MinnPost Picks: on Kelly Catlin, LeBron James’ school, and updating Helvetica

“Olympic Cyclist Kelly Catlin Seemed Destined for Glory. Then She Killed Herself,” The New York Times Kelly Catlin, a promising Olympic cyclist and math graduate student who grew up in Arden Hills, took her life earlier this year. This is a tough read, but it's a good reminder that even the most successful, sometimes especially the most successful, are fighting unseen battles. — Greta Kaul, data reporter “Why the Highlander Attack Matters,” The Nation In the aftermath of the arson at the Highlander Center in Tennessee, I saw a lot of articles assuming the center had been destroyed, lost everything, and would no longer exist, and those were from folks who knew what the center was. This one was one of the few good articles, tracing some of the history and current work of the 87-year-old organizing center, and doing a thorough enough job of both to know what the damage was, why it's important, and also hold the truth that any Tennessee-located organization of this kind has been through this before. — Jonathan Stegall, user experience engineer "Behind the process of Helvetica’s 21st Century facelift," The Verge William Joel interviews Charles Nix, the type director at Monotype, on updating one of the most-used fonts, Helvetica, for use on cellphones and tablets. The folks at Monotype, the oldest type company in the world and the one that currently holds the rights to Helvetica, redrew every single one of the font’s nearly 40,000 characters to be easier and more enjoyable to read, even when very tiny. If you're into learning about straight-legged capital "Rs" and beardless "gs," you'll enjoy this interview. — Corey Anderson, creative director "LeBron James Opened a School That Was Considered an Experiment. It’s Showing Promise.” The New York Times I Promise: It’s a public school, not a charter. It started by enrolling the worst-performing students in the Akron, Ohio, school system. And the philanthropy of NBA great LeBron James — who is helping provide supports not only to the students but to their families as well — appears to be paying off in ways that could inform inner-city districts across the country. — Susan Albright, managing editor

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MinnPost Picks: on Kelly Catlin, LeBron James’ school, and updating Helvetica

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MinnPost Picks: on Kelly Catlin, LeBron James’ school, and updating Helvetica