Noteworthy reads from the last week:
"A Living Landmark," Jamelle Bouie
"The attack on Emanuel AME sits in a long history of violence against black churches."
"Alice Goffman conducted some amazing ethnographic research, and her book is almost entirely true, not to mention quite important. Alice Goffman is going to have a really hard time defending herself from her fiercest critics."
"First Thoughts on Laudato Si'," Alan Jacobs
"For Maritain, any true humanism must incorporate the 'vertical dimension' of our relationship with God; Francis is clearly saying, with a similar logic, that any valid (any whole and healthy) ecology or model of 'creation care' must incorporate our relationships with one another and with God. Thus one cannot think of what’s good for the environment without also thinking of what’s good for human culture."
"Our Failed Food Movement," James McWilliams
"In so far as the Food Movement’s goal has been to reduce the impact of factory farming, it’s hard to escape the conclusion that the reform effort—at least in the way it articulates and pursues its mission—isn’t working."
"Kid Chocolate," Brin-Jonathan Butler
"Trejo is one of the oldest boxing gyms in Cuba; it’s outdoor, and every great champion the country has produced has passed through and was forged in the open air. Different sets of the same mildly sinister women who look like the Macbeth witches guard the entrance from tourists and procure a toll for entry, snapshots, or stories."