It’s the Sticks and Stones’ birthday! Thanks for reading this weekly newsletter for the past three years. I can’t tell you how grateful I am for the many internet friends I’ve made through this little send. Thank you for passing me good reads and kind emails. Here’s to many more issues. 🍻
Courtesy Stefanie Shank, Giphy
I’m late to this send today (and sorry for missing last week’s!), but here is a puppy to make up for it.
Now, back to business.
What I’ve been reading
Murder in the Moroccan Mountains: Last winter, Moroccan officials found two hikers dead on the trail to the highest peak in the Atlas Mountains. The international investigation that followed revealed the fragility of the adventure travel economy, as well as what happens when a small tourist hub is suddenly made strange by violence. [Rachel Monroe for Outside]
Black Women Are Leaders in the Climate Movement: Environmentalism, in other words, is a black issue. [Heather McTeer Toney for The New York Times]
How to Be a Beginner (and Get Over Your Ego): “It turns out that at Outside, saying you ran cross-country pretty well in high school is like sharing your SAT score any time after graduating high school: irrelevant enough to get an awkward look.” [Erin Berger for Outside]
Bloom's Mission to Turn Toxic Algae into Shoes: One company thinks it can solve the global algae crisis by making sneakers from sludge. [Kelly Bastone for Outside]
Maybe It’s Lyme: What happens when illness becomes an identity? [Molly Fischer for The Cut]
Blair Braverman's Favorite Active, Bra-Friendly Dresses: “Did you know that you can wear whatever you want? I grew up taking magazine quizzes about the right clothing for different body types and then spent my teens and twenties wearing fit-and-flare dresses. After all, that’s what you’re supposed to do with curves: cinch your waist, cover your thighs. Then, last year, my stylish friend gave me a smock minidress, which was super comfy and made me feel like a boss, and it blew my mind.” [Blair for Outside]
How Shelton Johnson Became a Yosemite Legend: The longtime ranger has spent decades sharing stories of Buffalo Soldiers and advocating for diversity in the national parks. But his journey started on the edge of a cliff in Germany. [Katherine LaGrave for Outside]
Other reads
A Woman’s Greatest Enemy? A Lack of Time to Herself. If what it takes to create are long stretches of time alone, that’s something women have never had the luxury to expect. [Brigid Schulte for The Guardian]