How is everybody’s weekend going? Thanks for spending a portion of it with the Sunday Six.
Many of you reading the Six today are doing so pool or beach side. Enjoy the sun and much-needed break!
Let’s get on with the Six.
These Schools Did Less to Contain Covid. Their Students Flourished.
We are starting to see the last of the mask holdouts run out of excuses and lift mandates – large metropolitan city school districts like Chicago and Los Angeles. The mental toll on students for overburdensome mitigations has yet to be tallied. But what about those areas that minimized restrictions and took a “Co-Existence with Covid” tact rather than a “Zero Covid” one? The Washington Post takes a look at a Colorado school system with an “optional” culture since the outset of Covid. Guess what? The kids are alright, in fact, they are thriving.
Inside the Scholastic Succession Drama. Showdown Over Harry Potter.
I’ve linked to a previous article on the real-world Succession-like drama at the education publishing firm Scholastic before – whose CEO’s sudden death left the company in the hands of his girlfriend. “It’s worse than a normal death because of the sense of betrayal that everybody’s feeling,” a longtime former employee tells Vanity Fair. “A big mistake is what it was.” A compelling deep dive from VF.
The Kardashians Tell All: “Money Always Matters.”
Admittedly, I was not a viewer of the long-running “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” reality show. Honestly, I didn’t know it was off the air until I read this piece from Variety. But I’ve always been interested in the story of the Kardashian family – how did they become arguably the most famous in the world? My interest is more business than pop culture. I’ve been waiting for a Forbes or Fortune magazine long form piece on them. We got it from Variety. The best thing I’ve read about the Kardashians and how they built their global empire.
Welcome to the Announcer Empowerment Era.
It’s the football “off-season” but the NFL never shuts down. The flurry of free agent trades (Deshaun Watson to the Browns?) and signings can be more interesting than the games. But I can’t remember a time when the off-season announcer transactions were this gob-smacking. Troy Aikman to Monday Night Football? And he’s bringing long-time Fox partner Joe Buck with him? And they are making how much money? The Ringer breaks it all down and what it means for the industry and for us the viewer.
The Ultimate Silicone Valley Swinger’s Party.
How’s that for a story title? Fortune magazine publishes an excerpt of a book about the personal lives of young, wealthy entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley. It shouldn’t come as a shock that sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll are top of mind, although they would refer to the lifestyle as a “disruption” rather than the ubiquitous descriptor first coined in the 1970’s. The book is a memoir where the author embedded herself in the VC culture for years. A good read on the hidden – and debaucherous – side of Silicon Valley.
Zip-liner Crashes Into Sloth in Rainforest.
Probably some Six readers plan to do some zip-lining this week. If so, feel free to look away at this story. While zip-lining in Costa Rica, a boy was cruising along until…he wasn’t. The obstruction in his path? A sloth. “I just clocked it right in the face!” said the boy, who was uninjured from the crash. Of course there’s video and it’s pretty wild to see the sloth hanging from the wire where the boy was supposed to be zipping. As of publish, video has almost 3k comments on Reddit and thousands of views.
Thanks for reading everybody and enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Have a suggestion for the Sunday Six? Send email to jon@jonjkerr.com