Our weekly recap highlighting the best feature stories from around the internet.
Photo: Image: Toby Morris / RNZ
A 21st-Century Migrant’s Essentials: Food, Shelter, Smartphone – by Matthew Brunwasser, The New York Times
“The tens of thousands of migrants who have flooded into the Balkans in recent weeks need food, water and shelter, just like the millions displaced by war the world over. But there is also one other thing they swear they cannot live without: a smartphone charging station.”
For Marjorie: Experiencing the 20th Century Through The Mental Health System – by Elizabeth Beattie, The Pantograph Punch
“I’ll always wonder what Nana’s life would have been like if she had been born into a time with more progressive view of mental health, and more modern views on the gender roles that compounded the expectations on her from when she was still a child.”
Mainstream Minority: Zayn Malik’s Role As A Muslim Superstar Is Only Going To Grow - by Diyana Noory, Noisey
“Zayn is the first Muslim artist to reach such wild levels of global popularity, and, as such, his presence in the entertainment industry has set new precedents. Although he has not been particularly vocal about his faith, both people who celebrate his Muslim identity and those who reject it have tried to forge their own image of him as a spokesperson for Islam.”
The Franzen of It All: ‘Purity’ and the Great American Novelist – by Brian Phillips, Grantland
“It’s ironic, I guess, that the strangeness, alienation, and terror that Franzen (sort of) wants to chronicle are busy revealing themselves all day long on the Internet, which Franzen is so determined to reject. An hour on Twitter is a more harrowing and affirming plunge into the ocean of the age than three days reading Purity.”
Flag designs a national disgrace – by Karl Puschmann, New Zealand Herald
“It's nothing short of a national disgrace that the same flag clipart eats up half of the available final slots. The FCC should have picked one and put another option forward. Preferably one that didn't suck. Is it too late to make this happen? Can we, I don't know, hikoi or something? Too difficult? Ah well, some snarky tweets will have to suffice.”
The Most Timeless Songs of All-Time – by Matt Daniels, Polygraph
“Lana Del Ray’s ‘Young and Beautiful’ and Arctic Monkey’s’ Do I Wanna Know’ look like modern equivalents of ‘At Last’: little commercial success on its release, but steady growth over time. Today in 2015, both tracks are at parity with ‘Royals’ and ‘Get Lucky’, and you’d probably never guess it.”
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Zadie Smith on Race, Writing, and Relationships – New York Public Library
“It took me a while to realize I really didn't like the Mills and Boon format, where the man decides. It's sort of the destiny of the relationship is in the hands of the man. And it's okay as well if they meet and don't like each other, then he grabs her at some point and she melts. You know that idea that a woman can't own her sexuality, can't own her choices? So this is the anti-Mills and Boon in many ways. The women in my world don't have to wait because they're women.”