The Internet Is Not What You Think, Justine Smith
How the Awful Stuff Won, Tom Scocca
Snapchat is TikTok is Instagram is Facebook is Snapchat. What do we do now?, David Pierce
Facebook Is a Doomsday Machine, Adrienne LaFrance
All of these stories might have been described as “internety” at Scocca’s old publication, Gawker. It’s crazy to me how much of internet writing is itself coming to terms with the medium (if it is a medium). Smith’s article found interesting parallels to the rise of the internet in nature and history. Pierce’s story is about the sameness of the major tech platforms and what that means. And LaFrance’s is about how Facebook is going to destroy us all. All of them make convincing arguments.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on Barack Obama’s ‘A Promised Land’
In Americanah, Adichie captured what Obama’s ascension felt like, so I was interested to read her take on Obama’s book that offered a glimpse of what that rise looked like from the inside. The creative writing teacher in her is moved by Obama’s prose, though like many of us, she takes some issue with his detached approach. I also would have liked to seen a little more fire in the book — the one moment when he outlines the screed he was building in his head (about the Deepwater Horizon spill of all things), is a highlight to me and something I would have liked to have seen more of.
How Climate Change Will Reshape America, Abrahm Lustgarten
One of those articles I couldn’t not read. I just wish everyone else felt the same way.
Hijacking History, Izabella Tabarovsky
A fascinating story about an attempted hijacking in which Jews attempted to escape the USSR for Israel. It’s a well-researched accounting of a story I knew nothing about — unfortunately it suffers from the recent tendency of Tablet’s editors to view everything through the lens of “cancel culture,” which has hampered my enjoyment of what used to be one of my favorite publications.
Future Shock, Abraham Riesman
Every year, the movie Children of Men becomes more relevant and prescient. I realized shortly into Riesman’s piece that I had read it back when it was published in 2016, but that didn’t stop me from plowing through it again.
Cake Weather, Holly Anderson
A short and beautiful story from a writer I know mostly for her sports writing.
Audio’s Opportunity and Who Will Capture It, Matthew Ball
This is long and dry, but if you can get through it you’ll have an elevated understanding of the history of the music industry and where it stands right now.
Fun Stories Whose Titles Say It All:
Experience: I was swallowed by a hippo, Paul Templer
An Oral History of the World’s Biggest Coupon, Ron Lieber
How UPPAbaby Strollers Became Status Symbols, Seth Stevenson
The Genius of Spelling Bee, Deb Amlen
Grapefruit Is One of the Weirdest Fruits on the Planet, Dan Nosowitz
No, My Toddler Doesn’t Need to Learn to Code, Chavie Lieber
Hope you enjoy!