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Hot City, Summer in the City (and Outside the City)
I hope you all had a happy and thoughtful Juneteenth yesterday. For those of you who were enjoying it elsewhere, here is an article we published in 2022 by educator Opal Lee and pastor DeForest Buster Soares that explains how this holiday not only commemorates the end of slavery, but also celebrates America's ability to correct itself, and should bring us all together.
Meanwhile, today is the first day of summer. I hear it's hot on the mainland, but I urge you not to worry too much. But not everything is doomed. At least, it shouldn't be. Gene Robinson looks at the “heat domes” and other extreme weather events happening across the country, and writes that climate pessimism is just as unhelpful as climate denialism.
It's true that the road to a warmer world has gotten rougher and faster than scientists expected, but that makes it all the more important that we step up and make the most of what's left of it – rather than just settle for frying eggs on it.
Although a dip in cold water might do wonders for our attitudes, swimming in the Potomac has been banned for decades, at least in Washington state, because of its water quality. (A few years ago, I was scheduled to race a sanctioned triathlon on the river when a rainstorm came and released sewage into the river. A last-minute cancellation saved me and probably saved me from giardiasis.)
But marathon swimmer Ana Little Sanja writes that today the water quality is suitable for freestyle swimming in many parts of the river. She explains how the city could develop a Copenhagen-inspired “halfway between prohibition and permission” policy. Check out these historic photos of wading in the capital:
Or maybe you're thinking about getting out of town altogether, and Edith Pritchett has a handy comic guide for tailoring your vacation activity levels, packing list, and foreign language preparation.
Another provision, now required at about a dozen national parks, is the requirement to make reservations for timed entry. “Requiring a permit to experience natural wonders seems at odds with America's ethos as a free country and the fact that natural wonders belong to the public,” the editorial board wrote.
But in reality, the committee said, unlimited access would put the country's major tourist destinations “at risk of being too loved to die,” and the committee believes the National Park Service has struck a pretty good balance, since even a few tweaks could improve the existing system.
Meanwhile, Jim Geraghty, writing from Denali National Park in Alaska, worries more about being killed by a moose than about dying of love. He vacationed with his family among the park's many bears and so-called killer horses, “which coincided with the animals' aggressive moods” (bears and moose, not his teenage kids). His columns are a mix of great scientific fun and encounters with some very large beasts.
With apologies to the moose, the animal most closely associated with national parks is the bald eagle, our national bird. However, the bald eagle is not our national bird. We don't have a national bird.
The bison is our mammal, the oak is our tree, the rose is our flower, history professor Jack Davis writes, but “neither Congress nor a president has ever bestowed the honor of national bird on any other winged creature.” The eagle is our national bird because it appears on the U.S. Great Seal, but it's a national landmark because of the pyramids. Recently, a resolution was introduced in Congress to give the eagle its rightful recognition, and Davis says it's about time.
Even if the heat, large animals, and freshwater bacteria have put you off the outdoors, at least go see a movie this summer, because next year your local movie theater may not even exist.
In the latest episode of the Impromptu podcast, culture writer Matt Belloni joins Alyssa Rosenberg and Chris Suellentrop to discuss the peril of cinema. The trio predicts that movie theaters will become “smaller, more boutique, more niche.” People who really care about movies will go to the movies, while those who don't will stay home. (Megan McArdle, meanwhile, sees a ray of hope in Sony's acquisition of the Alamo Drafthouse movie theater chain.)
So what will happen to us in the coming sweltering summer? Well, there will always be junk TV, and speaking of uniting the nation, Mark Fisher writes that there may yet be one man who can unite a nation that is too hot and tired to do anything else but watch TV: Ryan Seacrest.
From George Will's column paying tribute to the “Say Hey Kid,” who died Tuesday at age 93. But while Mays' athleticism and energy “fostered the impression of a childlike man who could easily take on grown men,” George writes, he was never a child.
George praises the effort, craftsmanship and deep intelligence that make players look like “naturals” — those qualities, not a lack of effort, are what got Mays into the Hall of Fame, no easy feat in a sport with as contentious a fanbase as baseball.
Chaser: Mays appeared on George's Baseball Quiz this year. What's the answer? Find out.
A rematch between President Biden and President Donald Trump looks close and unlikely to produce much drama. Voters might say, “Relief.” Pundits might say, “Hold on a second.”
Jason Wyrick lays out three wild-card scenarios for the outcome of November's election: a cynical scenario in which Trump wins the popular vote but loses the Electoral College; a cynical scenario in which President Trump picks up a Democratic senator; and, Jason's highlight, a giardia-forgiving, Potomac-jumping, skyfall scenario of a tie.
The Chaser: Biden recently blasted the dysfunctional Supreme Court, Jen Rubin writes. Now it's time to start a campaign on court reform.
While the US seems keen to drag Latin American countries into a war against rival China, Eduardo Porter writes that Latin American countries have no interest in joining a new Cold War; Keith Richburg writes that an unlikely alliance in South Africa's new government is making extremist parties' heads explode, and there are high hopes for it; Lee Hochsteder sees France in danger as Marine Le Pen's far-right Rally National party is expected to take power next month.
It's goodbye. It's a haiku. It's… “goodbye.”
Crowded parks, huge moose —
The photo is smaller
Have a newsy haiku of your own? Email me with any questions, comments or concerns you may have. See you tomorrow!
