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A 'welfare mother' schools Mitt Romney. Plus, the best of the web this week.

A moving response to Mitt Romney from a mother who worked her way out of welfare. The biggest problem with the conservative movement. A powerful love story, told without a single word. A contest to determine the best word ever. And more! Enjoy.




Politics and World Affairs

I Was A Welfare Mother / Larkin Warren / The New York Times

Warren's personal story is a powerful and beautiful response to Romney's 47% comments.




Until Republicans Fix This Problem, They Can't Fix Any Problems / Conor Friedersdorf / The Atlantic

Highlights several honest and intelligent intellectual leaders within the GOP — and the broken discourse that prevents the party from absorbing their critiques and insights.




What Mitt Romney Doesn't Get About Responsibility / Ezra Klein / Bloomberg

"The problem is that he doesn’t seem to realize how difficult it is to focus on college when you’re also working full time, how much planning it takes to reliably commute to work without a car ... The working poor haven’t abdicated responsibility for their lives. They’re drowning in it."




The Incredibly Dumb Political Spending of 2012 / Ben Smith and Ruby Cramer / BuzzFeed

The effect of Citizens United and free-flowing PAC money may be the most important question of the 2012 campaign. So far, at least, the answer appears to be: less than anticipated.




Arts and Culture

A Love Story In 22 Pictures / TxBlackLabel / BuzzFeed

A powerful, powerful photo essay. Worth your time.




Best Word Ever: The Elite Eight / Ted McCagg / Questionable Skills

A brilliant idea: using a tournament bracket to decide the best word ever. From the comments section: "Phlegm over akimbo, what an upset!" I agree, Jacky. I agree.




The Spark File / Steven Johnson / Medium

One of my favorite writers shares a simple yet ingenious technique for capturing the fragments of ideas you have every day and turning them into truly meaningful ideas.




Architects Are The Last People Who Should Shape Our Cities / Jonathan Meades / The Guardian

An entertaining and often perceptive screed: "Architecture, the most public of endeavours, is practiced by people who inhabit a smugly hermetic milieu which is cultish."




Business and Economics

What Business Is Wall Street In? / Mark Cuban / Blog Maverick

Cuban isn't the first to argue that high-frequency trading and short-term ownership are damaging to capitalism. But he does so engagingly and offers both interesting perspective and policy proposals.




Startup = Growth / Paul Graham

A lucid explanation of why not all new companies are startups, and some very interesting practical advice on how to effectively grow a startup in its early days.




If I Ruled The World / Michael Sandel / Prospect

"If I ruled the world, I would rewrite the economics textbooks. This may seem a small ambition, unworthy of my sovereign office. But it would actually be a big step toward a better civic life."




An Empire Built On Short-Armed Shirts / Mel and Patricia Ziegler / Bloomberg

Fun story of how Banana Republic was founded, told by the founders.




Science and Technology

How Much Tech Can One City Take? / David Talbot / San Francisco

Excellent piece on the unintended consequences of the tech industry's success in San Francisco, and on the uneasy relationship between new wealth and old ways of life.




50 Years Of The Jetsons: Why The Show Still Matters / Matt Novak / Smithsonian

Fascinating post on how the cartoon, launched in a time of "techno-utopianism and Cold War fears," "has had a profound impact on the way that Americans think and talk about the future."




Friends You Can Count On / Stephen Strogatz / The New York Times

Ever seem like your friends on Facebook have more friends than you do? They do. Here's the simple arithmetic that explains why. (via Sarah)




Inside Paul Allen's Quest To Reverse Engineer The Brain / Matthew Herper / Forbes

A "mouse laser," a $100 million map of how the human brain works, and other elements of Allen's quest to understand the brain and unlock new advances and cures.




Power, Pollution, And The Internet / James Glanz / The New York Times

An investigation finds that data centers are using billions of watts of electricity — and wasting up to 90 percent of it, leading to major environmental costs for an industry with a reputation for being environmentally friendly. (via Lauren)




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Family

Mom gives a tour of her typical 'middle-class home' and it's exactly what people needed

"There is just so much pressure on social media to be perfect."

@steph_murphy/TikTok

Stephanie Murphy shares her "average" home in viral TikTok video.

Sure, it’s lovely to see pristine, perfectly curated homes that look like they belong in Architectural Digest. A little inspo never hurt anyone. But as we all know, the spotless life is simply not an achievable reality, especially for those with busy lives and limited budgets (read: most of us).

But you know what? Maybe even the messy homes deserve some love. The ones with constant junk piles, unfinished projects, dirty dishes, and misplaced toys. The homes that will never grace the cover of a magazine but still do a wonderful job of containing all the moments life has to offer—the big, small, extraordinary, mundane, and everywhere in between. 'Cause at the end of the day, isn’t that a home’s true purpose anyway?


@stephsharesitall

Lets normalize “average” because there is nothing wrong with it. Everywhere you look on social media you see big gorgeous houses in perfect condition and its hard not to compare yours to them. But its not the norm and half the time its staged. Our house is lived in, and its filled with love and tons of memories and at the end of the day thats all that matters.

Stephanie Murphy, a mom and TikTok creator, seems to think so. Murphy recently took viewers on an “average house tour,” and it was the exact opposite of aspirational. Highlighted in Murphy’s tour are the pantry door that’s remained unpainted for three years, blinds held together with binder clips, air conditioners held in place by duct tape, a full dish rack tray that’s “a permanent fixture” on their countertops, and not one but two junk drawers (honestly, that’s a little low by my count). You’ll also notice a fridge that is covered in her kid’s artwork and school pictures. Not in any cohesive way, but merely thrown on randomly, as nature intended.

Meanwhile, in the master bedroom, Murphy and her husband’s bed have two separate blankets because neither of them like to share. A genius idea, and just another example of how we really, really don’t need to continue with marital sleeping norms that don’t actually feel comfortable.

As for why Murphy decided to showcase her “average, middle-class house,” it’s all in the caption of her video: “Let’s normalize ‘average’ because there is nothing wrong with it. Everywhere you look on social media, you see big gorgeous houses in perfect condition and it’s hard not to compare yours to them. But it’s not the norm and half the time it's staged. Our house is lived in, and it’s filled with love and tons of memories and at the end of the day that's all that matters."

She further explained her reasoning to Good Morning America. "I feel like social media is full of one perfectly curated video after another, and there is just so much pressure from social media to be perfect in all aspects -- to have perfect skin, perfect makeup, perfect outfit, perfect house. And the reality is no one's perfect," Murphy said.

"Honestly, I feel like there's a very good chance that all those videos that we see were staged and they probably like, moved a pile of toys behind the camera to film and then moved it back when they were done. But that's the part that people on social media just aren't sharing. They don't show you the behind-the-scenes and that is what I was looking to change," she continued.


Judging from the comments sections of this now-viral post, it seems like other people are ready for more average content.

“This is awesome! I’m constantly feeling inadequate when people have a perfect house that looks like nobody lives there!” one person wrote. “I feel seen,” added another.

Hear, hear. No need to feel inadequate about having a home that’s lived in. Imperfection has its own kind of beauty.

This article originally appeared two years ago.

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Fatherhood

People are praising this dad for the unforgettable way he responds to his son's act of violence

"My husband is raising a boy and prepping him to be a man one day."

Image via Canva

Dad gently explains to son why hitting others is bad.

Present fathers are a gift to kids, especially sons. One father is making his presence and guidance a priority in teaching his son about regulating his emotions when it comes to anger.

TikTok family The Fitts' (@jissel_fitts), made up of husband and wife duo Aaron and Jissell and their two children, shared an emotional video with their followers capturing a conversation between father and son. As he speaks to him, Aaron holds his little boy's head in his hands after learning he hit someone. Rather than explosively yell or demean him for hitting, Aaron calmly explains why it is not okay and how to recognize and manage his emotions better.

"This is what every little boy needs, a father to teach them about emotions," Jissell captioned the post. "As a mother, I wanted to step in but I have to constantly remind myself my husband is raising a boy and prepping him to become a man on day."

@jissel_fitts

#fyp #fypage #f #fatherson #dadsoftiktok #dadlife #blackfathers #blackfatherhood #fatherhood #breakingcycles

In the video, Aaron tells his son, "You have to learn how to control your emotions. Just because you're upset don't mean you get to hit. Do you understand?" he says. His son is visibly upset, but calmly listens to him and nods his head.

He continues, "You can't hit people because you're angry. That's a part of growing up, man. You can't just be mad because somebody said something you don't like. You hear me? Daddy was just trying to tell you."

As he explains to his son, the father strokes his head, offering physical reassurance and comfort with zero yelling. He makes constant eye contact with his son, who responds to his gentle demeanor by listening intently.

Viewers are impressed with this dad's approach.

"not all dads are calm, patient, verbal like this 😭 love this for him 🖤," one wrote.

"I love the fathers of this generation instead of telling him to man up he explains and lets his little boy have his moment of tears."

Another viewer commented, "This is so needed! Instead of yelling and demeaning words."

Another viewer pointed out, "notice how the little baby is playing his dads beard while being disciplined 😭💖 shows he feels safe w him and he’s really listening."

Others praised the mother: "The mother saying she’s not stepping in is the BEST PART!!! Let the men RAISE their boys!!!" one wrote. Another commented, "Us women, we raise our babies, our husbands, they raise men."

@jissel_fitts

#fyp #fypage #f #fatherson #dadsoftiktok #dadlife #blackfathers #blackfatherhood #fatherhood #breakingcycles

Jissell also responded to people sharing about their struggles. One viewer wrote, "I wish I had this growing up pops wasn’t around mom had to work you guys know how to go 🤦🏾♂️😩." And Jissell replied, "Growing up in my household we weren’t allowed to express ourselves we got in trouble for it 🥹."

Another shared, "Not all boys have a father like this not all boys have an active present, loving father that’s going to be like this. Some of us mothers have to be the mother and the father to our boys💯 & that’s Ok." Jissell responded, "My husband was raised by a single mom so yes it’s possible ❤️."

Regardless of their upbringings, Jissell and Aaron are choosing to parent their children differently.

From Your Site Articles
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Pop Culture

'Wicked' author reveals how one line in 'The Wizard of Oz' inspired Elphaba and Glinda's story

Gregory Maguire says he "fell down to the ground" laughing when the idea hit him.

Public domain

Gregory Maguire was inspired by a line in the original 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz."

Have you ever watched a movie or read a book or listened to a piece of music and wondered, "How did they come up with that idea?" The creative process is so enigmatic even artists themselves don't always know where their ideas come from, so It's a treat when we get to hear the genesis of a brilliant idea straight from the horse's mouth. If you've watched "Wicked" and wondered where the idea for the friendship between Elphaba (the Wicked Witch) and Glinda (the Good Witch) came from, the author of the book has shared the precise moment it came to him.

The hit movie "Wicked" is based on the 20-year-old hit stage musical, which is based on the novel "Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West" written by Gregory Maguire. While the musical is a simplified version of the 1995 book, the basic storyline—the origins of the two witches from "The Wizard of Oz"—lies at the heart of both. In an interview with BBC, Maguire explained how Elphaba and Glinda's friendship popped into his head.

Maguire was visiting Beatrix Potter's farm in Cumbria, England, and thinking about "The Wizard of Oz," which he had loved as a child and thought could be an interesting basis for a story about evil.

"I thought 'alright, what do we know about 'The Wizard of Oz' from our memories,'" he said. "We have the house falling on the witch. What do we know about that witch? All we know about that witch is that she has feet. So I began to think about Glinda and the Wicked Witch of the West…

"There is one scene in the 1939 film where Billie Burke comes down looking all pink and fluffy, and Margaret Hamilton is all crawed and crabbed and she says something like, 'I might have known you'd be behind this, Glinda!' This was my memory, and I thought, now why is she using Glinda's first name? They have known each other. Maybe they've known each other for a long time. Maybe they went to college together. And I fell down onto the ground in the Lake District laughing at the thought that they had gone to college together."

In "Wicked," Glinda and the Wicked Witch, Elphaba, meet as students at Shiz University, a school of wizardry. They get placed as roommates, loathe each other at first, but eventually become best friends. The story grows a lot more complicated from there (and the novel goes darker than the stage play), but it's the character development of the two witches and their relationship with one another that force us to examine our ideas about good and evil.


- YouTubeyoutu.be

Maguire also shared with the Denver Center for Performing Arts what had inspired him to use the "Wizard of Oz" characters in the first place.

"I was living in London in the early 1990’s during the start of the Gulf War. I was interested to see how my own blood temperature chilled at reading a headline in the usually cautious British newspaper, the Times of London: 'Sadaam Hussein: The New Hitler?' I caught myself ready to have a fully formed political opinion about the Gulf War and the necessity of action against Sadaam Hussein on the basis of how that headline made me feel. The use of the word Hitler – what a word! What it evokes! When a few months later several young schoolboys kidnapped and killed a toddler, the British press paid much attention to the nature of the crime. I became interested in the nature of evil, and whether one really could be born bad. I considered briefly writing a novel about Hitler but discarded the notion due to my general discomfort with the reality of those times. But when I realized that nobody had ever written about the second most evil character in our collective American subconscious, the Wicked Witch of the West, I thought I had experienced a small moment of inspiration. Everybody in America knows who the Wicked Witch of the West is, but nobody really knows anything about her. There is more to her than meets the eye."

Authors and artists—and their ideas—help hold a mirror up to humanity for us to see and reflect on who we are, and "Wicked" is one of those stories that makes us take a hard look at what we're seeing in that mirror. Thanks, Gregory Maguire, for launching us on a collective journey that not only entertains but has the potential to change how we see one another.

This story originally appeared last year.

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Joy

It's just sweater holes being mended by hand, but people can't look away

It's like watching a magic trick.

Photo credit: Canva

Knowing how to properly darn holes in sweaters is a useful skill.

For most of human history, people had to make their own clothing by hand, and sewing skills were subsequently passed down from generation to generation. Because clothing was so time-consuming and labor-intensive to make, people also had to know how to repair clothing items that got torn or damaged in some way.

The invention of sewing and knitting machines changed the way we acquire clothing, and the skills people used to possess have largely gone by the wayside. If we get a hole in a sock nowadays, we toss it and replace it. Most of us have no idea how to darn a sock or fix a hole in any knit fabric. Unfortunately, it's far easier for us to replace than to repair.

mending a sock, darning socks, darning sweater, fixing a hole in a sweater, knittingMost of us don't darn socks anyomore.Photo credit: Canva

But there are still some among us who do have the skills to repair clothing in a way that makes it look like the rip, tear or hole never happened, and to watch them do it is mesmerizing.

Videos of people stitching holes in knit sweaters have gone viral on social media with millions of views on simple, 2-minute demonstrations. Why? Well, you just have to see it in action.

One video begins by showing a hole in a light pink knit sweater. Using a needle, yarn and a tiny latch hook device, the person demonstrates how to fill the hole to make it look as if it never existed in the first place. Putting a patch over a hole is one thing, but this is something akin to magic.

Watch:

- YouTubeyoutube.com

Wow, right?

Another video begins by showing a hole in a gray knit sweater, but this time a yellow yarn is used to patch the hole so you can see clearly what was done. It looks so simple, but you really do have to know what you're doing to make this magic work.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

What we're witnessing here is a combo of knowledge and experience in the fiber arts, of course, but what it looks like is sheer sorcery or some kind of really complicated calculus problem. Who figured out how to do this? And why is it so satisfying to watch?

"I watched this whole video and I still don’t know how you did that," shared one commenter. (Right?!)

"Hey that was pretty neat," wrote another. "Can you do the ozone layer next?" (Ha.)

"I could watch it a hundred times and still not be able to do this," wrote another. (Uh, same.)

"My toxic trait is thinking I can do this 😂😂😂," shared another. (Maybe after watching it two hundred times.)

Many people found it oddly soothing to watch, perhaps because seeing something being fixed is indeed satisfying and perhaps because it harkens back to a simpler time when people spent their evenings doing things like this around the fire.

The music helps, too. This video demonstrates three different ways to mend sweater holes and the piano practically lulls you into a meditative state while you watch. Is this fiber arts therapy for those of us who don't sew or knit or crochet? Maybe so. Whatever works, right?

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Kudos to those who are keeping these kinds of skills alive and sharing them with the world. We may not be passing this kind of knowledge down in most families anymore, but at least we have the internet to help us if we really want to learn it.

This article originally appeared three years ago.

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Pets

After no one showed up for a puppy's first birthday party strangers on the Internet stepped in

"I love how they posted the flyers at different heights. One for the dogs and one for the humans."

Photo by Hedi Alija on Unsplash

Party of one for dog's birthday.

Decades after the trend first emerged, people are still debating whether dog birthday parties are cool or "too extra." One woman on TikTok threw her tiny one-year-old puppy, Angel, a party and claimed no one came. In response, she received nearly 30,000 comments from people expressing their sadness that such an adorable puppy looked so distraught. They followed up with thousands of birthday wishes and heart emojis. (Turns out that Angel, who's a Brussels Griffon, has over 700,000 followers and her own manager, so she seems to be doing okay.)


dogs, birthday parties, birthday, pups, dog birthdayThree dogs wearing party hats. Photo by Pawtography Perth on Unsplash


Tons of people online have opinions about whether hound parties should even exist. An OP on Quora asked, "Why do pet owners throw birthday parties for their pets?" One commenter kept it simple: "Because it’s fun. That’s why. Dogs have about the same mental functioning as a toddler when it comes to navigating interactions with human beings. Do you think a baby has any clue what’s going on when you throw a 1st birthday party? Probably not, but you can see it brings them joy and you enjoy it too, so why not?"


@angelpawspups

Nobody came to his birthday 😞💔🎂 #sad #sadvideo #dog #dogparty #birthday #dogbirthday #puppy #brusselsgriffon


As for the logistics of it all, in the subreddit r/dogs, a Redditor posted: "Dog birthday party help: We adopted our good boy 3 years ago next week and we want to have a little party in our backyard with neighborhood dogs. Any tips or ideas on how to make it fun and keep it safe/contained?"

A commenter had excellent advice as to only having well-behaved dogs in attendance: "Hand out invitations with your pup in tow, to neighbors as they walk their dogs, and assess any behavioral incompatibilities before even mentioning anything."

And this wisdom was aimed at helping alleviate a dog-mob mentality when it came to treats: "You could do goodie bags for people to take as they leave, tied in a poop bag."


@lelepons

Happy Birthday my baby Toby 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹

While some seemed adverse to the idea, more and more people are embracing their canine hoe-downs, whether it's an actual birthday or a "gotcha" day, for those lucky rescue animals out there. Recently, in the subreddit r/aww, someone posted a flyer of a puppy in a red party hat, with the caption, "Wuff, wuff, wuff, arf, woof, woof, ruff." A date and time followed by more woofs, arfs, and ruffs, then "nom nom (cake!) Come! Bark less…Maybe." As someone who's fluent in "dog," I can tell you that's a solid invite to what sounds like an off-the-chain party.

This post already has over 50,000 upvotes and nearly a thousand comments. Even more exciting, people actually went to the party and posted some photos in the Reddit thread. An amazing time seemed to be had by all!

gif, dogs, dog birthday party, birthday, party, party hatsHappy Birthday GIFGiphy

Days before the event, one eagle-eyed viewer had a compliment for the flyer itself. "I love how they posted the flyers at different heights. One for the dogs and one for the humans."

Another viewer had excellent advice for those searching for a companion on say, Tinder: "Are you single? I have a strong vibe if you go you are going to meet someone that you will really want to know." Not sure if they meant a dog-friend or a human-companion, but, either way, hopefully it all panned out.

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