# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Has Nintendo Solved Its Princess Problem?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
As the company releases the sequel “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” the need for narrative has meant a new focus on its sparse cast of female characters.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
I am drawing a map from the sea to the sky.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
I first heard about the Baekdusan in a book my umma would read to me as a child. Each page was illustrated with myths, stories, and songs that she remembered from her own childhood in a mountain village near Gwangju, a city in the south of Korea made famous by the bloody protests that took place there in 1980. She had bought the book after the 1988 Olympics, the first time an international event had taken place in her homeland, a glimmer of what eventually became the hallyu wave. Appropriate for the type of patriotism it was intended to inspire, the book was titled “I Love Korea!”, exclamation point included.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
FROM MINE TO YOURS: PATHS, SOUNDS, AND INNER MONOLOGUES COLLECTED BY QUEENIE WU FOR THE HTML REVIEW

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
'Mistakes' (New Zealand road safety advert)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Baseball is my favorite thing in the world, man. And I’m so honored I get to play it with the Jays and in Toronto.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
I Got Straight A’s. I Never Learned to Think.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
You were told you were smart. You were actually just obedient.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.authors[].name
Visuals by The New York Times, Text by Stephanie Goodman

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Actors like Leonardo DiCaprio and Michael B. Jordan talk about the thought process behind their nominated roles. 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Navigating deafness in a hearing world | Rachel Kolb | TEDxStanford

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
Viewfinders: 10 Y.A. Novelists Spin Fiction From Vintage Photos

# data[].attributes.body
The New York Times invited Asian-American authors to choose photos from our archives and write short young-adult fiction inspired by them.

# data[].attributes.body
A very subversively funny Oscar-nominated short film. Interestingly, you could easily make a case to file this in persuasion or exposition - it's very clever.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
JANE AUSTEN'S PERIOD DRAMA / 2026 Oscar®-Nominated Short Film

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A college student’s perspective on using AI in class

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Instead of banning AI, why don’t schools teach students to use it critically? College freshman Maximilian Milovidov shares what he has learned in an “AI writing” course at Columbia University.

# data[].attributes.body
A caution here that the regular version has some colourful language and imagery, but you can choose an entirely classroom-safe version at the top of the page if you prefer

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
We need to talk about naked mole rats - The Oatmeal

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This is a comic about naked mole rats, aka tube goblins.

# data[].attributes.body
Mapping 100,000 moments of human happiness.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
100,000 moments of human happiness, mapped

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
but the state stole all my good metaphors

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Great Planet on Instagram: "For decades, the golden rule of travel was simple: share the beauty you find. Today, that same generosity is destroying the very places we love.

In Japan, authorities were forced to erect a massive black net to hide Mt. Fuji from swarming crowds. In Iceland, the Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon survived the ice age but could not survive a single Justin Bieber music video. Within months of the release, thousands of years of fragile moss were trampled into mud, forcing the government to close the ecosystem indefinitely.

We have traded discovery for consumption.

A new ethic is quietly emerging among modern travelers. It is called Digital Silence. It is the conscious decision to share the art and the emotion of a place without giving away its exact coordinates. What the internet often dismisses as gatekeeping is no longer about elitism. It is a radical act of conservation. It is the realization that some sanctuaries need our silence much more than they need our geo-tags.

Perhaps the ultimate form of respect for a destination is to leave no digital footprint at all.

Where do you draw the line between sharing and protecting? Swipe through the case study and join the debate in the comments.

Curating the world’s culture.
@thegreatplanet"

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
53K likes, 749 comments - thegreatplanet on February 19, 2026: "For decades, the golden rule of travel was simple: share the beauty you find. Today, that same generosity is destroying the very places we love.

In Japan, authorities were forced to erect a massive black net to hide Mt. Fuji from swarming crowds. In Iceland, the Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon survived the ice age but could not survive a single Justin Bieber music video. Within months of the release, thousands of years of fragile moss were trampled into mud, forcing the government to close the ecosystem indefinitely.

We have traded discovery for consumption.

A new ethic is quietly emerging among modern travelers. It is called Digital Silence. It is the conscious decision to share the art and the emotion of a place without giving away its exact coordinates. What the internet often dismisses as gatekeeping is no longer about elitism. It is a radical act of conservation. It is the realization that some sanctuaries need our silence much more than they need our geo-tags.

Perhaps the ultimate form of respect for a destination is to leave no digital footprint at all.

Where do you draw the line between sharing and protecting? Swipe through the case study and join the debate in the comments.

Curating the world’s culture.
@thegreatplanet". 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.embed_code
View this post on Instagram

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
LOOP - Mejor Cortometraje de animación en los 37 Premios Goya

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
This Is How Ancient Egyptians Carved Hieroglyphs in Stone 🪨⚒️ Khufu Cartouche | How Was It Made?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
f i t 4 a

with Jan Diehm

I remember once being that teen girl shopping in the women's section for the first time. I took stacks upon stacks of jeans with me to the dressing room, searching in vain for that one pair that fit perfectly. Over 20 years later, my hunt for the ideal pair of jeans continues. But now as an adult, I'm stuck with the countless ways that women's apparel is not made for the average person, like me.

Children's clothing sizes are often tied to a kid's age or stage of development. The idea is that as a young person grows older, her clothes will evolve with her. Youth styles tend to be boxy and oversized to allow room for kids to move and grow. By early adolescence, apparel for girls becomes more fitted. Junior's styles have higher waistlines and less-pronounced curves compared to adult clothing lines. In short: clothes for tweens are made for tween bodies.

By the time most teenage girls can wear women's clothes - around age 15 - their options are seemingly endless. But the evolution in clothing sizes that followed girls throughout childhood abruptly stops there.

This is the reality I find myself reckoning with today: Women's clothing - designed for adults - fits modern teen girls better.

Waistline in Inches

XXS XS S M L XL XXL

Size range:

Letter size:

Numeric size:

Waist size: "

I once believed that change was inevitable and sizing problems would become a relic of the past. If it wasn't some scrappy upstart that promised to revolutionize the sizing system, then at least the major fashion conglomerates would be well-placed to modernize and tap the full potential of the plus-size market. But that progress never fully materialized. And I got tired of waiting.

A few years ago, I started learning how to sew. Somehow it felt more practical to make my own clothes than count on meaningful change to happen on its own. Getting started was easier than I thought. The first sewing pattern I ever completed - a boxy, drop-shoulder style that could turn into either a shirt or dress - was free to download. It included a 29-page instruction manual with photos and illustrations documenting every step.

From there, I started learning how to draft my own sewing patterns from scratch. That's when I realized the truth behind my sizing struggles: Clothing sizes are optimized for mass production and appeal - not women's bodies. Nothing represents this more than a size 8.

Fashion designers often use body measurements for a size 8 as a starting point when creating new design samples. Manufacturers then use a mathematical formula to determine each next size up or down the range in a process called grading. The effect is like a Russian doll. Each size up is incrementally larger than the last.

The uniform shape makes it easier for factories to mass-produce garments, however it comes with several tradeoffs. It's hard to scale up to larger-sized clothing before the proportions become distorted. It also becomes impractical to make multiple versions of a single item to accommodate varying body shapes or heights. That means most women's clothing is derived from a single set of proportions - a size 8. According to U.S. health data, fewer than 10% of adult women have waistlines that fit the standard sample size or smaller.

I, like the vast majority of women, do not fit the standard mold. Instead I took an old pattern-making textbook often taught in fashion design schools to start making clothes to fit my own unique proportions. I gathered and recorded over 58 different body measurements in order to get started and from there, I could make my own custom base pattern, known as a bodice block or sloper.

Once I compared my personalized sloper to commercial patterns and retail garments, I had a revelation: clothes were never made to fit bodies like mine. It didn't matter how much weight I gained or lost, whether I contorted my body or tried to buy my way into styles that "flatter" my silhouette, there was no chance that clothes would ever fit perfectly on their own. Finally I understood why.

s i z i n g f o r

The fashion industry thrives on exclusivity. Luxury brands maintain their status by limiting who is able to buy or even wear their clothes. If few women fit the "ideal" standards, then products serving only them are inherently exclusionary. Size charts become the de facto dividing line determining who belongs and who doesn't.

This line of gatekeeping is baked into the foundation of virtually all clothing. The modern sizing system in the U.S. was developed in the 1940s based on mostly young, white women. No women of color were originally included. The system was never built to include a diverse cross-section of people, ages, or body types. It has largely stayed that way by design.

In its 1995 standards update, ASTM International admitted that its sizing guidelines were never meant to represent the population at large. Instead body measurements were based on "designer experience" and "market observations." The goal was to tailor sizes to the existing customer base. But what happens when more than half of all women are pushed to the margins or left behind?

It doesn't have to be this way. Teenage girls shouldn't be aging out of sizing options from the moment they start wearing women's clothes. A woman does not need hourglass proportions to look good, just as garment-makers do not need standardized sizes to produce well-fitting clothes.

There are no rules forcing brands to adopt any particular sizing system. There is no such thing as a "true" size 8, or any size for that matter. If brands are constantly developing and customizing their size charts, then it makes little sense to perpetuate a broken system. Sizes are all made up anyway - why can't we make them better?

Methodology

To highlight the median body proportions of the adult women in the U.S., we relied on anthropometric reference data for children and adults that is regularly released by the National Center for Health Statistics within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

For this story, we pulled data on the median waistline circumference of women and girls that was gathered between 2021-2023. For girls and women under 20 years old, measurements were recorded in two-year age ranges (ex: 10-11 years, 14-15 years), with a median of 141 participants per age range. For women over 20, measurements were recorded in nine-year age ranges (ex: 20-29 years, 30-39 years) and collectively for all women 20 and older. Each nine-year age range had a median of 465 participants. Overall, measurements were recorded for 3,121 women ages 20 and older. Those who were pregnant were excluded from the data.

HHS also provides a breakdown of measurements within set percentiles for each age range, which includes figures for the 5th, 10th, 15th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 85th, 90th, and 95th percentiles. We then used that percentile data to extrapolate the waistline measurements of all women and girls within each respective age group.

We also compared figures to those recorded by HHS from 1988-1994. There, 7,410 women ages 20 and older participated in the study. Measurements were originally recorded in centimeters, so we converted to inches.

Brands included in the size chart comparisons represent a diverse cross-section of popular apparel brands and retailers in the U.S., including a mix of mass market, fast fashion, premium and luxury labels.

For each brand, we focused on collecting body measurements for "regular" or "standard" size ranges, as well as "plus" sizes when available. Sizing information for "petite," "tall," or "curve" clothing lines were not included. Size charts reflect the body measurements for garments categorized as general "apparel." In a select few cases where that category was unavailable, "dresses" were used as the default garment type.

Within each size range, we focused on collecting three main body measurements: Bust, waist, and hip. Some were presented as a range from minimum to maximum values, while others were single measurements. All numeric U.S. women's sizing labels and descriptions were recorded, as well as their corresponding alpha sizes, when available.

Size chart data was last manually captured in July 2025 and may not reflect a brand's current size chart. Brands frequently change their size charts, and more often than not, shoppers aren't even aware when measurements or sizes are updated.

The standardized size charts refer to ASTM International's regular release of its Standard Table of Measurements for Adult Female Misses Figure Type. The 1995 release (designated as D 5585-95) reflects sizes 2-20. ASTM updated its standards in 2021 (designated as D5585-21) to include sizes 00-20.

Ransom note letters are from Indieground.

Related pieces

Support us on Patreon

We pour our heart into these stories, but they take time and money. For just $2/month, you can help support us. Join our growing community of data-driven enthusiasts.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Get all our latest stories in your inbox. Plus get links to some of our favorite projects from around the web.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The inter-generational struggle to find clothes that fit more than a tiny portion of women

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
An interactive story about the birds that capture our curiosity, told through data, visuals and illustrations

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
There's a thread you follow. It goes among
things that change. But it doesn't change.
People wonder about what you are pursuing.
You have to explain about the thread.
But it is hard for others to see.
While you hold it you can't get lost.
Tragedies happen; people get hurt
or die; and you suffer and get old.
Nothing you do can stop time's unfolding.
You don't ever let go of the thread.

From Ask Me: 100 Essential Poems. Graywolf Press (January 7, 2014).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
There's a thread you follow. It goes among things that change. But it doesn't change. People wonder about what you are pursuing. You have to explain about the thread. But it is hard for others to see. While you hold it you can't get lost. Tragedies happen; people get hurt or die; and you suffer...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice-
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do-
determined to save
the only life you could save.

MARGINALIA

Two of my dear friends, both poets, are celebrating their birthdays today. I am not religious, but their presence in my life makes me feel blessed. Their friendship means so much to me.

But this one is especially for you, S. You're lovely. Thank you.

ABOUT MARY OLIVER

Mary Oliver was born and raised in Maple Hills Heights, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. Oliver's poetry won numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award and a Lannan Literary Award for lifetime achievement. Her last books included A Thousand Mornings (2012), Dog Songs (2013), Blue Horses (2014), Felicity (2015), Upstream: Selected Essays (2016), and Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver (2017). Oliver lived in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and Hobe Sound,... (more)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Journey by Mary Oliver * Read A Little Poetry

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"But little by little, / as you left their voices behind, / the stars began to burn / through the sheets of clouds, / and there was a new voice / which you slowly / recognized as your own..." - Mary Oliver

# data[].attributes.body
A caution here that this performance references recent acts of violence in Minneapolis.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This is a heavily interactive web application, and JavaScript is required. Simple HTML interfaces are possible, but that is not what this is.

Nash Is Here For It

nashishereforit.bsky.social

did:plc:3eueg42gb4r6qbjxderbvyk7

Wow.

2026-02-17T03:59:50.455Z

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.authors[].name
Nash Is Here For It (@nashishereforit.bsky.social)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Nash Is Here For It (@nashishereforit.bsky.social)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
“Being partnered doesn’t affirm your womanhood anymore,” writes Chanté Joseph. “It is no longer considered an achievement and, if anything, it’s become more of a flex to pronounce yourself single.”

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.authors[].name
By Ashley Cai, Weiyi Cai, Malika Khurana, Victor Mather, Bedel Saget and Jeremy White

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Big Air, Big Tricks. How Kira Kimura Won Snowboarding Gold.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Kira Kimura clinched the top spot on the podium after landing two tricks with five and a half rotations.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A Love Letter to the Grand Romantic Gesture

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In honor of Valentine’s Day, our readers shared moments when they felt truly swept off their feet.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
I want to get back there again, whatever it takes.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This is a heavily interactive web application, and JavaScript is required. Simple HTML interfaces are possible, but that is not what this is.

Post

David Atkinson

davidatkinsonpoet.bsky.social

did:plc:lmvyxubtjirkzmhqeblaxg2i

I find myself nodding in agreement. Not everyone is left standing the war has ended & also the notion that some of those left standing have been irrevocably changed by their experience But there is hope for a better future and an urgency to fight for what we might never see #poetry #poemoftheday

2026-02-09T22:16:47.257Z

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How a youth movement is keeping the Air Jordan 11 as popular as ever - Andscape

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Andscape sits down with Terrance Harvey, the young creative tasked with refreshing Michael Jordan’s favorite shoe and rewriting history.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Since Australia's social media ban for under-16s began eight weeks ago, more than 235,000 people in the United Kingdom have written to their MPs calling for a similar ban, and last month the House of Lords backed such a move. Malaysia plans to implement a proposed ban by July and, in France, president Emmanuel Macron has declared the brains of the country's children "are not for sale", calling for legislation to be fast-tracked to ensure a ban for under-15s is in effect by the start of the school year this September. Spain, Italy, Greece and Germany are also considering restrictions on social media use. Australia's bold initiative is being closely observed.

While optimistic about the policy's capacity to reduce some harms in the short term, the Australian government has been clear that no one should expect it to be a magic bullet or an overnight success. As the first report from the e-Safety Commissioner was released last month, stating that 4.7 million accounts have been flagged and deactivated across the affected platforms, commissioner Julie Inman Grant was quick to remind sceptics the policy is about "resetting cultural norms" and the benefits "may take years to fully manifest".

Meanwhile, what has really changed for teens?

As the restrictions loomed in December, the Guardian spoke with five teenagers about the ban. Nearly two months later, some were still yet to have their accounts disabled, while others had taken pre-emptive steps to ensure they were never flagged. Re-emerging on platforms as "adults", some were shocked with the content they were greeted with. Others have simply chosen to pivot to alternative apps for messaging and accessing content that's available without an account, but say their screen time hasn't been reduced.

Most say while the restrictions are an imperfect inconvenience, there has been some positive impact on their IRL lives as subtle cultural shifts begin to take place.

'I'm a bit out of the loop sometimes' - Emma Williams, 15

I turn 16 in a few weeks and most of my friends are older than me so it hasn't interrupted my life much. I haven't tried to get around the ban because it's such a short time. In the meantime, some of my friends save up reels to share with me in person, which is quite fun. We can have a good laugh together then and I prefer that over getting it sent to me and laughing alone. It's more fun.

The only thing I've noticed is that I'm a bit out of the loop sometimes, mostly just with references friends might make to viral content that I've missed.

I have missed out on some holiday snaps friends posted and spent more time watching Netflix on my phone instead of scrolling. Overall though it's pretty much business as usual.

'Getting around the ban was so much easier than expected' - Sarai Ades, 14

The restrictions didn't interfere with me and my friends' interactions via social media at all. We all just deleted some of our old accounts a couple of days before the restrictions kicked in and created new ones with fake birthdays about a week after. I've got new accounts on TikTok and Snapchat, and Instagram hasn't flagged my old account as underage yet. It was so much easier than we thought it would be.

No one I know was even subjected to facial recognition when they started a new account. I'd noted down everyone who I wanted to stay in touch with, made a username people could recognise me by and just started fresh.

Now that the platforms think I'm over 18 I have completely unfiltered access to all the content that might have been previously left out of my feed because of content restrictions. I definitely have more videos coming up on my feed around geopolitical instability and more violent coverage. It was really shocking at first and I wasn't at all prepared. Sometimes I set my own restrictions to avoid sensitive content because it gets a bit much.

I try to follow trustworthy sources and fact-check information from less credentialed accounts, but all this new content I'm seeing means I go down more rabbit holes trying to verify it.

My screen time has definitely increased because of that, but my time on social media is probably about the same. Social media and the internet generally has definitely become a lot more interesting for me because I now see more content about political issues and debates. I also watch more content from accounts I disagree with just so I understand their points of view better.

I'm more inclined to open social media now because of all the new information and opinions I have access to. I think it's really positive because I can find more like-minded people to have productive conversations with and also have better conversations with my real-life friends because they are also seeing all this new stuff.

I feel like our horizons are expanding, and that's positive. There's a comfort in learning that there's so many other people out there who feel the same; are worried about the state of the world and want to do something about it. Being exposed to this new content has inspired me. I really want to push more progressive, inclusive, compassionate ideologies in my life.

More people I don't know try to connect with me online now, and sometimes that's a bit concerning. I never share personal information and try to be careful but I have started some friendships with people who care about the same issues as me. On a real-life level I have also seen a lot of school friends revealing their political positions through reposts and things and that has strengthened our connections in real life.

We all knew circumventing the ban was going to be possible, but it was so much easier than we could have expected. No verification, no ID, nothing. It was comedic how many times I saw a new account pop up of one of my friends.

Now I have unrestricted access I can do what I want with social media. On TikTok, I don't really post any videos, at least not yet. I'll probably wait until I'm 16.

I wasn't really impacted by the restrictions because I only use WhatsApp and Pinterest. I don't get involved with any WhatsApp groups that aren't direct messages to my real-life friends and I can still use YouTube without an account. I haven't noticed any change at all in the way my friends and I interact online or what we do while we're offline either.

When I was younger, social media was definitely something that I was eagerly waiting for but now I don't really care because I can see that I'm able to connect with my friends without it. Any online content I want to see I can access without accounts. The only platform I might join when I'm 16 is Instagram and that would only be because lots of older people in my family are already using it, so it would be to stay in touch with them.

'When the ban was first announced everyone was like CODE RED!' - Ewan Buchanan-Constable, 15

On the whole nothing much has changed. I have three accounts on YouTube, only two of those were flagged. Normal watching hasn't been affected because you don't need an account for that. I can't even remember if I put in my correct birthday when I opened the surviving account so it might never be flagged. I have noticed some videos now require age verification to watch them now.

A couple of my friends have lost their social media accounts on TikTok, etc. They've just made new accounts, no problems. Some people have been asked for facial recognition, but it seems really unreliable and inaccurate.

Because there was quite a bit of uncertainty on how or if it would work, on the last day of school everyone was exchanging phone numbers. Before the restrictions, giving your phone number seemed quite intimate, but the bans seemed to break that barrier down a bit. It means I have been able to develop closer friendships with people I was just acquainted with, because before I was one of the only ones without social media and was left out. But that's really just a happy accident, not a real consequence of the ban I don't think.

When the ban was first announced everyone was like CODE RED! Thinking of ways to get around it and stressing out. But it was easy to get around if you wanted to. People still talk about it, but it's not a big deal any more. At worst, for kids who want to be on the socials, it's an inconvenience.

What upsets me most is the waste of resources that has gone into this whole thing. That money should have been spent figuring out ways to regulate the platforms rather than trying to regulate kids. Or at least put towards educating kids and parents on the best ways to avoid online harms. Over Christmas I saw so many little kids spending so much time on screens - their parents let them.

'It doesn't feel like a big deal at all' - Grace Guo, 14

The social media ban only prevents us from making accounts; I can still search things on YouTube. The ban has made me realise that we sometimes depend on social media a bit too much and there are different ways to communicate and get entertainment.

Without access to apps like Instagram, there are still ways to socially connect and to express ourselves. I've switched from Instagram to texts and WhatsApp for messaging and I don't use technology as much since the ban came into effect. As someone who didn't really use social media to showcase things I was doing, I haven't noticed any change. Maybe I connect through face-to-face interactions more.

I haven't heard many people even talking about the ban since it happened. It doesn't feel like a big deal at all.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Five young teens on life under Australia's social media ban: 'It's not a big deal any more'

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Nearly two months after age restrictions for under-16s were introduced, we revisit five teenagers on how they're experiencing - or getting around - the ban

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Hosting an Olympics usually results in a boost in medals - but it's not always the case, as Italy discovered the last time they hosted the Winter Olympics in 2006.

They had won 13 medals in 2002 in Salt Lake City but only managed 11 in Turin - although they did win five golds as opposed to four in the USA four years previously.

The Italian Olympic Committee has set a minimum target of 19 medals, which is one short of their biggest haul of 20. That was achieved in 1994 - including a record seven golds - when their team included the likes of skiing greats Alberto Tomba, Deborah Compagnoni and Stefania Belmondo.

Italy's 2026 hopes have already suffered a few setbacks, with flagbearer Federica Brignone and freestyle skier Flora Tabanelli both fighting fitness battles while another alpine hope, Marta Bassino, has already been ruled out.

But there are others with golden credentials, including speed skater Davide Ghiotto, snowboarder Maurizio Bormolini and curling pair Amos Mosaner and Stefania Constantini.

And there's always Arianna Fontana - at the age of 15, the short track skater won bronze in Turin in 2006. Now 20 years later, she is Italy's most successful Winter Olympian, and aiming to win a medal at a sixth consecutive Games.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
2026 Winter Olympics: What you need to know in six charts

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We are days away from the start of the 2026 Winter Olympics - here's what you need to know in six charts.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In any classroom in Zimbabwe, you are likely to find children with a mix of names—indigenous names in Shona, Ndebele, Tsonga, Venda or any one of the numerous other ethnic groups. You will most certainly come across European names, such as Primrose, possibly one or two Janets, a Ruth, a number of Peters, Gilberts, and

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Have you got what it takes to go to the Moon?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
When the Artemis mission lands on the Moon, its crew will have to grapple with a challenging environment and extreme isolation. What will it take to thrive in a lonely Moon base?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Marlanda Dekine is a Black, queer, freshwater Gullah descendant. She is the author of two poetry collections, including Thresh & Hold (Hub City Press, 2022). A social worker and consultant, she lives in Georgetown, South Carolina, on Chicora, Waccamaw, Sewee, Pee Dee, and Catawba land.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Memory Poem - I am a child / of wonder again and

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
My analogue month: would ditching my smartphone make me healthier, happier – or more stressed?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
When I swapped my iPhone for a Nokia, Walkman, film camera and physical map, I wasn’t sure what to expect. But my life soon started to change

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This is a heavily interactive web application, and JavaScript is required. Simple HTML interfaces are possible, but that is not what this is.

Post

Nikita Gill

nikitagill.bsky.social

did:plc:hyyqshfmzarjhybykciopfw6

And I think about Eric Garner's last words so often, I have this beautiful poem by Ross Gay memorised:

2026-01-26T01:31:25.780Z

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
And I think about Eric Garner’s last words so often, I have this beautiful poem by Ross Gay memorised:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Is Educational Technology All It’s Cracked Up to Be?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This is a heavily interactive web application, and JavaScript is required. Simple HTML interfaces are possible, but that is not what this is.

Post

Nikita Gill

nikitagill.bsky.social

did:plc:hyyqshfmzarjhybykciopfw6

I wrote this poem as an homage to Baldwin and to hear it being sung across the world or read in protests has been my own guiding light of hope.

2026-01-18T20:45:43.429Z

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
I wrote this poem as an homage to Baldwin and to hear it being sung across the world or read in protests has been my own guiding light of hope.

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
 “Making physics fun with snacks.” - Encyclopaedia Britannica (@britannica.com)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
When a container of mixed nuts is shaken, the largest nuts rise to the top. This phenomenon is known as the ‘Brazil nut effect,’ and there are a couple of mechanisms at play. Or: “Making physics fun with snacks.” 🧵⬇️

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What does your car say about you? A global portrait of people and their rides, from Shanghai to Santa Monica

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
You can tell a lot about someone from the vehicle they drive, as Martin Roemers’ collection of photographs show. Introduction by author William Boyd

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In the car today with my son, age 20!, & he punched me on the shoulder & shouted ‘yellow car no return’, a game we hadn’t played in years Got thinking about all the other stuff we used to notice & exclaim when they kids were younger Reminded me of this. Don’t stop noticing x #poetry
#poemoftheday

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
These are the photographs that capture the year

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Best sports photos of 2025: The stories behind the images

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
From the bottom of the swimming pool to the top of the pole vault bar, photographers reveal the stories behind these amazing shots. And a bonus point if you can spot the photographer in their own image.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The defining experience of our age seems to be hunger. We’re hungry for more, but we have more than we need. We’re hungry for less, while more accumulates and multiplies. We’re hungry and we don’t have words to articulate why. We’re hungry, and we’re lacking and we’re wanting. We are

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Readers reply: what is – or was – the best-ever internet meme?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
New year, new looks: Jays covering all angles in building '26 pitching staff

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
When AIs become consistently more capable than humans, life could change in strange ways. Here we look at how the era of artificial general intelligence might feel

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Hit Hollywood Didn’t Want - The American Prospect

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Ryan Coogler’s bloodsucker blockbuster is all about Black creative freedom. No wonder the industry saw it as a threat.

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
600 Readers Told Us About the Best Gifts They Ever Got. These Are the Top 13.

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
The 52 Best Breakup Lines (Said in Real Life) 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How Reese's Peanut Butter Cups Are Made In Factory

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.authors[].name
Photographs and Video by Paul Kooiker and Interviews by Amy X. Wang·

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
We Asked 10 of the Year’s Best Actors How They Conjure Feelings on Cue

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Teyana Taylor, Liam Neeson, Rose Byrne and more of our best actors on how they summon the emotions that move us.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
‘He didn’t change one bit’: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander remains Oklahoma City’s humble superstar - Andscape

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander filled his own to-go box with orange chicken and Chow mein after scoring 38 points against the Golden State Warriors. He could have asked someone from the Oklahoma City Thunder to do it for him, as some star players are known to do. The newly minted $285-million man then patiently […]

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
stickertop.art - Discover Laptop Sticker Art

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Discover a unique collection of laptops adorned with creative stickers from around the world. Each laptop tells a story through its stickers.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
JUSTIN CHARITY: Four generations of fans have spent nearly half a century relitigating the question of what Star Wars should ideally be. A power fantasy about the Force? A soap opera about the Skywalkers? An immersive metaphor for fascism? Rogue One and Andor both represent the third outlook, clearly, and while vehicles for the other approaches-the mainline movies, The Mandalorian-have run aground in recent years, Andor really does seem to be the only thing keeping the dream of this dark and sprawling universe, haunted by endlessly regenerating jackboots, vivid and alive. "Who Are You?" is the proof positive-an episode that renders the empire utterly soul crushing, paranoia inducing, and inevitable, no matter how many jokes we, from the comfort of our galaxy so far away, will continue to make about the aim of its stormtroopers.

BEN LINDBERGH: Far be it from me to find fault with "Who Are You?," the culmination of the second season's Ghorman arc and the first and, probably, best burst of Andor's nothing-but-bangers sprint to the series' end. You're right that the massacre in the square makes the Empire appear implacable, but Star Wars is a space opera that starts with A New Hope; its core can't be soul crushing. The blockade at Palmo Plaza may be impassable, but in a larger sense, there's always, well, one way out: the hope rebellions are built on. Which is why "One Way Out," an episode that centers on a more successful uprising, is the essence of Andor: It doesn't shrink from the darkness, but it still allows space for the light. Even if one of the Rebellion's builders has to make his mind a sunless space.

Also, come on: the monologues.

CHARITY: What you're getting at is, I suppose, an age-old tension in the appeal of Star Wars: between the awesome feats of classical heroism in A New Hope and Return of the Jedi, as you say, and the darker notes-the long shots of Star Destroyers, the sunless duel of The Empire Strikes Back, and the palace intrigue of the Galactic Empire and its predecessor Republic. It's those darker notes that have always drawn me to Star Wars, in so many forms over the years, much as a fool is lured to the tutelage of the Sith.

Perhaps I'm being too much of a stereotypical critic about it-I don't think that all of Star Wars needs to be a relentlessly demoralizing meditation on the baddies, by any means-but I will note the contrast between the success Andor has found in fleshing out the Empire and the weakness of the sequel trilogy in (among many failures, admittedly) barely attempting to give any coherence to the First Order.

LINDBERGH: About this, there is no conflict: The best Star Wars is definitely dark. Expanded Universe stories about the unsettling or unsavory side of Star Wars-stuff like Dark Empire, Dark Forces, and Shadows of the Empire-helped hook me on the franchise. I'd argue that the darkest movie in each of the Star Wars trilogies- Revenge of the Sith, Empire, and The Last Jedi-is also the best. And I don't think it's a complete coincidence that of the five Disney-era Star Wars movies, the one with the highest average user rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic, and IMDb is Rogue One, in which virtually all of the good guys die.

As I detailed back in 2022, there's been a decades-long debate about whether Star Wars is for kids and what kind of content its family-friendly reputation permits. (It was news when The Force Awakens was rated PG-13.) Andor deepened the franchise's tolerance for twisted evil: Torture has been part of Star Wars since the start, but Disneydoesn't get darker than Dr. Gorst. Still, the series resists despair. Take a character likeNemik: His idealism doesn't save his life, but Andor reinforces that he's right to have hope-even if that reinforcement manifests in the form of an adversary's suicide. In "One Way Out," Kino Loy leads a revolt in a prison he can't escape, and Luthen Rael fights the fascists by flirting with becoming one. Victory is costly. But that only makes it more inspiring.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The 100 Best TV Episodes of the Century - The Ringer

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Ranking the 100 best television episodes of the 21st century, from Mad Men to Succession to Game of Thrones.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Can Magnus Carlsen Beat a Noob with 30 Queens?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Spotify Wrapped is taking over our feeds, but you don’t have outsource your relationship with music to AI | Liz Pelly

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The streamer’s annual charts are just another version of the tech that’s alienating us from our inner lives. Hold on to your musical memories and reclaim ownership of your taste

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This is a heavily interactive web application, and JavaScript is required. Simple HTML interfaces are possible, but that is not what this is.

Post

David Atkinson

davidatkinsonpoet.bsky.social

did:plc:lmvyxubtjirkzmhqeblaxg2i

We all had teacher like Mrs Nelson. This is a gentle reminder of the life lessons grown into There is a great irony in the title, the wisdom being shared on the one day the poet was absent The line 'The English lesson was that I am is a complete sentence' is a poem in itself #poetry #poemoftheday

2025-11-29T10:34:52.932Z

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Have you agreed to give a speech at your best friend’s wedding? Are people expecting this speech to be funny? Are you realizing that engaging in extemporaneous humor and delivering jokes are not the same thing? Have you spent the months leading up to the big day waiting for comic inspiration to strike, but still

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
B eing lazy eyed has been a blessing and a curse. It's been my identity. My party trick. My cheap laugh and my not-so-hidden shame for all of my twenty-four years that I can remember. I've milked my misaligned eye for humour-my Twitter bio says, "Lazy-eyed optimist. One eye looking up, one eye looking forward"-but it has also left me angry and in tears. Asymmetrical haircuts come into and go out of fashion. Asymmetrical faces? Not so much. It often feels like it's me against the world.

Now that I'm trying to enter the full-time workforce in journalism or communications, I have become more self-conscious about my appearance. I've struggled to turn casual work into full-time employment in New Brunswick, my home province, and while I'm not blaming my lazy eye for my employment barriers, I have this nagging doubt: Do employers really want me to be the face of their operations, their eyes on the world? When meeting new people, I often feel I need to crack wise about my eye to help others see that it's okay, that they don't need to tiptoe around me. But I worry these small remarks have added up and I've somehow let the jokes overwhelm me. Let them affect who I am.

So I'm seeking to destroy the thing that has shaped my identity and hoping realignment surgery sticks this time. I've been on the wait-list for this cosmetic surgery for almost two years. And there's no guarantee it will stick; after three childhood surgeries that didn't take, the idea of, once again, letting someone cut my eye muscles, potentially while I'm awake, makes me want to hurl. Sometimes I wonder if wearing an eye patch would be easier.

Navigating life behind my eyes is like being a cameraman with two lenses to shoot with.

But even the pirate look won't help me take on the world, start the lazy-eyed revolution: most of the bullets would likely curve to the left anyway. And who would be in my army? Ed the dim-witted hyena from The Lion King? Mad-Eye Moody from Harry Potter? Igor from Young Frankenstein? Popular culture equates the misaligned with the imbecilic and the insane.

Still, I'm conflicted about my decision to put my name on the wait-list. Will others see me as somehow inauthentic after I receive cosmetic surgery? Will my operation be something I hide from people I meet? Will friends actually prefer old lazy-eye Joe? My parents taught me to play the cards you're dealt, and I've carried that mantra with good humour all my life. But now, as I step into the world of real adulthood, where even the best people might unconsciously judge me for my looks, what's wrong with asking for a reshuffle?

is a blanket term covering all eyes with abnormal alignments. Some eyes point inward-a trait known as esotropic. Other eyes are like mine in that they point outward, i.e., they're exotropic. Some point up, some point down. We lazy-eyed folk come in many shapes and sizes.

My strabismus first showed itself around age two, which is around the age when the condition often chooses to manifest itself, though my orthoptist thinks, in my case, it was a reaction to chemotherapy from childhood leukemia. My left eye once pointed inward, but after two early corrective surgeries, it began drifting out. The folks over at Guinness World Records could immortalize it as the longest, saddest game of Pong ever played.

Navigating life behind my eyes is like being a cameraman with two lenses to shoot with. I only see out of one at a time but can quickly switch between them. While the eye I'm not looking through remains on, receiving stimulus, my brain filters that information out.

Not all lazy eyes, however, are made equal. Some people have less severe misalignments that are more difficult to spot; others experience chronic double vision. And the reasons for realignment surgery vary. For young children, there's often a chance that, if the strabismus is caught early enough, the brain could learn to use both eyes together-and vision therapy (patching of the strong eye to strengthen the other) is another common treatment. If an adult develops strabismus, their brain can't learn to ignore one of their eyes. The resulting double vision can prevent patients from working, so surgery becomes necessary.

That's not the case for me; though my eyes are also considered mildly amblyopic, since vision in my left eye isn't as strong as in my right, I don't require the surgery to get through life. (In ophthalmology, the term lazy eye actually refers to amblyopia, although colloquially it's used to refer to a misaligned eye.) I'm also mildly colour blind, but that's from an unrelated curse from the men on my mother's side. To say I perceive the world differently than most is an understatement.

I remember being on vacation at Canada's Wonderland, as a ten-year-old excited to soak up SpongeBob SquarePants 4-D, a theatre-based ride. I begged my parents and even bought a stuffed Patrick Star plush in preparation. But when, in the opening scene, a pirate jumps out towards you, leaving his usual picture frame, I looked left, away from the screen, wondering why others reacted with such surprise.

I can't see 3D. I just hadn't realized it until then. While it's difficult for me to understand exactly what I'm missing out on, I don't have depth perception, which compromises my hand-eye coordination. My hand tends to end up drenched in ketchup under condiment dispensers. Learning to play catch with my baseball-obsessed father was a field of nightmares. And, from a young age, I was told by health care professionals to strike careers such as airline pilot or surgeon off my list. (And, honestly, if I end up on the operating table with an eye surgeon that looks like me, I'm out of there.)

I had always believed I had no choice but to accept how I looked.

None of this will be fixed by surgery. I'll still be a klutz. I just won't look like someone hit me with a shovel. I just won't be constantly flashing a beacon that doesn't exactly attract a lot of women.

M y parents were told after my third childhood operation that another couldn't guarantee results-it was better to let me make these decisions later. And so I never knew hope was an option until I brought it up with my doctor two years ago, after being told that my friend's mom underwent a similar operation later in life. The knowledge had stirred something deep inside. My eyes were suddenly wide open.

Before then, I had always believed I had no choice but to accept how I looked. It was only when I learned change was possible that I began obsessing over how people viewed me. My anxiety over my appearance began to skyrocket. And it was only this year, as I searched for details on the surgery, that I realized how many lonely, lopsided, lost souls like me were out there.

I found a whole community of YouTubers with the same anxieties I have. They discussed dating, wearing their hair to cover one eye, their frustrations with being photographed, and the fear and anticipation surrounding their own upcoming surgeries. Scrolling through the videos, I felt like any other internet surfer finding others like themselves.

Growing up, I was the only person I knew with misaligned eyes. Eye contact feels like an activity that requires two full sets, and when I try to engage in it, I feel like a pretender, some outsider improperly adopting the customs of the locals. I'm usually the first to break it. I don't know where to look and worry the person across from me also doesn't know where to fix their gaze. I often fear I've caused someone to feel awkward just by looking at them. What's more annoying is when people can't tell if I'm talking to them because they don't know where I'm focusing. "Joe, are you looking at me?" is a phrase that has followed me my entire life.

In some small way, the videos I watched made me feel less alone. Less different. Less alien.

They also helped cement my decision to have surgery.

"This was the best thing I ever could have done for myself," a woman says in one of the postoperative videos I watched, her two eyes fixed directly on the camera. "It's making me feel more value and self-worth." Less than a minute later, she looks towards the sky as she breaks down in tears.

Not all of my research led to positive reinforcement. Around the same time, I also joined a Facebook support group for any and all problems related to strabismus. I was searching for information about alignment surgery to see if those with the condition believed it to be worthwhile. Comments there only confirmed what I had already suspected: eye surgery can be tricky and unpredictable, and people who have it done react differently. In some cases, only time will tell if the eye stays in place.

But there I also found echoes of the shame of having a lazy eye that I'd often felt-a mother concerned about why her daughter, embarrassed by her looks, hid her yearbook photo, a cashier frustrated by customers trying to use their phones to record her eye turning inward. "Last thing I want is to be in a video that has gone viral," she writes.

Commenters tell her to wear sunglasses.

T he well-intentioned tend to tell you about the lazy-eyed overachievers. Some researchers suspect a walleye perspective-and resultant ability to see in both 2D and 3D-helped shape Leonardo da Vinci's advancements in the art world. (He also drew plans for flying machines, but luckily, they never got off the ground, to my knowledge.) And who knows, maybe Jean-Paul Sartre's severe exotropia steered him left. Ryan Gosling has a slight lazy eye that somehow makes him look even more intense and mysterious, putting him squarely on top of the lazy-eye pyramid.

But I haven't found any hidden powers or the ability to look deep, dark and distant with my lazy eye. (Okay, my peripheral vision is apparently above average, but the Avengers haven't called about that one.) Regardless, the science doesn't suggest genius is an attribute associated with the lazy eyed. Studies that polled matchmakers and headhunters have shown we're likely to be perceived as significantly less attractive, less intelligent, and less likely to find employment than people with no facial anomalies. Those sicko researchers once even made a lazy-eyed doll and gave it to kids to play with. The results showed even sweet, innocent children don't like how I look.

Everyone who has cosmetic surgery has reasons for getting it, but on some level, I think we all want to be seen as the person we were meant to be. I suspect we all have these feelings: seeing fullness in others but never feeling quite whole ourselves.

Still, I worry that once I get the surgery, others will think I'm weak, shallow. That I couldn't handle looking like who I was. Who I am.

I'll admit that living with an eye that points too far left most of my life has had its blessings. (In university, I learned the guilty pleasure of waiting for someone to finish a rant before telling them they were looking at the wrong eye.) But I don't want to look blessed in some sort of concussed zen way. I want to make eye contact with someone and not feel like a fraud. I want to feel beautiful.

A bout five years ago, I interviewed for a position as an expeditor in a restaurant and got the gig. But then the call for training always seemed to be coming the week after next. I eventually gave up. When I later asked a friend, a server there at the time, what happened, he told me the manager thought my eye would mess with the establishment's aesthetic. I can't forget the burning sensation in my cheeks, that acidic red blend of rage and humiliation.

I've since graduated from my undergraduate program and had a few good journalism stints in Yellowknife and my home province of New Brunswick, although none panned out in the end. Those jobs ended for a variety of reasons-competition is fierce in an industry that has become dependent on contract workers and summer positions. To be fair, I've never heard anyone in my workplaces suggest that my eye made me unsuitable for television news, but I do know that my appearance has steered me towards print media. Regardless, being the lazy-eyed optimist I am, my eye is looking forward to doing a graduate program in journalism at Carleton University in September.

Still, knowing you've been rejected for appearances never entirely goes away. You catch yourself thinking about it when you least expect to and suddenly find yourself frustrated, wanting to punch the nearest tree. As a young writer, rejection has become like a friend I invite in for coffee. I think I've come to understand when it's fair-based on skill and the quality of my work-and when it's not.

It's not just about feeling confident enough to look someone in the eyes at a job interview or ask someone out on a date.

The tale of this modern-day cyclops came to a head last November, on a road trip through Maine and New Hampshire with a friend, his father, and my dad. We have been taking these rock 'n' roll road trips since I was eleven.

This time, we were catching Joan Osborne's Dylanology tour. Maybe I got too "Tangled Up in Blue" or maybe I got too tangled up in Pabst Blue Ribbon, but back at our Airbnb, years of self-loathing escaped and so did a Saint Lawrence River's worth of tears. Something came over me, and suddenly I needed to talk about that restaurant job. Being told I probably wouldn't have been a good expeditor might have contributed to my emotional breakdown.

I was mad at my friend's dad for saying it, even though he's like a second father to me. I was mad at his son for being good looking. I was mad at my dad for not standing up for me.

I was mad that they were wrong; I was mad that they were right.

I wanted to say so much that night, but my silver tongue felt leaden in my mouth. What I was feeling, though, was that this cockeyed look of mine was crushing my dreams.

Mostly, I was mad at myself. No one in that room made me feel how I feel. These are just the feelings you have when you don't recognize your face in the mirror. Truth is, when I'm home alone, I don't feel lazy eyed. Don't picture myself that way. Only when confronted with my appearance do I remember what I am to others. When the dysmorphia catches me off guard, I feel the joy and laughter drain out of me. Like a joke with a bad punchline. Like I'm the only one not in on the gag.

I woke up the next morning feeling like garbage and later vomited out the side of the car. From that moment onward, unsurprisingly, life got better. I already knew I was going ahead with surgery, but until then, I hadn't realized how much I needed it.

A year ago, I sent my orthoptist photos of my eyes going straight after I became exhausted-a phenomenon that's apparently not common among people with strabismus. She asked if she could use them for a presentation. It was only after I signed the release form that I asked what, specifically, the presentation was on.

"Concussions."

Not the look I'm aiming for. I don't believe my orthoptist meant to offend; I've known her most of my life. But perhaps appearing somewhat stunned, even when my eyes straighten out, is simply inescapable, and I'll have to instead hope "concussed" is the next "in" look. Regardless, I wasn't dissuaded from having the operation.

More recently, she told me my surgery may be scheduled earlier because I'm moving to Ottawa. I don't remember much of my last surgery at age seven, except that my tears, according to my mom, were the colour of blush wine. Blood in my tears. How metal is that? I'm not going to lie: I'm shallow enough to be excited for the Instagram possibilities.

Then again, I think I'm tired of using my eye as a comedic crutch. Just like I'm tired of looking more like English comic actor Marty Feldman (who played Igor in Young Frankenstein) than Ryan Gosling. And maybe I'm just a little scared who and what I'll be after the bloodstained tears dry.

No doubt, my look helped make me the class clown, the goof who makes you laugh, whether with me or at me. And, as Shakespeare observed, often it's the fool who sees the most, sees the absurdity of it all. But is it foolish or absurd to want to be beautiful? To look more like Gosling than Igor?

When I first told my friends and family I wanted the operation, they were against it.

And those objections might say more about their need to classify or stereotype, even if their concerns come from a good place. It's difficult for others to watch those they love change. Those around me know the Joe who jokes about his appearance. The funny guy with the wonky eye. The good-natured twentysomething trying to make you smile. I appreciate that those closest to me say they don't even notice my eye most of the time. But just because they like spending time with me doesn't stop me from feeling like I was rescued from the Island of Misfit Toys.

And, I mean, there's no guarantee my eyes won't start playing Pong again soon after the surgery. My previous three operations have caused scarring that only makes the outcome of this one less predictable. But that's not the point. Even if the surgery does change what people see-the facade others will be stuck looking at, even if only temporarily-it's ultimately for me.

Appearance shapes the way the world sees us. But what does it say about who we really are?

It's not just about feeling confident enough to look someone in the eyes at a job interview or ask someone out on a date. It's about wanting to be seen as I see me. My eye isn't the window to my soul. While beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I fear no one can behold what I see. The Joe hidden beneath the waves. The Joe who sometimes feels like he's drowning.

For me, beauty isn't some passive quality flowers possess or even the seductive sister of vanity. Beauty is what connects the outside to the world within, the harmony found when the two match. The clarity that alignment brings. It's something I assume many people take for granted. And I yearn for it, even if, when all's said and done, I'm still perceived by the world as good old lazy-eye Joe.

Everyone wants you to love yourself. And I do think I love myself. I'm just not sure that self is the same person everyone else sees.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What It's Like to See the World through a Lazy Eye | The Walrus

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
From Harry Potter to the Lion King, pop culture equates people who look like me with ugliness and eccentricity

# data[].attributes.body
Five short stories (under 3000 words), all written by Canadian teenagers. Pretty fantastic mentor texts here.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
2025 Amazon Canada Shortlisted Youth Short Stories | The Walrus

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The shortlisted stories in the Youth Short Story category

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Calling Foul: Breaking Down WNBA Pay and Why It Matters

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Breaking Down WNBA Pay for Women Athletes and Why It Matters: a case study in systemic undervaluing of women’s work

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Most Open‑World Games No Longer Demand One Thing 2000s Gamers Mastered

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Most modern open-world games have started to move away from this trend, but some games are still using it today.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Don’t argue with strangers… and 11 more rules to survive the information crisis

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Feeling overwhelmed by divisive opinions, endless rows and unreliable facts? Here’s how to weather the data storm

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
every cow, otter, and seal had to learn survivor’s
wisdom: trade your curiosity for fear.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Mahmoud Darwish trans. by Mohammed Shaheen

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
With due respect to Rilke for the second to last line, I wrote this after going for a walk in the forest whilst in the throes of despair.

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
My parents packed Chinese food in my lunches. I pleaded with them to pack carrot sticks and Lunchables instead

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Defying Gravity | Synchronized Roller Coasters (Wicked)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
POV, you wake up in the Nobody Wants This cinematic universe and you are bombarded with product placement. #netlifx #notanad #nobodywantsthis #productplacement #capitalism

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.embed_code
@threeohfundi
POV, you wake up in the Nobody Wants This cinematic universe and you are bombarded with product placement. #netlifx #notanad #nobodywantsthis #productplacement #capitalism
♬ original sound - Michael Fundora

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Experience: I dressed up as a superhero for Halloween – and then saved a man’s life

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The man was unconscious but there was no time to wake him, the smoke and flames were closing in

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
What sneaky invisible forces enable these instruments to locate buried treasure?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Just a reminder that raging against injustice is a great thing especially today, especially now and forever.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
‘He is such an awful man’: Why readers are wrong about Mr Darcy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Mostly miserable and even “unforgivably cruel”, Jane Austen’s famous romantic hero is not what he seems, writes the author Sebastian Faulks, in an exclusive extract.

# data[].attributes.body
What's the difference between 'immigrant' and 'emigrant'?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
What’s the difference between ‘immigrant’ and ‘emigrant’?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Human Error Is the Point: On Teaching College During the Rise of AI - The Rumpus

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
My syllabus is a mess of half-remembered intentions. I re-use icebreakers that I know don’t work. I forget to grade the first assignment until Week Four. I write emails that begin with “So sorry for the delay!” and I mean it. I use “This reminded me of something I once read—” as a stall tactic. I say “I don’t know” more times than I should. I also say “I love that” when I don’t. Because I want to encourage them. Because I do love that they showed up. Because showing up is a miracle.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Life of a Showgirl Album Review: A Taylor Swift Who Is Unafraid to Fail

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Swift wanted this album to be perfect — how could ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ possibly live up to that?

# data[].attributes.body
A caution that there's some salty language in this piece.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A cartoonist’s review of AI art - The Oatmeal

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
It’s Good To Be Me: Choosing Characters and Classes in Video Games - That Shelf

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The player’s choice of character or class can be an oddly intimate way to see how a person approaches games, but also how they see themselves.

# data[].attributes.body
The level of discussion here is very high, but there are definitely excerpts that can be used to offer powerful insights into writing and the creative process.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Art of the Impersonal Essay, by Zadie Smith

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In my experience, every kind of writing requires some kind of self-soothing Jedi mind trick, and, when it comes to essay composition, the rectangle is mine.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
At 3 a.m., I Turned to AI for Comfort. That Was My First Mistake | The Walrus

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The age of distraction has a cost: we’re forgetting how to be alone with ourselves

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
When I Became a Teenager, I Thought Kindness Was for Kids | The Walrus

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
I wanted to see what it felt like to hurt people’s feelings. But now it’s time to stop

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
This is where The Booker Prize nominees write: from kitchen tables to a cemetery bench

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
From kitchen tables to bare desks (and even a cemetery bench): 12 writers from the Booker Prize 2025 longlist on their favourite writing set-ups

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Bound Women: Why games are better without a damsel to save

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Here's why Anita Sarkeesian is one of the most influential people in gaming

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Writing characters, not symptoms: A gamer with autism discusses what our hobby gets wrong

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Many people are aware of autism spectrum disorders, but few people understand them.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
I can't remember when I started playing Borderlands 2, but I know it was at least in October, if not in September. A few months ago, I didn't think I would be able to complete the game.

I finished the game last night. (well, not REALLY because there are still side quests and DLC's to play.)

Borderlands 2 was a challenge. I barely livetweeted it because it was too hard to focus on all the enemies. At a point, I ended up co-op playing with my friend Tracy - and now I've finished the game.
The Good:
One thing that is super awesome about this game is that it is a space opera. Why is that particularly awesome for low vision players? Because it gives the player POWERS. I played a siren, named Maya. And Maya and I have had quite the adventure. You see, Maya's special skill? It's called phaselock. What you can do? Lift an enemy up in the air in a sphere of power and shoot at them without them shooting back. As you will often hear throughout gameplay - I love my powers. Not to mention that the skill tree I used basically let me damage everyone WITH my powers. By the end, I could phaselock a turret and it would just stop working.

And then there's the weaponry.

What I like about fantastical games, is that unlike more realistic shooters (such as Tomb Raider, or Counterstrike) my guns do EXTRA DAMAGE. In fact, there's multiple KINDS of extra damage. I personally favor flame and corrosive damage over anything else, because they HURT EVERYTHING. So, in addition to my powers, I was doing extra damage on top of shooting things in the face. Plus, every weapon type gets sights, which light up red when you're locked onto an enemy. So even if you can't SEE the enemy, as I often couldn't, if yuo wave your gun around a lot you end up finding things and killing them. For the reason, though, I've shied away from certain weapon types (like shotguns) because they are less easily used in this manner. I love my rocker launcher though. She is so pretty. If I could, I would rename her Vera. I also learned that with a zoom on a sniper rifle I can do some serious damage with headshots. Yep. That's right, the blind girl can take headshots.

In addition, death isn't really *that* big of a deal in this game. Is it frustrating to die? Sure. But you respawn. It costs you money, but that's it. No weapon damage. And money is pretty easy to get in this game, so I wouldn't worry about that too much.

Plus there's a chance to not die. This is sort of a 50/50 good/bad thing. See, on the one hand, it's great because you can get a "second wind" and keep fighting. But on the other hand the screen goes black and white and the edges start to go black, and you have a hard time moving or lifting your head because you're dying. So, it's harder to see to kill something and get your second wind. But the option is still THERE. Which I appreciated because getting second winds is something I've gotten VERY good at.
The Bad:
This is one of the first video games that I have literally NEEDED a person to go with me. In some ways, that was frustrating. On the other hand, I made a really good friend. Because many of the enemies took me time to learn how to fight them, the first several quests were a real pain in the ass for me.

This is also the first video game since Portal that has actually made me cry. It was a little thing. But apparently it frustrated my sighted friends, too.

I couldn't find a door.

I kept running around Opportunity, trying to find this fucking door, and I kept getting shot at so I had to keep myself from dying. It took me forty-five minutes to find the door. When i finally found it, I was so frustrated that I had been crying.

I also have some issues, as a blind player, with some of the enemies. I HATE flying things. I hate them so much. When I manage to shoot them, it is a minor victory. Rakks and Buzzards are among my least favorite things, in addition to INVISIBLE ENEMIES.

The last thing that was challenging was the ability to negotiate some of the terrain. Much like finding the door, some of the terrains were either a) camouflaging for the enemy or b) had levels. Sometimes it was hard for me to assess where things were coming from, or for that matter, where things WERE.
Conclusion:
Is this game accessible for everyone?
No.

Is this game accessible for low vision players whose friends are willing to co-op with them? YES.

Last night my co-op buddy let me kill The Warrior. By myself. He provided backup, to make sure that if I died I could be brought back (I also love this feature of co-op play, healing each other makes it so much easier.) And he also hunted down more ammunition for me. What I'm saying is, if you can find someone to play with you, who is willing to let you be the hero of the story and be your sidekick - DO IT.

I found that it was easier to play with a headset. We didn't do a whole lot of chatting, since I couldn't really hear him over the sound of gunshots, but at the same time, through hours of gameplay - we became good friends.

The story is great. The evil character is someone I wanted to shoot in the face (and I did.)

From a gender perspective, the game is also fantastic, because if you want to play a siren, or a mechromancer YOU HAVE TO BE A GIRL. You have no choice. You must. And for that I am grateful, because it forces male players to play a woman.

As a final note - I LOVE the character customization. As of right now, my character wears an eyepatch over her right eye. Yes, that's right. I gave my character my disability.

How empowering is THAT?
Blind Lady Versus is published whenever I finish a video game. If there is a game that you would like to see played you can either donate the game through steam, or suggest it through the contact form.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
WARNING: This game review will not be spoiler free. I can't remember when I started playing Borderlands 2, but I know it was at least in October, if not in September. A few months ago, I didn...

# data[].attributes.body
This inspired a fantastic response from a member of the game's creative team, too.

https://www.themarysue.com/a-is-for-asexual/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How I Discovered My Sexuality Playing a First-Person Shooter | The Mary Sue

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
If you had once told me that I would one day discover my sexuality by playing a first person shooter, I would have laughed in your face.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Video games without people of color are not ‘neutral’

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The myth of white neutrality persists in the world of gaming, where black characters in fantasy games can be deemed less “realistic” than dragons.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Truth of Reconciliation | The Walrus

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The TRC report, released in 2015, laid out ninety-four clear Calls to Action. Ten years later, Indigenous writers reflect on what has and hasn’t been achieved

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Forty years ago, the series' original game was released by Nintendo. As well as trying to complete it, fans were desperate to access a secret world that became legendary.
Today, video gamers are always looking for the unexpected when they sit down to play. All the biggest titles feature easter eggs, secret areas, intentional "glitches" and other surprises woven into their expansive worlds: see, for example, Ubisoft's 2011 racing game Driver: San Francisco, where driving a Delorean (of Back to the Future fame) at 88mph will unlock a secret level called Blast From the Past, and The Sims 4 (2014), where typing in "motherlode" as a "cheat code" will instantly add a flood of money to your budget.

But the history of these unpredictable elements of gameplay goes all the way back to 1985. Nintendo's Super Mario Bros, the first game in the feted Super Mario series, was released on its flagship Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) 40 years ago this month. And a genuine error made its way into it. When coding the game, developers made a mistake that captivated gamers at the time and subsequently influenced the whole history of video game development.

The glitch involved making Mario glide through a wall and into a special zone, from which he could access the "Minus World" (Credit: Super Mario Bros/ Nintendo)

The glitch came early on in the game, and involved making the protagonist Mario - an Italian plumber tasked with saving a princess from a castle - jump at a particular wall at just the right angle. If you got it right, he would glide through the wall and into one of the Warp Zones: the areas through which Mario could transition between levels by jumping down a pipe. But if you sent him down a pipe in this Warp Zone, he'd arrive in a place that wasn't supposed to exist - an underwater level that looped back on itself to infinite effect. The only way out was to reset or die.

This coding error occurred in World 1 level 2, which was introduced on screen as "World 1-2". After Mario had glided through the wall and down the pipe in World 1-2, text would appear on the screen to indicate which new world and level he was entering, as per usual. But thanks to the glitch, there was a blank space where the world number would usually be, so it read as "World -1". This secret level therefore became known as the "Minus World".

Rumours of the phenomenon spread through word of mouth soon after the game's release, before entering gaming folklore in 1988 when American magazine Nintendo Power reported on it. "Explore the mysterious minus world," said the article, teaching readers how to access the hidden level. It's now regularly celebrated as "the greatest glitch of all time", but upon its discovery many questions arose: did Nintendo put the level there deliberately? Were there other secret levels in Super Mario Bros? Were there other secrets hidden in other games?

Nintendo's legendary auteur Shigeru Miyamoto denied that the Minus World was a deliberate feature of the game. But it added to Super Mario Bros's allure of unpredictability: here was a game whose gradually unfurling world was unlike anything that came before it.

"I remember finding [Super Mario Bros] kind of mind-blowing," says author and video games scholar Dr Brendan Keogh, who recalls playing it for the first time at a friend's house after school. "At that point, most of the games I was playing didn't have backgrounds, they were just black. So seeing Mario Brothers, where it's this very coherent world with fantastical creatures and fields and trees and bushes and clouds... It felt kind of limitless, in terms of what could be hidden that you haven't seen yet."

Some of the game's other "secrets" were put there deliberately. Punch through a ceiling, for example, and you might be able to jump on top and walk past an entire level. But then there was this one big, accidental surprise. Nobody is sure who first discovered the Minus World, but it could only ever have been by mistake.

The "Minus World" was an underwater level that ran on an infinite loop - so Mario could never escape (Credit: Super Mario Bros/ Nintendo)

Complex technical explanations about why the glitch occurred permeate the internet. And even though the Minus World itself was not the most exciting level - particularly since it could never be completed - the whole thing captured imaginations around the world.

Scott Pelland, who worked as Publications Director at Nintendo in the 1980s and 1990s, says that the employees who had the job of answering phone calls from gamers - known as Game Counselors - were inundated with calls about the Minus World. "It was one of the most popular questions for [them] for quite some time," he says.

In a 2010 interview, Nintendo wizard Miyamoto conceded that, because the Minus World didn't crash the game (and perhaps because of the fervent lore surrounding it), it could actually be considered a feature of Super Mario Bros, even if it wasn't a deliberate one. Generations after the game's release, the glitch's influence on gaming culture is as striking as its immediate impact among Nintendo obsessives.

"It was the Minus World that first made us believe that anything was possible in video games," pronounced Edge magazine in 2015. This belief has inspired game developers to truly think outside the box. Take, for example, Frog Fractions, a browser-based game released in 2012. It started with a simple premise, whereby players would control a frog who caught bugs with its tongue, and, according to its blurb, it was an educational game that could teach children about fractions. But it wasn't. Because if you perform a special trick (no spoilers) in the initial bug-catching level, you are taken on an utterly unpredictable adventure through space, courtrooms, underwater tunnels and dance battles. Its creator, Jim Stormdancer (formerly Jim Crawford), tells the BBC that he was inspired to create this mind-boggling twist by the Super Mario Bros games, as he wanted to recreate the sense of disbelief felt by gamers who had discovered its secrets.

"What you get is the reinforcement of the idea that anything can happen," he says, in praise of the Minus World. "You can be playing this game for a week and suddenly you jump in just the right spot and there's something that you never knew was there." He remembers finding the Minus World for the first time as a young gamer. "I've glided through the bricks myself. It really lent to the feeling that this is a magical world that I'm reaching through the controller and touching."

Grand Theft Auto IV is one of many big video games with celebrated glitches (Credit: Rockstar Games)

Ever since the Minus World, gamers have been driven to scour every virtual square-inch of their favourite games, on the off-chance that they might find other unexpected features resulting from coding mistakes. And there have been quite a few over the years. An error in Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly (2002) meant that you could jump straight to the final boss about 30 seconds into level 1, if you made the lead dragon character perform a move known as a "ground pound" near the right portal. Drive your car at a swing in Grand Theft Auto IV (2008) and you could send it shooting into the sky. Getting stuck in a crouch in Halo 2 (2004), then jumping at a particular bit of the game's geometry, would let you "superbounce" to otherwise inaccessible areas. There were backwards-flying dragons in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011). Faceless characters in Assassin's Creed (2007). And "Missingno", a glitched jumble of pixels that you could catch in Pokémon Red and Blue (1996). These were all glitches, accidentally inserted by developers, and they were all lapped up by gamers.

Phenomena like these let gamers believe there is more to these fictional worlds than meets the eye. Perhaps gaming expert Danny O'Dwyer said it best in a documentary for his Youtube channel Noclip, in which he celebrated the mystery of games like Frog Fractions while arguing that mystery was now dissipating in an increasingly polished, glitch-free gaming world. "It's a feeling that seems to evaporate as the years pass us: that brief but powerful feeling that perhaps we don't know everything about the game we're playing."
--

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
'It reinforced the idea that anything can happen': The glitch in Super Mario Bros that obsessed gamers

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Forty years ago, the series' original game was released by Nintendo. As well as trying to complete it, fans were desperate to access a secret world that became legendary.