Micah's Read of the Week, Vol. 32
A possibly wonderful summer, Guitar Hero, Kyrie Irving, Charles Barkley, Lady Bird Johnson, recipes, and more.
Hello, and welcome to Micah’s Read of the Week.
This is a newsletter filled with things Micah Wiener finds interesting.
Check out the introduction post here and the entire archive of previous newsletters here.
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Good news: A Quite Possibly Wonderful Summer
Families will gather. Restaurants will reopen. People will travel. The pandemic may feel like it’s behind us—even if it’s not. Lots of good news here.
After months of soaring deaths and infections, COVID-19 cases across the United States are declining even more sharply than experts anticipated. This is expected to continue, and rates of serious illness and death will plummet even faster than cases, as high-risk populations are vaccinated. Even academics who have spent the pandemic delivering ominous warnings have shifted their tone to cautiously optimistic now that vaccination rates are exploding.
Until very recently, Anthony Fauci had been citing August as the month by which the U.S. could vaccinate 70 to 80 percent of the population and reach herd immunity. Last week, he suddenly threw out May or early June as a window for when most Americans could have access to vaccines.
Pre-pandemic norms could return to schools, churches, and restaurants. Sports, theater, and cultural events could resume. People could travel and dance indoors and hug grandparents, their own or others’. In most of the U.S., the summer could feel … “normal.”
Pre-pandemic complaints about a crowded subway car or a mediocre sandwich could be replaced by the awe of simply riding a bus or sitting in a diner. People might go out of their way to talk with strangers, merely to gaze upon the long-forbidden, exposed mouth of a speaking human.
In short, the summer could feel revelatory. The dramatic change in the trajectory and tenor of the news could give a sense that the pandemic is over. The energy of the moment could be an opportunity—or Americans could be dancing in the eye of a hurricane.
Perhaps the fact that we’ve been so bad at stopping the virus means that we’re actually closer to ending it.
Recent research from Columbia University estimates that the U.S. is already much closer to Fauci’s stated threshold of 70 to 80 percent than our case numbers suggest. Owing to minimal and patchwork testing efforts, lead researcher Jeff Shaman told me, the actual number of infections in the U.S. has likely been about five times higher than reported. This would mean that about one in three Americans has already been infected by SARS-CoV-2.
Of course, the news isn’t all good. And the reality is pretty damn sobering.
Under no circumstances is the coronavirus simply going to disappear this summer. Cases will drop, and restrictions will lift in many places. But rather than an abrupt end to the pandemic, the coming months will be more like the beginning of an extended and still-volatile tail of the outbreak globally. What that will look like, and how long it will last, depends on how nations cooperate and coordinate—or fail to. Regardless of how quickly the immediate threat of viral illness subsides in the U.S., America’s choices in the coming weeks and months could mean the difference between a pandemic that ends this year and one that haunts everyone indefinitely.
If we are lucky, year over year, SARS-CoV-2 will evolve to cause milder disease than it has these past two years. That would be consistent with the virus that spread in 1918, which became the seasonal flu. It never again produced the same level of mortality as it did during its first two years, but the virus continues to evolve and kill hundreds of thousands of people every year. Most of us have come to accept this as inevitable.
New Yorker cartoon of the week
Texas Drops Precautions
(Very) Long Read of the Week: The Oral History of Guitar Hero
This is a LONG piece about the origins, launch, and success, and fall of one of the most innovative and fun video games in history. I won’t excerpt any of it, but if you’re interested, and have several hours to spare, I would highly suggest it.
Check out this brutal takedown of Kyrie Irving
I have no time for Kyrie. He’s an excellent player with perhaps the greatest handle in the game. He made one of the most clutch shots in the history of playoff basketball and helped bring a championship to Cleveland. He’s also been on several teams, and when he leaves, the old team always seems relieved that he’s gone.
A couple of years ago, he made headlines for embracing the insane conspiracy theory that the Earth is flat. Seriously. If you’ve read this space for a minute you know how I feel about conspiracy theorists. As Tony Kornheiser said at the time “it’s a very small step (from flat Earth) to becoming a Holocaust denier or a slavery denier.”
Anyway, Kyrie recently said that the NBA should change its logo to a silhouette of Kobe Bryant. WaPo columnist Kevin Blackistone isn’t having it.
It was, oh, circa 2018, when Kyrie Irving brought himself to apologize for suggesting that our Earth was flat instead of the shape Pythagoras rightly hypothesized over 2,500 years ago. A sphere. A ball. The very thing Irving is famous for handling, dribbling and shooting better than most everyone on a basketball court.
Which is what disqualifies Irving’s latest suggestion: that the NBA’s half-century-old logo of a silhouetted basketball player be turned into a new silhouette. Irving would have the image change from one of Jerry West, the Hall of Fame Lakers guard of the 1960s, to one of a more recent Hall of Fame Lakers guard, the late Kobe Bryant.
“Kobe Bryant. Logo. Yes. Needs to happen. I don’t care what anyone says,” Irving told reporters Thursday. “Black kings built the league. It’s exactly what I meant. It’s exactly where I stand.”
Not caring what others think about this issue is intellectual malpractice.
Bryant and Irving and those of their generations are more Black princes than Black kings. The kings are those of West’s generation, the first Black players to make an imprint on professional basketball, change it forever and assume its thrones. They are the original mononymous basketball stars. Russell. Wilt. The Big O. Kareem. Russell is lauded for his civil rights work. The Big O for being an organ donor. Kareem for his Black Lives Matter stances before there was BLM. If Irving must see the league reconfigure its logo in honor of one of its Black pioneers, then do so with Abdul-Jabbar’s sky hook, Oscar Robertson’s one-handed jumper, or Wilt Chamberlain or Bill Russell snatching an errant ball from the stratosphere.
Headline of the Week
Charles Barkley fears hora at daughter’s Jewish wedding
Basketball star tells Jimmy Kimmel he’s been trying to lose weight ‘because apparently they’ve got to pick me up in a chair. Listen, I need all Jewish people on deck’
Mazeltov, Chuckster.
Podcast of the Week
"In Plain Sight: Lady Bird Johnson" presents a surprising and original portrait of Lady Bird Johnson, told in the former first lady's own words -- from over 123 hours of her White House audio diaries, heard here largely for the first time ever. It recasts Lady Bird's role in the Johnson White House as her husband's closest advisor and most trusted political partner and provides history-making revelations about LBJ's time in office. It's the story of how one vastly underestimated woman navigated the power, politics and polarization of her era to become one of the most influential members of the Johnson administration... even if we never knew it.
The podcast is very powerful, especially the first episode about the assassination of JFK. Really compelling stuff.
Podcast Promotion of the Week
This week on Mind of Micah, we dive into room service options for NBA stars. Since COVID restrictions have limited players’ options for eating out, room service has become an essential part of NBA life.
Subscribe to Mind of Micah and get every new episode sent directly to your device as it’s released.
Recipe Corner
Turkey Kebabs With Tahini Sauce
1/2 medium onion
1/2 medium zucchini or yellow squash
Leaves from 8 to 10 stems fresh parsley
1 pound ground turkey, preferably dark meat (may substitute ground lamb, grass-fed beef or chicken; see overview)
2 teaspoons za'atar (Middle Eastern spice blend; may substitute equal parts chopped fresh thyme, toasted sesame seeds, ground sumac and salt)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 cup plain yogurt
3 tablespoons well-stirred tahini, or more as needed
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more as needed
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1/2 lemon
Pitas, for serving
DIRECTIONS
Combine the following in a mixing bowl as you work: Cut the half onion into small dice (about 1/2 cup). Use the large-holed side of a box grater to grate the zucchini or squash (to yield no more than 1/2 packed cup). Chop enough parsley leaves to yield about 5 tablespoons.
Prepare a grill for direct heat; preheat the grill to medium-high heat (375 degrees), or set a large grill pan over medium-high heat on the stove top.
Add the ground turkey, 1 teaspoon of the za’atar, 1/2 teaspoon of the salt, 1/4 teaspoon of the ground cumin and all the cardamom to the mixing bowl. Use your clean hands to gently mix it all together until evenly blended.
Dampen your hands with water, then use them to divide the mixture into 8 equal portions, shaping each one to form a 2 1/2- to 3-inch oblong kebab. Thread two onto each skewer, spacing the kebabs about an inch apart and pressing to secure them in place. Grease each kebab with a little cooking oil spray or olive oil (to help prevent sticking), then sprinkle with the remaining teaspoon of za’atar.
Grill for 10 to 12 minutes, turning them a few times for even browning/grill marks, or until the interior temperature registers 165 degrees on an instant-read thermometer.
Meanwhile, make the tahini sauce: Whisk together the yogurt, tahini, the tablespoon of oil, the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of salt, the remaining 1/4 teaspoon of ground cumin and the cayenne pepper. Squeeze in most of the juice from the half lemon, stirring to blend it in. Taste, and add more tahini and/or lemon juice, as needed.
Serve warm, with the pitas and the tahini sauce for dipping.
Spicy Cucumbers With Yogurt, Lemon and Herbs
1 ½ pounds Persian cucumbers (about 8), ends trimmed and quartered lengthwise into spears, then crosswise into 2-inch pieces
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
¼ cup grapeseed oil or other neutral oil, such as canola, safflower, sunflower oil
1 teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
2 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1 cup full-fat Greek yogurt
½ cup mint leaves, thinly sliced
¼ cup dill, chopped
¼ cup parsley leaves and tender stems, chopped
1 lemon
2 tablespoons olive oil
Black pepper
¼ cup pine nuts (optional)
Toss the cucumber pieces with 1 teaspoon salt and set in a colander in the sink to drain.
In a small pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the coriander and cumin, and toast until fragrant, stirring to avoid scorching, about 1 minute. Remove oil from heat, add red-pepper flakes and allow to cool.
In a medium bowl, toss the salted cucumber pieces with the scallions, spiced oil and apple cider vinegar. Allow to marinate in the refrigerator for 15 minutes or overnight while you prepare the yogurt.
In a small bowl, combine the yogurt, half of the herbs (mint, dill and parsley), zest and juice of the lemon and the olive oil. Stir to incorporate, and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Spread the yogurt mixture on a plate or the bottom of a shallow bowl. Using a slotted spoon to drain the cucumbers and scallions of excess liquid, evenly place the cucumbers and scallions on top of the yogurt. Finish with the remaining chopped herbs and pine nuts (if using), and serve immediately.
Where else can I find Micah content?
Podcasts: Mind of Micah, Back Door Cover, Too Much Dip
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