OZY - Daily Dose

10 MUST READS TODAY

Sunday
Sep 22, 2019

1	Politics & Power

Politics & Power

Will He Be the First Mexican-American on the U.S. Supreme Court?

California’s Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar could make the next Democratic president’s SCOTUS shortlist.

“I like the story that architecture tells,” says Justice Mariano-Florentino (Tino) Cuéllar, one leg folded beneath him on a yellow armchair in the chambers of the Supreme Court of California. He points to the window, framing San Francisco’s stately City Hall. “You can see it’s trying to tell you something about how San Francisco’s environment had reconstructed itself after a devastating earthquake and fire,” he muses. Next, he points to the high-rise under construction, where he finds a narrative about architects’ ambition to prove human beings can triumph over their environment.

Cuéllar is fascinated by structure: what it reveals about those who construct it and how it shifts a landscape. Unlike some judges, he’s both worked on the ground to build policy and stepped back to study whether institutional foundations are sound.

Good Sh*t

When Guerrilla Groups Act on Stage With Their Enemies

Members from enemy groups and victims of their violence come together in a remarkable show about forgiveness in Colombia.

A man with a prosthetic leg struts on stage, then a dozen more men and women join, dressed in white robes, taking turns shouting about the Colombian war experience: “They were killing teachers in the countryside. The first time I was trained to use a gun I fell over. I was 13, I went away to join a paramilitary group so my sister didn’t have to.”

An older woman walks upstage. “I’m a mother and I’ve lost my son, have you seen him?” she begs the audience. “Have you seen Carlos Alberto?” She asks again hopefully. Silence follows and the actors disappear offstage.

3	The Huddle

The Huddle

Get Set for a New Wave of Tennis Greats to Court Success

Over the past five years, players from more countries have been competing in the higher ranks.

Paul Annacone remembers a time when men’s tennis felt — and looked — so good that American fans, in particular, believed things couldn’t possibly get any better.

As Pete Sampras’ coach from 1995 to 2001, when the seven-time Wimbledon champ, five-time U.S. Open titleholder and two-time Australian Open champ was one of the faces of tennis, he recalls epic matches with players like Andre Agassi, Michael Chang, Boris Becker, Pat Rafter and Roger Federer. Fast-forward two decades and the “Big Three” — Novak Djokovic, with 16 Grand Slam titles, Rafael Nadal with 19 and Federer with 20 — have redefined what domination looks like in tennis, winning 54 of the last 64 men’s singles Grand Slam titles between them. The predictability of their success is akin to Alabama and Clemson always leading the conversation as likely BCS champions. It might also be hiding a fast-approaching shift in men’s tennis.

4	Need to Know

LOOK CLOSER: This May Look Like a Bit of Fun … But It's No Game

Residents of Chennai are experiencing a drought considered the worst in living memory.

5	Fast Forward

Moon, Kim Embrace Spooks South Korean Defectors

Seoul’s dance with Pyongyang spooks North Korean defectors.

Wildcard

When a Vibrator Makes a Man Feel Shame

OZY’s Eugene S. Robinson addresses queries from the love-weary in ’Sex With Eugene.’

7	Rising Stars

The Filmmaker Creating 'Friends' for Modern Orthodox Jews

Leah Gottfried is documenting the complex love lives of an often overlooked community.

8	Fast Forward

Solar Finds Its Place in the Sun Among America's Poor

Clean energy, long seen as a luxury for the affluent, is now reaching more low-income homes.

9	Rising Stars

What If You Could Charge an Electric Car as Fast as Filling the Tank?

Tim Sherstyuk, 26, and his startup GBatteries have an innovation with huge potential for the planet.

Acumen

Smart Trees Are Learning to Stand Between Humanity and Disaster

The environment, in many ways, is keeping pace with human industrialization. But will it last?

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