LifeWay Christian Stores plans to close all of its locations by end of the year and move all of the company's retailing online. Its bricks-and-mortar division has been losing money since 2013, and the company says it has tried just about everything to keep the business going, including overhauling several stores last summer and experimenting with features like coffee bars.
Listens
Playlist of posts listened to, or scrobbled
🎧 The Daily: The Agony of Being Theresa May | New York Times
In a last-ditch effort to fulfill her promise of delivering Brexit, Britain’s prime minister dangled a final sacrifice.
🎧 The Daily: Why Did New York’s Most Selective Public High School Admit Only 7 Black Students? | New York Times
The latest admissions numbers at Stuyvesant High School offer a stark picture of the persistent racial divide in America’s largest school system.
Perhaps the problem is more systemic than the small band-aid they’re offering as a means of fixing it?
🎧 The Daily: One Family’s Story of Survival and Loss in New Zealand | New York Times
The loved ones of a man killed in the Christchurch mosque attacks say goodbye to a son, father, husband and brother.
🎧 Salvador Dalí Meets The Marx Brothers In ‘Giraffes On Horseback Salad’ | NPR
Peter Breslow from NPRThis is a story about something that didn't happen. A movie that was never made. It was supposed to be a collaboration between the Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí and the Marx Brothers.
🎧 A Math Teacher’s Life Summed Up By The Gifted Students He Mentored | NPR
Joe Palca from NPR.orgA biologist at Harvard was chatting with a colleague about a mentor who pushed him to do harder math problems. It turns out the colleague had the same mentor — and so did many others.
George Berzsenyi is a retired math professor living in Milwaukee County. Most people have never heard of him.
But Berzsenyi has had a remarkable impact on American science and mathematics. He has mentored thousands of high school students, including some who became among the best mathematicians and scientists in the country.
What a great little story…
I also find myself thinking, yet again, what was it about the early 1900’s in Hungary that they turned out, not even so many great scientists, but so many fantastic mathematicians? What were they doing right that we seem to be missing now? Can it be replicated? Was it cultural? Was it a certain type of teaching method? Simple expectations?
🎧 Chef’s Memoir Tackles What It’s Like To Be Young, Gifted And Black In Fine Dining | NPR
It was the morning after the election of America's first black president, and Kwame Onwuachi was hungover. He'd been partying all night. He was dealing drugs to survive after he dropped out of college. He was, he says, lost.
But when he saw President Obama, something clicked. "I thought, I can do anything. And I immediately flushed everything that I had down the toilet and was like, I need to find myself," Onwuachi recalls.
He went to the grocery store and bought ingredients to cook a chicken curry. "I didn't know that I wanted to cook, but it was like, here's something that I'm familiar with," he says. "Here's something that brings back these fond memories. And here's something that grounds me. And I want to explore this a little bit more."
We do need more variety in our general cuisines and even in our fine dining cuisine.
I’ve even noticed that Christopher Kimball is doing a lot more international and less-focused on food in his Milk Street television show. Sadly it only seems to be filling a massive hole left by Anthony Bourdain’s coverage. I’ve noticed that Martha Stewart has a show with some international cuisine like this, but it seems to be heavily influenced by a massive funder for PR purposes and she’s often watering down the authenticity of the dishes a bit excessively.
🎧 Economic Ripples: Hospital Closure Hurts A Town’s Ability To Attract Retirees | NPR
When a rural community loses its hospital, health care becomes harder to come by in an instant. But a hospital closure also shocks a small town's economy. It shuts down one of its largest employers. It scares off heavy industry that needs an emergency room nearby. And in one Tennessee town, a lost hospital means lost hope of attracting more retirees.
Here’s a great example of why pure capitalist competition doesn’t work in areas like health care and education in large swathes of America. Small communities like this one often have only one option of a hospital to go to, and often they don’t even have that. And many health care issues don’t allow for direct competition and choice because they are emergent and one can only go to the closest provider with their fingers crossed.
🎧 The Daily: Prosecuting R. Kelly | New York Times
The singer, trailed by allegations for years, has now been charged with sexual abuse. We hear from the Chicago prosecutor on the other side of the case.
🎧 The Daily: Israel’s Indispensable Prime Minister? | New York Times
If re-elected, Benjamin Netanyahu could become Israel’s longest-serving prime minister — and the first to be indicted while in office.
🎧 The Daily: Why Didn’t Mueller Decide on Obstruction? | New York Times
The special counsel came to no conclusion on whether President Trump illegally obstructed justice. The attorney general, a recent political appointee, stepped in.
🎧 The Daily: Coordination: Not Established. Obstruction: More Complicated. | New York Times
What does the Mueller report say? The attorney general offered an early glimpse.
🎧 The Daily: Special Edition: Robert Mueller Submits His Report | New York Times
The investigation that has consumed the country and cast a shadow over the Trump presidency for almost two years has come to a close.
🎧 The Daily: How New Zealand Banned Assault Rifles in Six Days | New York Times
The prime minister took swift action against the weapons used for a massacre at two mosques in Christchurch.
🎧 The Daily: A Path to Curing H.I.V. | New York Times
A second person appears to have been cured of infection with the virus that causes AIDS. We spoke to an activist about what this means.