In another life, I was the Mic Man at Cal football and basketball games. It's long story. But one of the ways I got the job was pretending during tryouts that I would be a traditional yell leader. I had to wear a spirit sweater, perform group cheers featuring fight songs and stiff-armed dance moves, and even lift female cheerleaders above my head by placing the heel of my hand into a place that would certainly get me canceled today. I even received training from the legendary, drum-wielding Krazy George, the guy who invented the wave. Once I got the gig, I lost the sweater, the dance moves, and all the other traditional cheerleading accouterments and went with a double-zero football jersey and microphone. During those years, my greatest risk of injury was the sprained toe I'd have gotten if I dropped the Mic. (In the business, we call this a mic drop.) But I don't remember any of the other school spirit leaders getting hurt either. Apparently, times have changed. Cheerleading has become serious, acrobatic, and dangerous. How dangerous? "Competitive cheer is shockingly dangerous: In the past 40 years, the number of catastrophic injuries sustained by cheerleaders is greater than those sustained by female athletes playing all other high school and college sports." And it turns out one company holds a basic monopoly over the whole industry. "Nationwide, just over a million children, mostly girls, participate in cheer each year (some estimates are even higher), more than the number who play softball or lacrosse. And almost every part of that world is dominated by a single company: Varsity Spirit. It’s hard to cheer at the youth, high school or collegiate level without putting money in the company’s pocket. Varsity operates summer camps where children learn to do stunts and perform; it hosts events where they compete; it sells pom-poms they shake and uniforms they wear on the sidelines of high school and college football games. Each year, Varsity ships 4.6 million pieces of apparel, from $80 leopard-print 'Cheer Mom' fleeces to custom uniforms covered in Swarovski crystals." David Gauvey Herbert in the NYT Mag (Gift Article): How Cheerleading Became So Acrobatic, Dangerous and Popular. 2Enemies, a Gov StoryFrom working the fry cooker to fantasizing about Arnold Palmer's driver, Trump's craziness eats up a lot of our attention. But the danger he represents is the real story. The dictator-love and ally-contempt make him a danger to world stability. And his focus on what he calls the enemy within, makes him a danger at home. "In one recent interview, Trump said that if 'radical left lunatics' disrupt the election, 'it should be very easily handled by — if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military.'" (Like countless other statements and actions, I have no idea why such a threat doesn't disqualify one from holding public office in the eyes of every American). Another "enemy" that should worry about the potential of a Trump presidency is the media. Trump’s growing threats to strip broadcast licenses send chills across industry. And of course, there are the undocumented workers (and anyone who might be mistaken for one). Timothy Snyder: Twelve Million Deportations and an Altered America. "An attempt to rapidly deport twelve million people will also change everyone else. As Trump has said, such an action will have to bring in law enforcement at all levels. Such a huge mission will effectively redefine the purpose of law enforcement: the principle is no longer to make all people feel safe, but to make some people unsafe." (Making people feel unsafe is the primary component of the Trump campaign and it will be a primary component of his time in office if he wins.) 3The Pathology Less Traveled"Around 75,000 people are homeless in Los Angeles County on any given night; in 2022, 2,374 of them died while homeless, mostly because they overdosed, or their hearts failed, or they were hit by cars. Officials are desperate to move them inside." But getting some of these folks inside is nearly impossible because of mental health issues. Is street psychiatry a potential solution? NYT (Gift Article): Under an L.A. Freeway, a Psychiatric Rescue Mission. "Street psychiatry offers a radical solution: that for the most acutely mentally ill, psychiatric medication given outdoors could be a critical step toward housing. Dr. Rab, a medical director of Los Angeles County’s Homeless Outreach & Mobile Engagement program, describes the system his team has built as an outdoor hospital, or sometimes as a 'DoorDash for meds.'" 4I Shot the Serif, But I Did Not Shoot the Enmity"Comic Sans has long been the 'Macarena' of fonts. Type aficionados don’t like it, the way coffee connoisseurs don’t like Starbucks. It is the font everyone loves to hate. But I love to love it. More than the typeface itself, I love the idea of Comic Sans: a set of letters that can make people suddenly intrigued, and sometimes cross. No other font gets people so worked up. When was the last time you had an argument over Garamond or Calibri?" Simon Garfield in The Atlantic (Gift Link): Comic Sans Got the Last Laugh. (I'm a lifelong Mac user. No Microsoft fonts for me. It's always been Tekton or bust.) 5Extra, ExtraPatriot: Feeling stressed about our election? Spend a half hour getting inspired by strength in the face of much bigger obstacles. Rachel Maddow interviews Yulia Navalnaya. And from The New Yorker, an excerpt from Alexei Navalny's Patriot: A Memoir: "On her first extended visit, we walked down a corridor and spoke at a spot as far removed as possible from the cameras wired for sound that are tucked in all over the place. I whispered in her ear, 'Listen, I don’t want to sound dramatic, but I think there’s a high probability I’ll never get out of here. Even if everything starts falling apart, they will bump me off at the first sign the regime is collapsing. They will poison me.' 'I know,' she said with a nod, in a voice that was calm and firm. 'I was thinking that myself.' At that moment I wanted to seize her in my arms and hug her joyfully, as hard as I could. That was so great! No tears! It was one of those moments when you realize you found the right person. Or perhaps she found you." 6Bottom of the NewsSide of cocaine with that? German police raid pizzeria after finding secret ingredient. (The carbs are still the most addictive thing on the menu.)
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