Kickoff For May 2, 2022
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Monday Kickoff, a collection of what I’ve found interesting, informative, and insightful on the web over the last seven days.
Let’s get this Monday started with these links:
Ideas
Nostalgia for Nostalgia, wherein Alexandra Fiorentino-Swinton examines how their generation views nostalgia compared to the (very different) view held by their parents’ (mainly analog) generation.
Ours is the Waste Age: that’s the key to tranforming the future, wherein Justin McGuirk explores what a culture of waste is, how it came about, and why we need to take it seriously.
City of Weeds: On Wastelands and the Emergence of Urban Ecology, wherein Matthew Gandy examines the diversity and wonders of urban flora, in all of its forms.
Arts and Literature
On Writing: An Abecedarian, wherein Priscilla Long looks at the aspects, history, and joys of writing, using a unique literary form.
The Beatle Who Got Away, wherein we learn a bit about the influence that Stuart Sutcliffe had on the nascent music legends, even after his death.
Everyone’s a Critic, wherein Richard Joseph looks at how book reviewing and literary criticism has changed in recent years, becoming more snarky and akin to hatchet jobs rather than balanced, nuanced critiques.
Travel
The Yankee Who Didn’t Go Home: On Robert Whiting’s “Tokyo Junkie”, wherein, through his memoir, we see Japan from the perspective of a long-time foreign resident of Tokyo.
A dispatch from the end of travel’s brief, troubled golden age, wherein Henry Wismayer examines how he became addicted to travel, how the act of travel has changed over the last couple of decades, and what travel means to him now.
Kanazawa’s Empty Spaces, wherein Steven Seidenberg and Carolyn L. White take us on a tour of the abandoned houses and empty lots of the Japanese city, and give use a glimpse into the changes in modern urban Japan.
And that’s it for this Monday. Come back in seven days for another set of links to start off your week.