Lipstick House
The Return Of The Lipstick King
Viola Zhou & Meaghan Tobin | Rest Of World | 18th October 2022
On the disappearance and reappearance of Austin Li, China's most successful e-commerce influencer. He has been described as a "consumerist cult leader". He walked a tricky line with the CCP and his nightly livestream was abruptly cut off one night when he displayed a tank-shaped ice cream cake, leading to speculation that he was referencing the Tiananmen Square protests (4,858 words)
I Was Given A House
Anne Elizabeth Moore | BridgeDetroit | 18th October 2022
In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, non-profit property initiatives trying to revive Detroit gained traction. Foreclosed houses were given to artists willing to move into derelict areas. This writer was one such — but when she tried to sell her house later on, she discovered that it already belonged to somebody else who had been driven out by municipal greed and administrative failures (4,960 words)