Before we delve into the posts we’re reading and loving elsewhere on the internet, don’t miss Nanette Spurr’s commentary on the American left’s silence about antisemitism.
And subscribe to the Global Comment podcast on iTunes or Soundcloud.
‘NASA is learning the best way to grow food in space‘ (Sarah Scoles for Popular Science)
If you’re going to venture into space, you need food. If you’re going to be out there a long time, you really need to be able to grow your own, as science fiction novels have been reminding us for decades. So how’s that whole learning how to grow food in space thing working out for us?
People have anticipated this scenario for more than a century. In 1880, science-fiction author Percy Greg wrote Across the Zodiac, a novel about an astronaut who traveled to Mars with plants to recycle waste. Fifteen years later, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, a Russian rocket scientist, wrote Dreams of Earth and Sky, which laid out how space farers and flora could live together inside a closed system.
‘How Houston Lost Its Mind Over a Trump Shirt‘ (Mimi Swartz for Texas Monthly)
Have you ever done something that was honestly pretty stupid purely spontaneously, without really thinking it through, and almost immediately regretted it? Did you admit it, and apologise? What happened next? In this terrifying tale, a woman’s self-admittedly really inappropriate action led to a hailstorm of consequences that she’s still dealing with. At what point do we agree that someone has paid enough?
No one can deny that what Kellye did was profoundly dumb, and dumber still given the state of the country and given the politics of West U. The Neighborhood City is not only wealthy but also nearly 90 percent white, which can make it seem more homogeneous than many other Houston communities. Politically, though, the area is almost evenly divided, and therefore evenly polarized, between Democrats and Republicans.
‘It’s All Too Much, and We Still Have to Care‘ (Dahlia Lithwick for Slate)
People are, rightly, disturbed about family separation and other abuses happening at the border. But it’s important to note that some of these policies are relics of the Obama and Bush administrations, that horror has been unfolding along the US-Mexico border for a long time, and we need to engage with this history at the same time we address the current state of border and customs enforcement.
Most of the women I know are as heartsick about the obscene actions taking place at the borders as I am. I think a year ago we would have been out on the streets, were the government stealing the children of asylum-seekers and refugees and sending them halfway across the country or stacking them up like lumber in detention facilities. But today, I worry, we are horrified but numb. We want to be told what to do.
‘A Theory of Animals‘ (Karla Cornejo Villavicencio for Jezebel)
It is a dangerous time to be an immigrant of colour in the US, especially for Latinx people. When the head of the government is calling you an ‘animal,’ what do you do? When people insist on ignoring your contributions to society or suggest you live huddled in the shadows when you’ve spent much of your life engaging with the community in the light, how do you respond?
But among young Latinx immigrants, after the Trump comments went viral, there was some radical reclaiming of the word “animal” that piqued my interest. In particular, there was a video of a fifth-grade girl whose father was deported and who gave an impassioned speech in which she said, “The president says Mexican immigrants are animals. We are not animals! But if I was, I’d be a black panther, fighting against racism and inequality!” The crowd roared.
‘The Fight for the Right to Be Cremated by Water‘ (Emily Atkin for The New Republic)
In the 20th century, the big battle in disposition was for the right to flame-based cremation. Now, there’s a new player on the scene, and it’s encountering the same level of resistance. Do you think alkaline hydrolysis (‘aquamation’) will be commonplace and widely accepted in the 22nd century?
But Sieber may not get her wish of being aquamated when she dies. Only 15 states allow alkaline hydrolysis for human remains, and Indiana, where Sieber lives and where Bio-Response is based, is not one of them. Casket-makers and the Catholic Church are working to make sure it stays that way.
And hey: Much like public radio, we’re listener supported. If you enjoy our work, please consider supporting us with a one time or recurring donation.
Photo: Jessp713/Creative Commons