What I’m Reading

March 26, 2024

Display of magazines and newspapers, in print and digital, along with a Kindle and a pocket notebook and pens on a desk.

In today’s What I’m Reading, I’ll point to a visual migration story, a relevant journey into the nuclear past, and a calming cycling kicker that explores Korean streets.

Coincidence piqued my curiosity about the first recommendation today. Just hours before I checked the zReportage blog, a short video clip in which a politician mentioned sanctuary cities fell into my hands; so to speak.

I remembered that clip when I read the title of a photo story about that issue. It is called Sanctuary City Blues.

Border issues are often at the front of immigration debates. However, immigration extends beyond borders and warrants a look at the causes and impacts of migration.

In this case, photographers Antonio Perez, Armando L. Sanchez, and Chris Sweda, together with their Chicago Tribune colleague Nell Salzman, report on the situation in Chicago and the reality of the concept of being a sanctuary city.

I’ll leave the details to the story. There’s an informative written element, and the photographs highlight the human side of migration.

You’ll learn what a sanctuary city is, both in basic theory and in the complex reality of the streets of Chicago and the tensions between American communities close to the Mexican border and those far away from it.

The photography is heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. I highly recommend you give this story a look.

Journalism meets movies meets history

Fascinated by the movie Oppenheimer, The New York Times’s Catie Edmondson looked into how a project like the development of the atomic bomb was funded and politically green-lighted, given the scale of the top-secret undertaking.

The result is a fascinating read called A Reporter’s Journey Into How the U.S. Funded the Bomb.

I found my time with the article insightful and entertaining. Edmondson explains how the idea was born and writes about the reporting and research that followed.

The secrecy aspect of realizing a vast weapons research project in the middle of World War II adds to the fascination of this read (or listen because there’s a 15-minute audio recording, read by the journalist). I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I have.

Calming cycling explorations

Cycling is growing in popularity in Korea, according to Rouleur’s “On Seoul’s Cycling Soul”.

Seoul-based bike shop owner Erica Kwihyun Kim introduces us to Korea’s cycling scene. Her descriptions of the infrastructure, which includes a bike path network that connects the cities of Seoul and Busan (500 km / 310 mi apart), are appetizing. The climatic challenges in the region are not quite as attractive.

But already being curious about the culture through long-lasting friendships stemming from my summer at Yale, I found this short excursion a wonderful break from more serious news.

Those are my recommendations for this week. I’ll share a running update on Sunday. Until then, enjoy your readings.