This week’s top 5 long reads

This Top 5 focuses on Ukraine’s rebellious underground beauty salons, the fight for wild butterfly populations, the meaning of a quilt made in Gee’s Bend, Alabama, the world of the Criterion Collection, and the changing role of call center workers. I’m guessing.

Sofia Panich | Allure | February 22, 2024 | 4,531 words

As Ukraine’s war enters its third year, the country’s hair salons have become symbols of perseverance and resistance. Salon owners go to work despite the constant threat of missile attacks. They moved their business underground. If electricity and water are not available, run a generator and use bottled water. They also adapted to working in the dark, painting customers’ nails under the light of headlamps. They are unfazed by air raid warnings and are accustomed to calculating risks. Sirens can sound up to 12 times a day, a hairdresser from the front-line city of Zaporizhzhia told Sofia Panich. She says, “At that pace, it would take me a whole day to get just one facial done.” In this work, Panitch asks, “Can beauty exist even in a society at war?” For many salon owners in central and eastern Ukraine, the answer is a resounding yes. While many Ukrainian women feel a deep sense of patriotism and a duty to boost the economy, salon patrons cut their hair and get their nails done to take control and find some normalcy during uncertain times. “Every blowout, every massage, every pedicure they offer is an expression of defiance against the enemy who wants them destroyed,” Panitch writes. They are also collective acts of self-care. Panich, a longtime beauty editor with Ukrainian roots, said she had been looking for a way to write about the country since 2022, but she couldn’t find the right angle. But her report here on the unexpected resilience of Ukraine’s beauty industry is wonderfully summed up in a moving account of the courage and resourcefulness of ordinary citizens during a time of war. —CLR

Brian Payton Hakai Magazine | February 27, 2024 | 4,000 words

In his latest work, hakai magazine, Brian Payton creates excitement from the beginning. “They’re voracious and roaming around. A dozen or so larvae, newly emerged from six months of suspended animation, are clambering over crumpled paper towels in plastic cups.” I love Peyton’s writing. is. We don’t know the names of these creatures yet, but we’re already rooting for them. These are the larvae of the Taylor Checkerspot butterfly. They prefer “bright, moist, open wildflower meadows” and were once abundant from Oregon’s Willamette Valley to British Columbia’s Vancouver Island. Today, only 13 individuals remain in the wild, but conservationists in the U.S. and Canada, including the incarcerated women who care for the butterflies, are continuing to recognize the butterflies and the important role they play in life. Trying to change things for people who don’t understand. our star. “Insects contribute to the creation and maintenance of the natural systems on which life on earth depends,” he writes. “A world with fewer insects is the same as a world with fewer plants, animals, and food.” Peyton’s work is educational, entertaining, and a welcome and necessary spark of joy. This butterfly is particularly stunning, and Peyton has recorded thoughtful details. “In April or May, they emerge as adults and take flight with bright red or orange and white wings edged with black, reminiscent of the brightly colored geometric patterns of stained glass windows. ” What is perhaps the most beautiful thing (besides knowing that the collective noun for butterflies is a kaleidoscope)? Taylor checkerspot butterflies have a lifespan of only 14 days, but during that time they help life thrive on Earth. Does that mean humans are coming together to help the species? That sets my hopes up. —K.S.

Janet Cooperman General Reader | February 21, 2024 | 5,680 words

Gee’s Bend, Alabama is famous for its quilters. You may have seen their work in museums or on U.S. postage stamps. It’s abstract, geometric, and captivating. Quilters are Black women who are descendants of slaves, and their craft is a tradition born of necessity. To keep warm, have a soft place to sleep, and swaddle a newborn, our quilter ancestors made what they needed with what they had. So what do we make of the modern appreciation of Gees-She-Bend-She-Kilts, which focuses on beauty over function, or is it the forces of capitalism that led to this admiration in the first place? There’s a moment in this essay by Janet Cooperman when one of the quilters asks the author, “Do you know who discovered art?” This line was like a Russian questioning doll and took my breath away. To address this issue in a meaningful way, we need to ask other questions about the nature of art, the dynamics of discovery, and how knowledge is shared across time and space. Cooperman successfully connects these lines of inquiry throughout her essay, but at the same time, trying too hard to answer them risks missing the point of creating and experiencing beauty: action and emotion. It also suggests that. “Quilts were about loving people; and preserving and reusing paid homage to the material world,” Cooperman writes. “When her husband in Petway, Missouri, died, she made a quilt out of his old work clothes. . . . so she could warm herself with his memory and say, ‘For love.’ I was able to hide myself underneath.”SD

joshua hunt | new york times magazine | February 29, 2024 | 4,230 words

There are three main types of business profiles. There’s the classic “Rise and Fall,” driven by schadenfreude, the beloved comeback “A Tale of Redemption,” and “A Company at a Crossroads.” Everything can be convincing. Everything can feel like sponsored content. Joshua Hunt’s feature on the film’s popular republisher, the Criterion Collection, manages to avoid this problem. culture More of a story than a business. Criterion started with LaserDisc and then moved to DVD and streaming. What hasn’t changed is Hunt’s seemingly bottomless love of film and obsession with supplementary material, which Hunt conveys through director interviews and Criterion employees. Cinephile icons (Jim Jarmusch, Kelly Reichardt), A24 favorites (Safdie Brothers), and even Michael Bay all appear to discuss their favorite Criterion memories. It also exposes Criterion’s shortcomings, including its tendency to ignore black filmmakers and the heavy sacrifices its streaming strategy imposes, helping to push the film out of Valentine’s territory. Obsession is as universal as single-mindedness, and stories like this are perfect proof of that. I may never have the encyclopedic knowledge of these filmmakers, but I also never tire of reading about other people’s lifelong passions. —PR

Sophie Elmhirst | 1843 Magazine | February 2, 2024 | 4,739 words

“It reminds me of processed cheese, Sophie,” says Gary, who works in a call center, during a conversation with Sophie Elmhirst about AI technology. Gary tells the story. He loves Gary. An instantly endearing character, he embodies the sense of individuality that can be lost as call center work moves further into the realm of robots. Don’t get me wrong. When a customer calls service, Gary doesn’t always answer. Elmhirst narrates some of her not-so-fun phone calls with her trademark dry humor (you can relate, too). But Gary from Vision Direct makes her laugh by walking her through how to order her new contacts, as if they were “participating in a high-stakes collaborative project.” . As she takes him to the interview, she further learns that despite having worked in a call center for 20 years, the joy he brings to his customers is contagious. Can AI reproduce this? Maybe. The automation of empathy has already begun, with developments happening faster than the public or regulators can keep up. In fact, as Elmhirst points out, ChatGPT recently scored better than the general population on a standardized emotion recognition test, according to a paper published in the journal frontiers of psychology. (I’m not sure if this is talking about ChatGPT or the general public.) As is often the case with AI, we often talk about hybrid roles, but inevitably , there is less room for traditional call center workers. The topic of using AI in customer service calls could get incredibly boring. Elmhirst makes it very entertaining. Gary makes it human. —C.W.

audience award

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