homeroom: what i consume in a week

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit cecexie.substack.com* Supreme Court lawyer Paul Clement is representing an Indiana school district to prohibit transgender children from using their gender identity’s restroom. He’s offered a flat fee for his firm’s legal services—$100,000 to petition the Supreme Court to hear the case and another $100,000 to argue the case in front of the Supreme Court (if the first $100,000 petition is granted).* Around 1,200 Israelis and more than 11,000 Palestinians have been killed since the October 7 attacks by Hamas. These numbers are particularly jarring after learning more in March about apartheid in South Africa and wondering, How exactly does apartheid happen? How did the world just let it happen? The answer, it seems, is exactly what is happening now. I found a recent episode of The Daily especially thought-provoking and very, very sad, contending that these casualties can be seen as calculated losses to advance a Hamas goal—drawing attention again to the Palestinian cause.* I’ve seen the names Tanya Zuckerbrot and Emily Gellis around but have never understood the full magnitude of their feud, dubbed Fiber Feud (no, really). The Daily Beast goes into the full strangeness of this feud in a two-part series, which reminded me of the Bad Art Friend saga but with influencers instead of writers. Totally worth the read!* Are You the One? Season 9 on Paramount+ (which I got because one of my former colleagues is on this season of Survivor!)* The Golden Bachelor on Hulu + this Reddit thread shows how outdated Gerry’s dating behavior is