What's Not the News: April 30
Welcome back to Not the News, from Charlie and Meital. Thanks for letting us into your inbox for the last month. We love putting this together, and we have more good content for you this week.
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Should We Rethink the Nuclear Family?
Our advanced analytics told us you all really liked last week’s story on rethinking traditional relationships. So, how about something bigger to chew on this week: the nuclear family.
We accept it as the default. But what about the other ways people find “family” in their lives? Does the nuclear family create winners and losers? Maybe the nuclear family works better for some people than others.
If you have a view or want to have one, you should read this cover story in The Atlantic, which dives deep into the history of the family and explores its role in modern society.
This is the story of our times—the story of the family, once a dense cluster of many siblings and extended kin, fragmenting into ever smaller and more fragile forms. … America now has two entirely different family regimes. Among the highly educated, family patterns are almost as stable as they were in the 1950s; among the less fortunate, family life is often utter chaos. There’s a reason for that divide: Affluent people have the resources to effectively buy extended family [child care, tutoring, coaching, therapy], in order to shore themselves up.
Does a Country Own Your Favorite Team?
If you want to buy a major American sports team, you might find a club in the bargain bin for $1 billion and change. And you’d better buy now, because prices are rising like a quarantine sourdough starter: the Florida Marlins were purchased for $158 million in 2002 and sold for $1.2 billion in 2017.
Who’s paying these prices? Increasingly, sovereign wealth funds and private equity firms. Abu Dhabi and Silver Lake own Manchester City FC. Qatar owns Paris’s major soccer team. Investors might be turning their sights toward America—how will this affect sports?
From the Wall Street Journal:
“We’re not a football club, we’re actually a sports media entertainment company,” former Manchester City chief executive Garry Cook told club employees after the Abu Dhabi takeover. “So we must create content. We must provide events, we must create shows, we must create drama… Am I competing with the other football club down the road, Manchester United, or am I competing with Walt Disney, with Amazon?”
Awesome. What’s really interesting: Countries are buying teams to burnish their image and make you forget all about the human rights stuff. It’s called “sportswashing.”
Sneaker Hype Creates a $250 Million Business
Nike sold a recently released pair of Nike Air Jordans for $200. They’re being resold for $1,285. That’s the power of hype: people will spend lots of time and money chasing rare sneakers.
It turns out there’s a ton of money in hype. That’s Stadium Goods’s whole business—they manufacture nothing. And they were just bought for $250 million.
From the Wall Street Journal again:
Sneaker hype translates into lofty prices in part because supply is limited. So supply and demand help set market value, but zealotry sustains it. The Air Jordan 11s that Jordan Brand made to commemorate the Yankees’ retirement of Derek Jeter’s number in 2017—there are said to be only a handful on the planet—were listed at Stadium Goods for $50,000. The company works on consignment with sellers; Stadium Goods takes a 20 percent cut of each sale.
In case you were looking for something to spend your stimulus check on.
Watch
Never Have I Ever (Netflix)
A new Netflix show full of hysterical and many painfully-embarrassing-but-can’t-look-away moments created by Lang Fisher and Mindy Kaling of The Office and The Mindy Project fame. A young Indian girl raised in America deals with the recent death of her father as she also navigates the more traditional perils of high school like finding a boyfriend and upping her popularity. Similar to the Sex Education approach to teen comedy, I highly recommend.
The Hook-Up Plan (Netflix)
Put anything in a French accent and I’ll find it entertaining. Add on a plot about friends hiring a male escort to help their friend move on from being hopelessly in love with her ex-boyfriend? I binged the first season in one night (and maybe secretly hope my friends do this for me someday?) [Let’s just make clear that Meital is writing here.]
Listen
Slow Burn
The first two seasons focus on the Watergate scandal and the impeachment of Bill Clinton. Season 3 just came out and is about the murders of Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G.
Caliphate
Follows NYT reporter Rukmini Callimachi as she reports on the Islamic State and the fall of Mosul. A chilling and rare expose on the Islamic State--start from the beginning and prepare to not want to stop listening.
Cook
Mother’s day is coming up (how is it already May?!) and I’m preparing for an adorable virtual brunch with the wonderful women in my family. Sharing a fancy mom-worthy pancake recipe and lemon bars in honor of my mom’s favorite treat.
I’ve gotten really into making my own pickled veggies right now, mostly because I love the taste but also because I have too much time on my hands. I almost always have these pickled red onions in my fridge now and just tried making my own kimchi which turned out surprisingly well!
Fin.
Thanks for reading and see you next week. Feel free to reach out with feedback. And scroll down for bonus content.
—Charlie, Meital & the North American Board
Sort of the premise of this newsletter, when you think about it. (Credit: The New Yorker)