Your Mid-Week Experiment
Welcome to the mid-weeker where we have good things for you to read, listen to, and watch. My favorite comment about last weekend’s essay about friendship and baseball — other than my mother saying, “What a great piece” — was from my friend G.V.B., who said she liked “except it was really basebally.” I’d like to promise that I won’t write about the Orioles much more, if at all, but the best I can do is truthfully swear that this newsletter will not completely turn into a fanzine for the team.
Anyway, let’s get to it:
Hey, Siri, show me the dumbest thing ever. (ProPublica)
To know me at all is to know my antipathy toward true crime. In this longer piece about a cold case finally closed, true crime is turned on itself and reveals something that is actually true. I love this. (Monica Hesse)
Even the Gray Lady has laid a benediction upon my Orioles. (The New York Times)
And because I mentioned the Orioles, I will let G.V.B. pick our first song:
Spend some time with this story if you want to know what it’s been like to be a public school administrator the past few years. The section about the out-of-control school board rang particularly true. (The Assembly)
This is a lovely examination of Ken’s evolution in Barbie. (Megan Garber)
S and I have started watching This Fool on Hulu and weren’t sure what to make of it. I got better perspective after listening to a recent episode of Pop Culture Happy Hour. I think this is a smarter and browner version of It’s Always Sunny. I think so, but I’m not sure.
I love this so much.
We set up a merch table in the back where you can get T-shirts, coffee mugs, and even tote bags now. Show the world that you’re part of The Experiment.
We’ve also got a tip jar, and I promise to waste every cent you give me on having fun, because writing this newsletter for you is how I have fun.
Buy the book Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick banned from the Bullock Texas History Museum: Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of the American Myth by Bryan Burrough, Chris Tomlinson, and myself is out from Penguin Random House. The New York Times bestseller is 44% off and the same price as a paperback now!