Poinsettias, Perception, and Taylor Swift

Poinsettias’ Multicultural History (The Los Angeles Times)
by Chelsea Hylton
It’s the time of year when poinsettias grace our porches and dining room tables. But many Americans aren’t aware of the pretty plant’s history in Indigenous cultures, including among the Aztecs and in Latin American Christian traditions.

Do You See What I See? (Aeon)
by Gary Lupyan
Can you visualize an apple? Do your thoughts take the form of an inner monologue? It’s becoming increasingly clear that different people answer these questions differently. But what can researchers trained to prize objectivity really say about such subjective phenomena?

Remembering Good Times (The Conversation)
by Angela M. Nelson
Among Norman Lear’s many groundbreaking sitcoms, Good Times stood out not just for its depiction of Black culture but for approaches to gender and class that had rarely been seen before on television.

Living with Taylor Swift (Literary Hub)
by Kelly Marie Coyne
For the young women who’ve grown up with her, Taylor Swift embodies questions and contradictions related to femininity, whiteness, and the meaning of successful adulthood. JSTOR Daily has four, count ’em, stories about the singer. They’re linked in the prior sentence, but we’d also encourage you to read Chi Luu’s take on the linguistic evolution of Taylor Swift.

How Can We Curb This Deadly Disease? (Vox)
by Dylan Matthews
Tuberculosis kills more people each year than either AIDS or malaria. Yet efforts to address the problem are surprisingly limited—partly because it’s an unusually tricky kind of infection. One way to move forward could involve paying people to intentionally get infected.

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