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:
What’s happening to my body? (Devorah Heitner, Longreads)
“On that hot, hot day, I skipped my usual swim skirt and swam around in Lake Michigan in just my plain tank suit, dodging between little kids and hardcore older lady swimmers. Pulling myself in long strokes through the freezing cold water, I realized nobody cared about my thighs — except for me, and I adore them. They are mine and they were getting me out past the buoys and back.”
‘Soulful Vanilla Child’: When Pink Was Black (Ashley Reese, Jezebel)
“I wasn’t yet aware of the concept of blue-eyed soul—R&B and soul music performed by white artists—so the idea of white women making music that sounded like Pink’s simply didn’t compute. Besides, Pink’s style felt black—her aesthetic copied black trends: the baggy pants and tank top combo, the hair cut that could have easily been featured in a 1998 issue of Black Hair magazine.”
When Choice is 221 Miles Away: The Nightmare of Getting an Abortion in the South (Becca Andrews, Mother Jones)
“After rushing into the clinic cocooned by her companions, Kate faced the metal detector, putting her wallet in a dish. The strict security was jarring the first time she visited, even though it’s pretty typical in clinics. Still, she couldn’t bring herself to unclasp the vintage necklace she almost never takes off; she breathed a sigh of relief when it didn’t trigger the alarm. Her cellphone was left in the van—another security measure, meant to protect patient privacy and stymie anti-abortion activists who pose as patients and film inside clinics—making her feel even more alone. She hadn’t told her mother, who was battling a serious illness, about her pregnancy, or her new boyfriend. Just about everyone she had told was in the clinic with her.”
Competitive Oyster Shucking Is Real, Decadent, And China’s Best Party (Noelle Mateer, Deadspin)
“I’d heard of Li before I met him, while standing around at a regional shuck off in Beijing, where the Canadian champs who’d flown in referred to him as “this one guy in Shanghai” with hushed reverence. Li has now traveled to Ireland to compete at the Galway International Oyster Festival twice, though he doesn’t fare as well there as he does at home. The native oysters there are challenging, a kind he doesn’t have access to in China, where he practices on flat Belons. He arrived in Ireland jealous of the other contestants who’d had a chance to practice, and the many contestants who’d been participating for years. The word Li uses for “practice” can also be translated as “study.””
I was Caroline Calloway (Natalie Beach, The Cut)
“When I was a sophomore in college, I took a creative-nonfiction workshop and met a girl who was everything I wasn’t. The point of the class was to learn to write your own story, but from the moment we met, I focused instead on helping her tell her own, first in notes after workshop, then later editing her Instagram captions and co-writing a book proposal she sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
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