Before we delve into the posts we’re reading and loving elsewhere on the internet, don’t miss Philippa Willitts with her meditation on what made her give up pro-life ideology.
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‘Before Parkland, Santa Fe and Columbine…There Was Concord High‘ (Natalia Megas for Narratively)
Violence on school grounds in the U.S. is not a new phenomenon, though it’s grown much worse in the 21st century. This intense account of a school shooting that happened long before ‘school shootings’ were a thing is a stellar look at an early data point in an epidemic.
Cartier arrived at the office with the shotgun drawn. He wore an ammunition belt, purposefully pulled around the front for quicker access, said police, and carried a wicker jug of Pink Catawba wine. In a town where hunting was popular, it was common to see pickup trucks adorned with gun racks, but to see a gun inside the school was stunning. Assistant principal Mark Roth asked Cartier to hand over the gun, and when Cartier pulled away, Roth closed the door to his inner office and paged his secretary.
‘The Laser Battle Against Blood-Sucking Parasites of the Deep‘ (Amanda Little for Wired)
Farmed fish is the wave of the future, but it doesn’t come without hazards. Confining fish in small areas makes them much more susceptible to disease, and when parasites move in, they can be extremely difficult to eradicate, potentially threatening years worth of work.
Many threats exist in ocean aquaculture. A plague of jellyfish can wipe out a cage of salmon in one fell swoop. An algae bloom can starve the fish of oxygen. A breach in the cage netting can result in a mass escape. Aarskog’s problem is worse—and almost imperceptible. Lurking among the captive fish is a tiny nemesis: Lepeophtheirus salmonis, aka the sea louse.
‘It Isn’t That Shocking‘ (Leslie Kendall Dye for Longreads)
ECT is sensationalised, and highly misunderstood. This personal account from someone who received it and felt the benefits is a must-read if your vision of ECT is of a grim room with white-clad doctors and dangerously high voltages.
If I seemed to be vanishing in the diffuse light of Southern California, the black and white crispness of New York City called to me. New York City became the room I hunted for. Fueled by the adrenal energy of desperation, I got myself back to New York City with the last of my savings.
‘The Surge‘ (Melissa del Bosque for Texas Observer)
The Texas border is growing militarised, and Texans are tired of it.
In 2014, an influx of Central American children and families began arriving at the Texas border requesting asylum, the majority of them coming through Hidalgo and neighboring Starr County, two of the U.S. counties closest to Central America. As their arrival attracted international attention, Perry launched Operation Strong Safety, deploying 1,000 National Guard soldiers and hundreds of DPS troopers to the border. State troopers, he said, would work on a “round the clock basis” to disrupt “drug and human trafficking and other border-related crimes.” At a press conference at the Capitol, Perry proclaimed, “There can be no national security without border security, and Texans have paid too high a price for the federal government’s failure to secure our border.”
‘These Basketball Players Sued Their College For Anti-Gay Discrimination — And Lost‘ (Shannon Keating for Buzzfeed)
Love strikes where love strikes — including between lesbian basketball players at a conservative Christian school.
Months later and a few hundred miles away, White recognized the mystery woman who’d beaten her team that day — while touring Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, as she considered a transfer. Videckis, a recent transfer herself, was one of the Pepperdine students tasked with showing White around campus. The former rivals were now teammates, and, within the year, they fell in love.
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