ハーフ (Hafu): On the Fetishization and Mistranslation of a Biracial Identity

In the last installment of her column, Mistranslate, writer Nina Coomes unpacks the origins and use of the term, ハーフ, or hafu — meaning half, in English — and considers how bicultural identity in Japan is both otherized and fetishized.

Source: Catapult
Published: Jul 16, 2018
Length: 10 minutes (2,624 words)

How E-Commerce Is Transforming Rural China

JD.com is China’s second-largest e-commerce company. By using rural villages’ social networks to recruit new customers and employees, the company is capturing the country’s growing online retail market, improving Chinese life and possibly giving villagers an incentive not to leave for the city.

Source: The New Yorker
Published: Jul 18, 2018
Length: 32 minutes (8,008 words)

The New Gwen Stefani Is A Lot Like The Old One

“Stefani has always been a study in contrasts: a sexy tomboy; a rock star who loves her man and her manicures. So why are we still surprised every time she tells us who she is?”

Source: BuzzFeed
Published: Jul 18, 2018
Length: 30 minutes (7,684 words)

The Quantified Heart

“Artificial intelligence promises ever more control over the highs and lows of our emotions. Uneasy? Perhaps you should be.”

Source: Aeon
Published: Jul 12, 2018
Length: 12 minutes (3,000 words)

The News From the World of Beauty

When the personal is political, even the things we do to escape from politics become politics.

Source: VQR
Published: Jun 11, 2018
Length: 24 minutes (6,073 words)

Medicaid Under The Influence: How Drugmakers Sway Medication Options For Patients

Drug companies are working hard to influence state Medicaid drug cost controls to keep their profits flowing.

Source: NPR
Published: Jul 18, 2018
Length: 17 minutes (4,366 words)

Does Facebook Need a Constitution?

Has the time come for Westphalian sovereignty to coexist with web failson sovereignty?

Author: Max Read
Published: Jul 18, 2018
Length: 7 minutes (1,832 words)

California Is Preparing for Extreme Weather. It’s Time to Plant Some Trees.

Restoring river floodplains to forest and wetland habitat is a proven method for reducing flood damage to towns and cities, because these habitats absorb floodwater. To ready itself for climate change, the state is beginning to revegetate some of its riverbanks in central rural California.

Published: Jul 15, 2018
Length: 5 minutes (1,464 words)

Friends and Enemies: On Slogan Tees

“Rather than a sign of increased polarization, of increased political energy, the popularity of the slogan tee is evidence of the dissolution of the political.”

Published: Jul 16, 2018
Length: 10 minutes (2,702 words)

Another Voyage for Madmen (And, This Time, One Woman)

Fifty years after the the first Golden Globe Race, 17 sailors are once again setting out for the most ambitious — and loneliest — regatta on the planet.

Source: Outside
Published: Jul 18, 2018
Length: 18 minutes (4,652 words)