The Little College Where Tuition Is Free and Every Student Is Given a Job - The Atlantic (Full Access)   

Berea College, in Kentucky, has paid for every enrollee’s education using its endowment for 126 years. Can other schools replicate the model?

There’s a small burst of air that explodes from every clap. And when hundreds of people are clapping in unison, it begins to feel like a breeze—one that was pulsing through the Phelps Stokes Chapel at Berea College in Kentucky. The students and staff that had gathered here were stomping, clapping, and singing along, as they were led in a rendition of the Civil Rights era anthem, “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around.”

White’s address was dotted with the markings of a Sunday sermon—not the stuffy kind, but the kind I’d heard time and again growing up—the jokes, the whooping, the lessons that come in threes. In her speech, White explained to the students that it didn't take supernatural abilities to do great things—only a purpose—and that all the evidence they needed could be found on the campus where they stood.

Continued here

The Other Work Remote Workers Get Done - The Atlantic (Full Access)   

Carolyn Vigil has spent most of her career in Big Tech. She is also the primary caregiver for her 23-year-old autistic son, Jax. Managing these two roles has never been easy, and at various times over the years, Vigil has had to step back from her job for the sake of her kid. It is somewhat remarkable that when schools shut down during the pandemic and Vigil became not only her son’s carer but also his teacher, she didn’t quit her job. “That was definitely challenging,” she told me, but because she was working from home, “I was able to juggle it.” She’s continued working remotely ever since, largely because her son is no longer in school and, though he is semi-independent, he still needs help managing his daily tasks: taking his medications, managing his diet and exercise, and traveling to doctor appointments. So Vigil was distressed when, earlier this year, her company announced that it was calling workers back to the office.

Predicting the future of remote work is hard. On one hand, many American workers really like it and want to be working remotely even more than they are now (though, of course, many workers have never had the option to work from home). And while the amount of work in the U.S. being done remotely is down from its pandemic high, it’s been holding steady near 28 percent for about a year now. In a tight labor market, many employers opted to embrace at least some remote work to help with recruitment and retention.

On the other hand, many employers are getting more vocal about their desire to have employees in the office more often. Vigil’s company is one of many—including Apple, Disney, AT&T, JPMorgan Chase, Dell, Meta, Comcast, Goldman Sachs, FedEx, Walmart, and BlackRock—that have walked back their remote-work policies this year. In August, the White House ordered Cabinet members to “aggressively” prioritize a shift back to the office this fall so that “all of us will benefit from the increases in morale, teamwork, and productivity that come from in-person work.” Even Zoom, the company whose video-calling tech facilitates so much remote work, is requiring many of its workers to return to the office part-time on the grounds that the company sees in-person work as more effective.

Continued here

‘Plant-Based’ Has Lost All Meaning - The Atlantic (Full Access)   

A label once intended for meat replacements is now used for shampoo, booze, and nearly every other product imaginable.

Several years ago, I made a New Year’s resolution to eat more plants. Doing so, I assumed, would be better for my health, for animals, and for the planet. Besides, it would be easy: The rise of plant-based meat alternatives, offered by companies such as Impossible Meat and Beyond Meat, made it a breeze to eat less meat but still satisfy the occasional carnivorous urge. I could have my burger and eat it too.

Or so I thought. Meat alternatives, I found, cost more than their conventional counterparts and are made with complicated ingredients that raise doubts about their healthiness—and even then, taste just okay. Other people have had similar concerns, part of the reason the popularity of those products has declined in recent years to such a degree that Beyond Meat is reportedly now in “survival mode.” But beyond the meat aisle, the “plant-based” label lives on in virtually every food product imaginable: instant ramen, boxed mac and cheese, Kraft singles, KitKat bars, even queso. You can now buy plant-based peanut butter. You can also wash your hair with plant-based shampoo and puff on a plant-based vape.

Continued here

What Was Jo Koy Thinking? - The Atlantic (Full Access)   

Here are some things I saw while tuning in to last night’s Golden Globes that made me laugh harder than anything the ceremony’s host, the comedian Jo Koy, said onstage: this video of Oppenheimer’s Cillian Murphy looking lost on the red carpet; the moment The Bear star Ayo Edebiri remembered to acknowledge her “real family also,” after thanking her castmates; this tweet.

Which is to say, well, Koy bombed. His opening monologue began poorly—“We all dreamt of this moment!” he declared enthusiastically to silent, apparent disagreement—and only got worse. Like any awards-show host, Koy shouted out individual nominees, but practically every joke failed to land, mostly because the punch lines were dated or obvious. He poked fun at eventual best-drama winner Oppenheimer’s three-hour run time, claiming he’d finish watching the movie in 2025. For Barbie, which later won the new prize for cinematic and box-office achievement, he admitted he didn’t know what to expect from a movie about “a plastic doll with big boobies.” He made a quip about Meryl Streep winning all the time—who hasn’t?—and then, apropos of nothing, asked her to do the “Wakanda Forever” pose from Black Panther.

By the end of his set, Koy sounded indignant, seemingly picking up on how little the crowd was vibing with his comedy. “Yo, I got the gig 10 days ago. You want a perfect monologue? Yo, shut up,” he said. “I wrote some of these, and they’re the ones you’re laughing at.”

Continued here