Clothes, Partition, Istanbul, Cats
The LA Rag Trade
Christina Moon | Vestoj | 15th August 2017
How fast fashion begins in dense neighbourhoods of small workshops in big cities across the world. “Considered the nerve centre for fast fashion in the US, the Jobber Market in Los Angeles consists of nearly six thousand clothing lines designed and distributed from small five hundred square feet showrooms that line the streets and alleyways of one square mile, run by immigrants and their children. The risks taken and failures endured in its narrow streets are fashion’s supply chain” (1,900 words)
The Partition Goes On
Mohammed Hanif | Al-Jazeera | 11th August 2017
Novelist reflects on the divisions between India and Pakistan, still worsening 70 years after Partition. “Like many Pakistanis I saw my first Indians in London and was surprised that they were a bit like us. Most Indians and Pakistanis have the same reaction when they meet. It seems as if they are brought up to believe that a community of ferals lives across the border. The most we know about each other is from moving images from films and songs, and a bit from books” (1,700 words)
James Baldwin’s Istanbul
Suzy Hansen | Public Books | 10th August 2017
Remembering James Baldwin in Istanbul, where he lived on and on off through the 1960s in rented mansions by the Bosphorous, throwing all-night parties, and keeping open house for guests including Marlon Brando and Alex Haley. “Baldwin was delighted by the Turkish custom of holding hands — even men could be openly affectionate. It was easier to be gay in Istanbul than in America, and easier to be black”. In those days, if not now, Istanbul was “a place anyone could go to live and feel free” (940 words)
A Brief History Of Traveling With Cats
Jackie Mansky | Smithsonian | 14th August 2017
From their beginnings as a domesticated species in Egypt thousands of years ago, cats have travelled happily to every corner of the globe, joining and leaving ships at ports along the way. So why are they such difficult travelling companions now? “Often, people stare. Sometimes, they’re walking their dogs: big ones, small ones. They squint at my cat, trying to decipher if perhaps she, too, is just a poorly shaped one of them. She’s not. She’s a cat on a leash, and she’s not alone” (2,400 words)
Video of the day: Go See This Eclipse
What to expect:
Looking back to the 1979 total solar eclipse as preparation for next week’s total eclipse (3’05”)
Thought for the day
When people ask for criticism, they want praise
W. Somerset Maugham