Global Comment

Where the world thinks out loud

The web’s top three #18

London

The news at the moment is frantic, with fresh information flashed in front of us every few minutes. So much so that we can find ourselves missing the slow, thoughtful, considerate words that our brains – and souls – need. This weekly update can provide that for you. We do this by distilling the best of the web and recommending just three links every week that you absolutely must see.

No fluff, no fuss, just three exceptional reads. Here are this week’s recommendations:

1. Sacrifice (Matthew Bremner / Hazlitt)

For almost sixty years, with no help or architectural expertise, Justo Gallego Martínez had been constructing a cathedral near the size of the Sagrada Familia using waste and recycled materials.

When the monk started his project, the locals had called him a madman. Since then, he had fought with family members, created enemies, and won an adoring international public. He had also never formalized the structure, which means that his cathedral was illegal. The Official College of Architects of Madrid confirmed that “not even the preliminary papers [for registration] have been submitted.”

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‘2. State-sanctioned violence:’ Inside one of the thousands of schools that still paddle students (Tara García Mathewson / The Hechinger Report)

Johnson is the principal of Mississippi’s Collins Elementary School, where the paddle remains a staple of the educational experience. Local records show that nearly half the time students faced formal discipline this school year, their consequence was a paddling. Almost every week, sometimes multiple times per week, some of the school’s 328 students were pulled out of class because of a behavior problem, but unlike students in the vast majority of schools nationwide, their consequence was physical.

As of late April, educators pulled out the paddle 20 times on kindergartners, twice on first graders, 31 times on second graders, 16 times on third graders and 10 times on fourth graders.

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3. PRO CHOICE (maddylucydann)

@maddylucydann #stitch with @spucprolife ♬ Epic Emotional – AShamaluevMusic

Image: alevision.co