It seems fitting that, on a week when I've made a major life decision, this week's reads feature a surprisingly large number of callbacks to my personal life. One story is about my high school, another is written by an old friend, and a third is from somewhere I used to work.
There's also one about getting unfriended on Facebook... Something which I know nothing about, of course.
The Tale of Two Schools (NYT Magazine)
My high school, the Ethical Culture Fieldston School, represents all things wealthy and privileged in a series of portraits of its current students with students from University Heights High School, a nearby public school in the South Bronx.
The piece gives a shallow account of the two schools' ongoing collaboration. Personally I would have loved a little more meat in the article, but the package does paint an interesting picture.
Peter Parker and Clark Kent: Very Unethical Journalists (The Atlantic)
My friend Dan Snyder points out that comic book heroes really aren't cut out to be journalists. Spider-Man and Superman, two of the most virtuous superheroes around, don't seem to have any problem breaking every rule of ethics journalists hold on to.
I Played 45 Minutes of Destiny, and it Was Kind of Boring (Kotaku)
The video game preview is a tough nut to crack. Having written a fair number of them now, including a few for Kotaku, the hardest lesson I learned about the form is that you don't always have to put a positive spin on your report. Since preview subjects are still works-in-progress, it's easy to allow these stories — which are pitched to readers as advance critiques — to read like vehicles for hype.
Kotaku's preview of Destiny, the upcoming game from Halo series creator Bungie, is an example of what happens when a preview manages illuminate and inform honestly. Patricia Hernandez doesn't tear the game down, but expresses concern that the game may not be the groundbreaking experience that fans are expecting.
High as Balls: Live From The Cannabis Cup (The Verge)
It's a couple weeks old, but this year's "Medical" Cannabis cup in San Bernardino, California was the breakout event for the now selectively-legal recreational Marijuana market. Weed vape-pens, silicon Valley-style start ups, and crack-esque "shatter" crystals tease the many paths Big Weed may be going down.
Here's Why You Just Got Unfriended on Facebook (Vox)
Do you like talking politics, religion, your job, your pets or your kids? That's cool, but don't complain when people start dropping you from their Facebook feeds.
While the studies this article draws from admit their means of collecting data is flawed, it still paints a pretty good picture: Most of us want the same kinds of social boundaries on social media as we would when speaking in person.