RG: Discussions about race, particularly in mixed company, are often combative and contentious. How the hell do we talk about race? TC: No idea. I just try to communicate with as much honesty and respect as possible. I think we should not forget that a not so insufficient portion of this country sees it as […]
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Posted inNonfiction, Quotes, Uncategorized
Every Kiss Begins with Kay… And Strategic Placement in Your Suburban Shopping Mall
In “Kay, Zales, and Marketing Diamonds to the Middle-Class Man”—a recent feature for Racked—Chavie Lieber wrote about Signet Jewelers, the parent company that owns such household names as Kay Jewelers, Jared, and Zales. Signet became the largest specialty jewelry company in America by targeting the midmarket jewelry segment, knowing their customer base, and doing some serious marketing. Trust also plays […]
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Industrialization and the History of the Matzo Machine
For centuries matzo was a handmade specialty, carefully rolled into a thin, cratered moon shape and pricked with a fork. Today, many Orthodox communities still make this version — called shmurah — which is supervised by a rabbi from start to finish. But industrialization in the mid–nineteenth century forever changed the matzo industry. Historians trace the first […]
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We Are All Confident Idiots
David Dunning, the psychologist who gave the Dunning-Kruger effect (half) its name, reflects on our human propensity to wildly overestimate how much we know.
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Who Killed Dolly Wilde?
A short story by Megan Mayhew Bergman, imagining the life and mysterious death of Oscar Wilde’s niece, Dorothy Wilde.
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Why Big Food Is Feasting on ‘Natural’ Startups
Fortune writer Beth Kowitt reports on the packaged-food industry’s response to an existential crisis: Shoppers are seeking alternatives they deem healthier and more authentic than legacy brands. In addition to selling fruit and veggie drinks, Bolthouse grows and packages fresh carrots—an old-fashioned, weather-sensitive farming business that Morrison suspected would be a turnoff for any packaged-goods […]
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Finalists for the 2015 Mirror Awards
Congrats to the 2015 Mirror Awards finalists! A list of nominees can be found here.
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What Is It Like to Be Poor at an Ivy League School?
High-achieving, low-income students often struggle to feel like they belong on elite campuses. What can be done to aid their transition?
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Karl Ove Knausgaard on the Benefits of a Work-Driven Life
The Protestant work ethic here was very familiar to me. Johannes hadn’t had it, and probably not Magnus either; they had been cheerful men with more dreams than they had will to realize them, at least my grandfather. My mother’s mother had the work ethic, and she had passed it on to my mother, who […]
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The Making of ‘Mad Men’: An Oral History
Heading into its final season, creator Matthew Weiner, studio execs and cast members reflect on the early days of the show and how it ended up on AMC.