Or at least they tried. As Foster says in a Dickensian quote: “Mistakes were made – for a start. There is no doubt about that.”
This first travelogue is filled with overexertion, overconfidence, and overexposure in something called the 100-mile wilderness. About insects, Foster writes: “I became a moving ecosystem, with entire generations of black flies meeting, falling in love, mating, raising their young, and dying within a three-inch radius of my eyeballs, seemingly weeping the sweetest nectar imaginable judging by how many of them gave their lives to taste it just once.”
Along the way, however, there are naps in the sun, “unabashedly lovely” lakes and plenty of lessons in humility.
The lesson of the beach, Kate Cohen She writes, it is a place of safety. It is the “only place I can go to stop feeling bad about not having the ‘right’ body and to stop feeling guilty about feeling bad.”
Kate knows this goes against everything society tells us about the beach, which it treats like the gladiatorial arena of beauty.
But what if you’re headed to the beach? “After you’ve walked to your spot and made that little move to secure your beach chair in place, look around at your fellow beachgoers,” Kate advises. “They’ll quickly dispel the idea that only beauty pageant contestants are allowed on the beach.”
And that’s before you get in the water. You get in, you float on the surface, and suddenly you’re nothing but sun, surf, and self-love.
I’m so Kamala (ah-ah, ahh)
I’m starting to think that Jorge Will is No having a brats summer
In a column urging Democrats to consider options other than Harris (who secured enough delegates to clinch the nomination shortly after the column was published), George called the vice president “lighter than air” and said that “her public ramblings will live on as long as YouTube allows people to enjoy her streams of semi-consciousness.”
Well, YouTube and Instagram and X and TikTok. George was denigrating Harris, but it turns out people… love his ramblings, especially when accompanied by music from Taylor Swift or, yes, Charli XCX’s summer-defining album, “Brat.”
Molly Roberts addresses the memeification of Harris—her laughter, her dancing, her talk about context and coconuts—and how, against all odds, the memes don’t seem to be making fun of her at all.
Molly writes that Harris’s slightly odd, utterly genuine vernacular is “eccentric, just odd enough to bend the line between irony and seriousness so that those who latched on to it weren’t sure whether they were laughing at Harris or at him.” with his.”
If you’re confused by all the jokes about coconuts and lime green overlays and why kids joke about Venn diagrams, this column is a great place to start.
Harris’s campaign is already leaning into the spoiled brat image (tread carefully, Molly warns), but Catherine Rampell Harris’ team has another, stronger image at its disposal: Kamala the cop. The reputation that the progressive left used to attack her in 2020 could be what helps her win in 2024.
Many have pointed to Harris’ experience as a prosecutor as the perfect foil to Donald Trump’s 34 felony convictions, but Catherine goes further, cataloging all the ways Harris has been “tough on crime” broadly speaking — a valuable asset at a time when Americans’ concerns about crime are among the highest.
- Of Garrett GraffAbout a third of vice presidents become presidents. So why isn’t job training improved?
- Of Eduardo PorterLook at the world around you. Defeating Trump in November will not save democracy.
- Of Matt BaiToday’s Democrats love unity and hate arguments. It’s a bad philosophy that we can blame on 1980.
- Of Perry Bacon:The five groups of Democrats who ended Biden’s candidacy, including six white men in their 40s.
- From the Editorial BoardTo win, Harris needs to explain how and why she is different from Biden.
More politics
Who should the vice president choose?
Karen Tumult Karen writes that Harris has plenty to choose from, with a Democratic caucus groaning under the weight of next-generation leaders. Still, the best of the best is former astronaut Mark Kelly. Karen writes that the Arizona senator inoculates Harris against her biggest vulnerabilities, including guns and the southern border.
Chief editor Laura McGann Laura says the party should double down and put two women on the ticket. Women have been outperforming for years in the states that will matter most in this election, Laura writes, and if Harris really wants to mark a break with the past, this is the way to do it.
Heck, let’s keep running down this probability curve until we stop at the end, along with the handful of Post readers who gave their advice in letters to the editor: Harris should pick a Republican.
Hunter: Or can we just put Harris back in the vice president role? Alexandra Petri He poses as a panicked Trump team and begs, pleads, implores: “No, wait, Joe! Come back!”
Smarter, Faster
- In a column adapted from his contribution to a new collection of essays, Jen Rubin It sets out the arguments why centrism could be the salvation of the democratic system.
- The Paris Olympics begin this week, Leana Wen he writes, overshadowed by a doping scandal among Chinese swimmers.
- The national debt needs to be brought under control (and, surprisingly, it is feasible). Editorial Board writes after reviewing proposals from seven expert groups.
It’s a goodbye. It’s a haiku. It’s… The Bye-Ku.
Nothing in pristine streams,
Lessons and, yes, plagues too
Do you have your own news haiku? Send it to me by emailalong with any questions/comments/ambiguities. See you tomorrow!
