Happy morning tea, congratulations on making it midway via the working week for individuals who’ve simply returned from holidays, and welcome to 5 Nice Reads, a summertime seance of saucy tales and beautiful writing, channelled by me, Alyx Gorman, Guardian Australia’s life-style editor.
If you’re after breaking information as an alternative, we've a reside weblog for that. And should you simply need one thing extraordinary, listed here are some Swedish crows which have been educated to choose up cigarette butts. Now, on to the reads.
1. The lifetime of a psychic scammer
From stealing jewelry to make it reappear, to riffling via a grieving mom’s possessions to higher impersonate her useless son, M Lamar Keene’s cons are stunning. Then, in 1976, he gave it away in a tell-all guide.
What occurred subsequent? A rival spiritualist tried to assassinate him. “Somebody took a shot at him on his garden however missed,” writes Hollie Richardson, “leaving a bullet within the aspect of his home.”
Notable quote: “Individuals wanting to speak with the useless is timeless,” says Vicky Baker, who has made a podcast collection about Keene’s life. “At this time, some psychics consult with themselves as ‘intuitive healers’, which is rather more suitable with the wellness trade.” Baker namechecks Gwyneth Paltrow, Kim Kardashian and Drew Barrymore as followers of psychic’s companies. “These days, it’s a wellness deal with – slightly than a darkish secret in a dodgy alleyway store.”
How lengthy will it take me to learn? Three minutes.
2. Street journey down a disappearing freeway
Surroundings author Megan Mayhew Bergman grew up round North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Now, frequent storms and erosion have pressured the realm into fixed flux, with bulldozers working year-round to restore what nature has executed. She drove the 238km size of its arterial highway to witness the change for herself.
Notable quote: “A ferry worker requested me what I used to be doing,” Mayhew writes. “I shared that I used to be an environmental journalist. He pulled me contained in the ferry to indicate me an image of an island that had disappeared beneath the rising seas. ‘I consider in local weather change,’ he informed me, quietly, as if he was afraid somebody may overhear him. ‘However I’m an unsightly American. I don’t wish to be informed what to do. Ask me properly to put on a masks or recycle. Then I’ll do nearly something fotherwise you.’”
How lengthy will it take me to learn? 4 minutes.
3. Which meals require the least washing up?
From soups to tray bakes, cooks and meals writers share their methods for scrumptious, low cleanup meals.
The place do I start? Chef Roberta Corridor-McCannon suggests beginning with an honest inventory or broth, then throwing in no matter takes your fancy. “Not solely are you getting all of the flavour from the broth going into all the pieces you place within the pot, you’ve additionally obtained just one pot to scrub up afterwards.”
How lengthy will it take me to learn? Solely a minute.
4. Leaving the humanities
The pandemic has devastated artistic industries, although its distribution of hurt has been removed from even. Right here, Andrew Dickson meets artistic professionals who’ve opted out or modified profession path, together with an American puppeteer who moved to Australia for work and wound up studying to code.
Notable quote: Vivienne Clavering spent many years as a manufacturing supervisor, then retrained as a instructor throughout the pandemic, and is now on the job. “Certain, it’s intense,” she says. “You’re there 7am till 5pm, and naturally there’s lesson planning and the remaining. However, truthfully, it doesn’t evaluate to what I used to be doing in opera ... One video designer I labored with used to name me continually from 7am to midnight, for a full 12 months. Nevertheless onerous instructing will get, no guardian goes to have my cellphone quantity.”
She provides: “And should you’ve dealt with an opera director, you'll be able to deal with a five-year-old.”
How lengthy will it take me to learn? Six minutes.
5. Unhealthy fences make good frenemies
Ashe Davenport and her neighbour are separated by nothing however a nose-height fence. Strenuously avoiding eye contact over their respective kitchen sinks, they’ve had rising tensions, and a sort-of truce.
Notable quote: “My neighbour heard each babble and demonic scream from my place, and I heard each exasperated dialog from theirs,” Davenport writes. “As soon as they imitated my two-year-old’s tantrum after a very harrowing afternoon throughout lockdown.”
How lengthy will it take me to learn? Two minutes.
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