“The Disaster Tourist,” Huffpost
The sad story of Otto Warmbier — the American college student who was detained on a guided trip to North Korea in 2016, handed over to the U.S. in a coma, and later died — put a spotlight on the shady industry of “dark tourism,” which sends adventure-craving westerners to global hotspots of tyranny and conflict. In a compulsively readable essay for HuffPost, Kent Russell joined up with Young Pioneer Tours, the outfit that did Warmbier’s tour to North Korea, for a two-week trek through war-torn regions of the Caucasus to explore the trend of dark tourism — and to figure out what we really look for when we travel. — Sam Brodey, Washington correspondent
“Can You Say … Hero?” Esquire
After news that Tom Hanks will play Fred Rogers in an upcoming biopic broke yesterday, this 1998 Tom Junod profile, which the film will be based on, made the rounds on social media. In it, Junod paints Rogers, then 70, as a man still bent on a message of patience, kindness and unconditional love despite fighting a losing battle to the din of society’s “twenty-four-hour-a-day pie fight.” It’s a beautiful piece, and it holds up beautifully — boy, could we use Mr. Rogers today. — Greta Kaul, data reporter
“Setting the records straight: A do-over for the Grammy’s album of the year,” The Washington Post
If nothing else, this four-decade critique of the Grammy Album of Year winners by the Washington Post’s Chris Richards is a nostalgia trip and a reminder of fleeting fame for many musicians. Take special note of how many winners Richards thought should not have even been nominated. — Peter Callaghan, local government reporter
“Engineered for Dystopia,” The Baffler
We live in a time that lionizes engineers: The software engineers of Silicon Valley are celebrated as our meritocratic betters, and schools trip over each other to tout their new STEM opportunities. So it’s refreshing to read a more, shall we say, skeptical take on the field, courtesy of David A. Banks in The Baffler. But beyond the pleasures of a good take down, the piece also contains an important warning: When we treat every problem as if it is need of an engineering solution (there’s an app for that) we fail to ask about what’s causing the problem in the first place. — Tom Nehil, news editor
