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Must reads: empty nest, Céline, royal gossip, Narcan, anti-vaxx propaganda

Walrus

Welcome back to our weekly round-up of the long reads on the web that are worth the investment. If you want to make sure you don’t miss future Global Comment content, don’t forget to sign up to our newsletter right at the bottom of this post.

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Now, the links you’re here for:

Inside the cut-throat world of royal gossips (K. J. Yossman, Marie Claire)

“And in May, as the world awaited Archie’s arrival, the Daily Mail’s longtime royal correspondent Rebecca English tweeted: “My son just said he was ‘going to say a prayer to God that Meghan doesn’t have her baby today so you can come to my guitar recital as I’m so nervous and it won’t be the same if Mummy isn’t there,’” with a tearful emoji.”

I thought I was prepared for the youngest leaving home. I stand there, stirring a huge pot of pasta (Tracey Thorn, New Statesman)

“Only a few weeks ago, I wrote about school days coming to an end, and there were a few tears then, but not many, and the moment passed with more in the way of relief than regret. This feels different. And different to when his older sisters left. He’s the last. However I dress it up, it’s the end of something.”

The underground network of Kiwis who fight anti-vaxx propaganda (Michelle Duff, Stuff)

“Some of them are parents. Some of them are scientists. Some of them would be named, and others most definitely would not. But all of them have one thing in common – a personal mission to counter the spread of fake or pseudo-science around vaccines, and a belief that public health entities are not taking the threat seriously enough.”

Magic Eraser Juice (Elizabeth Rosen, Hazlitt)

“They say heroin is amazing. It’s a cheat code. That it’s better than any other feeling that you’ve ever had up until that moment. Everything you’ve ever tried for, every challenge you’ve failed or risen to, every struggle and every injury, it all just falls into place. It was all worth it, every minute, every gasp, to bring you here to this moment. It’s meditation, it’s orgasm.”

Céline Dion is everywhere (Suzannah Showler, The Walrus)

“Céline’s time in the desert has been epic. I mean that in the classical sense: lengthy, episodic, featuring the triumphs of a heroine. Over the past sixteen years, she has performed in Vegas 1,141 times. That’s around 1,141 days of total vocal rest to save herself for the show, 1,141 times yelling, “Shall we go for it?” at the audience, 1,141 E-flat-fives belted at full volume while doing the kind of Gumby-like back bend a yoga teacher would call a heart opener. Céline—is it okay if I call her Céline?—has opened her whole bleeding heart to 4.5 million people in Vegas alone.”

Image credit: fBlar