Three Interesting Things

1. This man and his wife shared the story of how they discovered the Social Security Administration had decided he was dead, and the process for fixing that.

2. This post about "Love is Blind" is really about how relationships are all about politics. 

3. I have been so excited for "Boop! The Musical" since I saw the very first (and so far main song) made available to press.  Sure sometimes one song is really the highlight of the show, and sometimes you think, if I just get to see this song it's enough.  Anyway, NPR reflects on the first time they met Boop star Jasmine Amy Rogers. 

Three Interesting Things

1. There's a raffle of sorts, called Romance for Florida, which has some lovely prizes in return for donations to support hurricane relief. 

2. The US military will be converting some dishonourable discharges given during the so-called "Don't Ask Don'T Tell" era, to honorable, which allows for veteran benefits. 

3. And yes, even the conkers competition had a wee cheating scandal this year.  But also its first American woman winner. 

Three Interesting Things

1. As someone who, since the pandemic, has worried about air quality in indoor concert spaces, I was interested to see this article about the Clean Air Club's work in Chicago.

2. I have been doing a little research for a project that led me to historical markers. So this deep dive into historical markers and their accuracies and viewpoints was of interest to me.

3. And also for research reasons, I have been listening to the "Hadestown" cast album.  (Okay, fine, maybe it's just because I like it.) So this piece about how Anais Mitchell took the West End staging of the musical as a chance to tweak a pivotal song, and then how social media meant that change spread, was fascinating.

Three Interesting Things

1. It has probably been a decade since I went to Salt Lake City for dayjob reasons.  But while we were there, I insisted I needed to see the lake.  And so I and the one co-worker who felt similarly drove out there, and circled past.  It was winter, there was snow, so we didn't get out of the car.  But it was gorgeous.  So, hearing about how climate change and drought have affected it, saddens me.  This article talks about some of the efforts to address that.  

2. In Wellington, one family has some native birds nesting underneath their house.

3. A DC born artist is part of two Broadways shows coming soon. 

Three Interesting Things

1. I am really enjoying NPR's sibling series, and this one about grief with siblings was interesting. 

2. American University's student paper wrote about the shrinking local news coverage in DC.

3. I enjoyed this story of two friends who first met in DC, and have stayed touch throughout the years.

Three Interesting Things

Baltimore is fundraising for the families of the workers who died in the bridge collision.

1. Sibling relationships are fascinating to me, and I find the fact that this story mentions that birth order is less important than some think, while covering a story with very stereotypical birth order, fascinating.

2. The founder of Trans Day of Visibility is thrilled at the success.

3. Jemele Hill wrote about how this baseball gambling story is part of a long line of gambling and sports stories.

Three Interesting Things

1. Leprosy is on the rise in the US.

2. This piece took a look at some of the mundane uncertainties related to the damage done to a, ahem, Key, Bridge in Baltimore, from longer commutes to changes in where customers stop after work. 

3. This story about a baby hedgehog that was taken to a rescue, where they discovered it was actually a hat bobble, is hilarious to me.  But I also want to note how wonderful that someone saw something fluffy in the wild, and assumed it needed to be treated with care and attention. May you treat every accessory with such care, and also potential tiny animals. 

Three Interesting Things

The Washington Post Guild has selected a historically newsworthy day - ie today - for a one day strike, so none of the links are to them today. 

1. Five folks talked about ways they are trying to think sustainably about clothes. 

2. Bowie is a multi-color, multi-sexed lobster.

3. I am interested that Penguin is taking legal action against one of the legal book laws.

Three Interesting Things

1. I appreciated this look at the OWL sex ed program in Oklahoma, where the schools are not providing comprehensive sex ed.

2. I was fascinated to see this look at how the National Gallery skating rink gets made.

3. I honestly did not know Debrett's still existed, but they have some message tips.

Three Interesting Things

1. This poem "I Grant You Refuge" by now deceased poet Hibu Abu Naba, has been translated into English and it is breathtaking.  

2. Sarah Kendzior wrote about a stretch of land in Missouri. 

3. And this story of a 100 year old woman adopting a senior dog is just adorable. 

Three Interesting Things

1. This news story caught my eye.  There is a huge rise in babies in the US being born with syphilis, which means, there are a number of adults in the US with untreated syphilis.

2. Once upon a time, I was in a car with a school friend and her mom, and we passed a sign about Luray Caverns.  I said, "What's a cavern?" and well, about fifteen minutes later, we walking to the Caverns, because my friend and her mom thought it was an experience I should have.  So this story about the organ in the Caverns caught my eye, and brought back that lovely first experience. 

3. This teenager works as a juvenile defense attorney. 

Also, there is a Books for Palestine auction going on right now with a ton of items. 

Three Interesting Things

1.  I generally do not attend Rhineback and the associated events, and this year had a family event the very same weekend, but it is a very big weekend for yarn folk, so I was sad to hear the Woll & Folk portion of it did not go well on a number of levels.  If you are a yarn person, or may be shopping for one, there are a number of vendors who are having post festival sales, since they have quite a bit of stock. 

2. This article is DC focused, but had a number of suggestions for efforts to address issues in DC right now that I found useful. 

3. And I was interested to learn a lot of folks are falling out of love with dating apps. 

Three Interesting Things

1. Them spoke with 5 trans students about their thoughts on this fall at school.  

2. NPR had an article about making cities spongier to help with flooding.  

3. Atlanta magazine spoke about romance authors in and near Atlanta.  

Three Interesting Things

1. Alexander Chee talked about bibliomancy, a way to find inspiration in your bookshelves.  

2. The Non-Profit Quarterly took a look at what a COVID outbreak at a writing conference can teach us.  

3. Apparently social media for certain football teams had Old Bay on the mind on Sunday, but they made fundamental errors.  

Three Interesting Things

1. This ranch that was featured in movies and TV burned in the 2018 fires and they are figuring out next steps for the space.  

2. I realize climate change has far worse effects, but poison ivy flourishing in it is one I had not expected.  

3. Continuing my tradition of enjoying articles about TV I do not or have not watched, this is an oral history of the British Baking show that has different names depending on where you live.  

Three Interesting Things

1. Maggie Tokuda Hall wrote more about her experience being asked to redact the reference to racism her author note for her book about Japanese internment.  

2.This family's house on Maui is standing, but things are still tough.    

3. Folks watching a view camera in Alaska spotted a lost hiker.  

Also if you wanted to provide some assistance to folks in Morocco, Laila Lalami suggested the food bank.

Three Interesting Things

1. Tressie McMillan Cottom wrote about the 'Bama Rush TikToks.  (NYT link)

2. DCist went to talk to license plate swappers.  

3. And Olivia Dade wrote about how motherhood and writing romance helped change how she saw her body. 

Three Interesting Things

1. DC has added a vending machine that can help dispense various lifesaving items to folks, including condoms and narcan.  

2. There were two shootings that made headlines recently.  Black Girl in Maine has a thoughtful piece on some of the work needed to stop racist shootings. And the Daily Tarheel had a memorable print edition in the wake of their on campus shooting. This links to their digital front page, but the upper left corner has a link to the print edition. 

3. There are now 98 metro stations in the DC area system - these folks from Chicago came and set a record for hitting all of them in the shortest time (so far).   

Three Interesting Things

1. This story of how a hip hop club became a place for teens to hang out was interesting as we are in another period where teens are so rarely allowed to gather in groups without spending money.  

2. This one house in Lahaina looks okay, due to a quirk of winds or yard materials.  

3. Something about the headline about a spotless giraffe tickles me, but a spotless giraffe has been born.  

And there is another bookish auction to raise funds for Maui.  This one was put together by kidlit folks, and there are a number of Hawaiian items, school visits, and other goodies.  

Three Interesting Things

1. I read Michael Oher's memoir Beat the Odds, but had not paid much attention to the conservatorship, so was saddened to hear that he feels misled about what that meant for movie rights and such.  Along with listening to Sheryl Lee Ralph talking about the small amount she signed over rights to the "Dreamgirls" character she helped create, we really need to take a look at story rights more carefully.  

2. Naka Nathaniel talked a little about how water rights on Maui have been leading in the direction of catastrophe for a while. 

3. Some senate interns set out to take a selfie with all 100 senators.  

Also, the #RomanceForMaui auction blew past it's goal, but some items, including mine are still reasonably priced.  I know some kidlist authors are also doing an auction next week, and I'll post about that one too.