The Radical Humaneness of Norway’s Halden Prison →

Jessica Benko, writing for The New York Times Magazine:

“Better out than in” is an unofficial motto of the Norwegian Correctional Service, which makes a reintegration guarantee to all released inmates. It works with other government agencies to secure a home, a job and access to a supportive social network for each inmate before release; Norway’s social safety net also provides health care, education and a pension to all citizens. With one of the highest per capita gross domestic products of any country in the world, thanks to the profits from oil production in the North Sea, Norway is in a good position to provide all of this, and spending on the Halden prison runs to more than $93,000 per inmate per year, compared with just $31,000 for prisoners in the United States, according to the Vera Institute of Justice, a nonprofit research and advocacy organization.

That might sound expensive. But if the United States incarcerated its citizens at the same low rate as the Norwegians do (75 per 100,000 residents, versus roughly 700), it could spend that much per inmate and still save more than $45 billion a year. At a time when the American correctional system is under scrutiny — over the harshness of its sentences, its overreliance on solitary confinement, its racial disparities — citizens might ask themselves what all that money is getting them, besides 2.2 million incarcerated people and the hardships that fall on the families they leave behind.

There’s nothing much refreshing than looking at huge societal issues from a completely different perspective.

Google Presents: Inside Abbey Road →

If you’re a music nerd, you’re about to be really busy for the next hour or so.

True Myth: A Conversation With Sufjan Stevens →

Sufjan Stevens, in a Pitchfork interview with Ryan Dombal:

At worst, these songs probably seem really indulgent. At their best, they should act as a testament to an experience that's universal: Everyone suffers; life is pain; and death is the final punctuation at the end of that sentence, so deal with it. I really think you can manage pain and suffering by living in fullness and being true to yourself and all those seemingly vapid platitudes. 

I read this interview while sitting outside, Sufjan Stevens’ new album, Carrie & Lowell, playing on the stereo. There was a woodpecker intermittently going to town on a tree somewhere in the distance. If I turned to my left, I could look down the hill past my house and almost see the exact spot where my mother was in the car accident that killed her two weeks ago. For me to say that Carrie & Lowell is a terrific album is unfair; there’s too much of me wrapped up in it to be a fair critic. But I’ll suggest you all read this interview and maybe check it out. There might be something for you to find in it.

Three Truths About C-section Mamas →

Monet Nicole, writing for cord:

But lately, I’ve been thinking about the unsung birth heroes. I’ve been thinking about the birth stories that don’t necessarily receive all the thumbs up and high fives and Facebook shares. I’m thinking about the cesarean section stories and the brave women who birth their children with such strength and beauty. 

And so, because April is Cesarean awareness month, I encourage us to take a step back and celebrate these five truths about c-section mamas.

The only predictably accurate birth plan has one sentence written on it: I am willing to do whatever it takes for my child to be safe.

/via my wife, who is also a brave, strong, beautiful C-section Mama

2016 Presidential Campaigns and Their Shitty Logos →

Danielle Kurtzleben, writing for Vox:

You can try to guess what he's going for with the all-lowercase letters — a hip, youthful disregard for stuffy capitalization rules? A fresh approach to governing the country, as well as continental-US-dot-on-the-i patriotism? National unity for everyone except Alaska and Hawaii? But no matter what you think, something is off here.

Look long enough, and you'll see it: m arc o ru bio.

What we have here is a kerning problem.

Design is what makes you like/dislike something without realizing it. The hardest part of a design to get right is the small stuff—the final 10%. The stuff that most rational (normal) people don’t get hung up on. I’m of a mind that a bad presidential campaign logo/typeface won’t really matter much in the big scheme of things, but that a good one can give you a boost. Marco Rubio? He will not be getting a boost. (Also—why is he going to be president for a century? And why is he going to annex Hawaii and Alaska? And aren’t we already fifteen years into the new cent—oh, forget it.) Oh, and for what it’s worth, Hillary will not be getting a boost either.

I Published a New Short Story

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In TSR - The Southampton Review, to be exact. It’s in the latest issue, Volume IX, No. 1 – Spring 2015. It’s called “Products of Conception,” and it’s a story I’m really proud of. I also owe a lot to TSR’s Fiction Editor, Susan Scarf Merrell, for the months of work and love that she put into the story.

You can buy a copy (or three) here, and you can read more about TSR here.

The Invisible Design Behind the Apple Watch’s Many Faces →

David Pierce, writing for WIRED:

Yet what Dye seems most fascinated by is one of the Apple Watch’s faces, called Motion, which you can set to show a flower blooming. Each time you raise your wrist, you’ll see a different color, a different flower. This is not CGI. It’s photography.

“We shot all this stuff,” Dye says, “the butterflies and the jellyfish and the flowers for the motion face, it’s all in-camera. And so the flowers were shot blooming over time. I think the longest one took us 285 hours, and over 24,000 shots.”

You put care into the back of the fence, even though nobody will ever see it, because you’ll know you did it.

Robert Frost →

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/via this isn’t happiness

Alan Sepinwall’s Interview of Matt Weiner →

Matt Weiner, responding to Alan Sepinwall’s asking why no actor on Mad Men has ever won an Emmy for their performance:

I don’t know. I don’t know. There’s always a story every year, is all I can say. There’s always a story why someone else should get it or what it is. I don’t understand awards handicapping, but I do not vote in the actors’ categories. I’ll tell you one thing. No one treats them like they haven’t won. They are revered, and I see the way other actors respond to their work. It’s the way you want. It’s like part reverence, part jealousy. They’re competitive. They are at the top of that pyramid in whatever way you want. And being nominated means that, and having the work means that.

But I have one personal theory, which is that the acting style is different on the show. That it’s very naturalistic and that is not a showy — you know, I don’t write Emmy scenes for them, either. Maybe that’s it. Elisabeth Moss always jokes that whenever she works somewhere else people are always like, “Cry your eyes out.” And I’m almost like, “Don’t cry. Do everything you can not to cry,” because I feel like that produces more emotion in the audience. But maybe it’s too much of an ensemble? I don’t know.

That’s good art—successful art—in a nutshell. Not crying when everyone else thinks you should cry.

An NPR Reporter Chauffeurs A Chinese Couple 500 Miles To Their Rural Wedding →

Frank Langfitt, writing for NPR:

I went to Rocky's wedding in part to try to understand how he'd made the leap from farmhouse to Shanghai law firm — quite a feat in China's hypercompetitive society.

Xiao Piao offered one theory: "The entire village thinks his family sits on good land, good feng shui," she said, referring to the house's location vis-a-vis the natural environment.

Rocky politely disagreed: "Everyone's fate, career and job are the result of one's struggle. If I didn't take the bar and sat around at home, what use would good feng shui have been?"

There’s the single chocolate chip world that you know—and then there’s the entire rest of the cookie. Take five minutes out of your day and treat yourself to this piece—you won’t regret it.

/via Ben Thompson