September 18, 2016

“At bottom, all politics is tribal, and Pak fits into a long tradition of San Francisco leaders who carved out a bigger slice of the civic pie for their community... Through the work of Pak and others, the Chinese electorate—the so-called sleeping giant of San Francisco politics—has awakened.” From a 2012 profile of Rose Pak, a legendary San Francisco Chinatown power broker (or civic leader, depending who you ask), who died Sunday. / San Francisco

“I usually like weird, but when I saw how ardently people glommed on to the idea that they could permanently conquer death, I was more upset than anything else.” From young-blood transfusion to biohacking to cryonics, technologies on offer at the Revolution Against Aging and Death Festival yield less optimism than concern. / The Ringer

“One of the worst ways to wear a sombrero, I think, is to be a white keynote speaker at a literary festival, saying, ‘I am hopeful that the concept of ‘cultural appropriation’ is a passing fad.’” Jia Tolentino dresses down Lionel Shriver. / The New Yorker