Old favourites in a time of change

Hello from a mostly-not-jet-lagged Lucas! It was quite a time adjusting to Ontario, uh, time, but I far preferred being awake early to always wanting to sleep in.

There’ll be more on Japan another time, but Craig Mod’s latest Ridgeline captured well some of our experiences in Tokyo: sweltering in the late summer heat, exploring Yanaka and nearby neighbourhoods, and marvelling at all that can be found between two stops on a train line.

For this week, though, some good links:

• Erin Kissane has written an in-depth series on Meta / Facebook’s role in Myanmar and the genocide of the Rohingya people. I particularly appreciate the piece I link there, which explains Erin’s methodology and writing conventions, important when dealing with such a traumatic topic from another part of the world.
• I’m glad a deputy minister spoke, frankly and on the record, about the changes they’re bringing to their organization.
• No More Noise Toronto is advancing an important issue that I wish cities would pay better attention to: urban noise as a health issue (found via Code for Canada’s newsletter).
• I can definitely see nostalgia for a particular experience of suburbia as a kind of political ideology.
• Dan Bouk’s “Making Up Numbers” captures well a whole field of study I find fascinating: the social underpinnings of data.
• There should be a spot held in this newsletter for a Maria Popova / Ursula K. Le Guin link every week, as with this one on “Change, Menopause as Rebirth, and the Civilizational Value of Elders”.

To close, I leave you with Sameer’s note on the change from summer to fall, full of many more thoughts and links worth your time. All the best for the week ahead!

Lucas