“Tracking the gender balance of this year’s music festival lineups,” Pitchfork
Ah, music festivals, those bastions of performance, fashion, crowds, portable toilets and … sexism? Pitchfork takes a look at the gender balance of performers slated to play festivals like Coachella, Lollapalooza, and Bonnaroo to find that very few approach an equal ratio of men and women performers. While they’re at it, they also look at the bands playing the most festivals and the bands commanding the best spots in big festival lineups.—Greta Kaul, data reporter
“Citizen Khan,” The New Yorker
In this story, Kathryn Schulz digs into the life of Zarif Khan, an Afghan immigrant who arrived in Wyoming in 1909, and went on to become an admired figure and a successful businessman. When it came time to apply for U.S. citizenship in 1925, however, Khan was excluded from the process because he wasn’t white. Today, more than a century after Khan’s arrival in Wyoming, his descendants there continue to face xenophobic encounters for being Muslims. Schulz’s work is a reminder that some things — contrary to popular belief — haven’t really changed much in the U.S. — Ibrahim Hirsi, workforce and immigration reporter.
“Bach at the Burger King,” Los Angeles Review of Books
As some might say, at least classical music is good for something. Property owners, transit systems and law enforcement are using it to deter crime and drive away undesirables like the homeless. Theodore Gioia (his uncle is the prolific jazz writer Ted Gioia) writes about the weaponization of classical music in a world where Officer Johann Sebastian is the newest member of police units across the planet. He also dips into Darwin, our sound-bite culture and class. —Pamela Espeland, Artscape columnist
“Hippos Poop So Much That Sometimes All the Fish Die,” The Atlantic
Ed Yong has the story of researchers Chris Dutton and Amanda Subalusky who noticed that whenever the Mara River in East Africa rose by a few feet, dead fish would wash up on its banks. After numerous experiments, the duo is blaming the thousands of hippos that congregate in the river during the day. The products of their constant urinating and defecating are digested by bacteria that consume the oxygen in the water, depriving nearby fish of the much-needed gas. The circle of life. —Corey Anderson, creative director
