Hump Day recs - 9/6/23

Listen:David Byrne and Choir! Choir! Choir! perform a David Bowie classic. Check out the musical magic as David Byrne, frontman for the classic 70s-80s band Talking Heads, joins several hundred friends to bring new life to the iconic Bowie anthem “Heroes.” – Willis

Read:The War That Doesn’t Say its Name. Scholar and journalist Jason Stearns dives deep into the roots of the conflicts in the mineral-rich eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo, focusing in particular on why cycles of violence continue two decades after the 2003 peace deal that led to billions in international aid and the largest U.N. peacekeeping mission in world history. – Matt Kendrick

See: A Frank Lloyd Wright house. As a Michigander, I’ve had the opportunity to tour Wright’s Meyer May House in Grand Rapids, and I’ve enjoyed seeing the Pope-Leighey House in Alexandria, VA. But nothing prepared me for the wow factor of Fallingwater, which I visited this weekend. Built of locally quarried stone and sand, and perched over a waterfall, this rural Pennsylvania home — constructed as a weekend getaway — offers stunning views from every window that pull you toward the great outdoors. If you love great design, find a Wright house in your area. – Tracy

Listen: “The Retrievals.” The women in this story who went to the Yale Fertility Center for IVF treatment thought they were in the best hands at a time of intense vulnerability. What happened to them next was nightmarish. This five-part series from Serial and the New York Times tells a dark story with compassion and nuance. – Gabrielle

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Miraflores Palace/Handout via REUTERS

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Gemini

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The Nepalese government’s decision last week to ban several social platforms has touched off an ongoing wave of deadly unrest in the South Asian country of 30 million.

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General Wieslaw Kukula, chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces, takes part in an extraordinary government cabinet meeting at the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, following violations of Polish airspace during a Russian attack on Ukraine in Warsaw, Poland, on September 10, 2025.
(Photo by Aleksander Kalka/NurPhoto

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