What we are reading June 17, 2026
This week, we are getting nostalgic with a look back at the Birth of the B-52s and REM. We also have all the news that got our attention this week.
The Inside Story of the Athens Music Scene
How did the college football town spawn the B-52s, R.E.M., and Widespread Panic, to name just a few? The maestros and misfits who led Athens’s rise to one of the world’s most influential and improbable music towns tell all

The Curious Case of “White Culture”
A Thing That Exists Right Up Until You Ask What It Is

Venture Capitalist Rips Silicon Valley Political Spending
Rarely do we see a Silicon Valley venture capitalist speaking out against the extremism in their own industry. But in today’s New York Times, former Andreessen Horowitz general partner John O’Farrell takes tech oligarchs to task for flooding the US political system with money in an effort to

It was Britain’s most expensive house. Why is its only resident a homeless man who lives on the porch?
2-8A Rutland Gate had jewel-encrusted bathroom suites and gold wastepaper bins in its 45 rooms, but has lain empty for years. With many people desperate for secure housing, what does the abandonment of this palace tell us about the UK?




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