Sunday Soup: Top Desserts, Gods of New York, Problem With Nightmares
These are the articles, streaming ideas and books that caught our attention this week.
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We’ve got another round of eyebrow-raising articles and streams to share with you this week, plus a new book to read or listen to that explains how four consequential years in New York City would influence what was to come.
Now, you may be tempted to listen to that work by Mahler as you head out for some R&R, but we have a few streams that might tempt you to as well.
If you have a recommendation to share, we’d love to hear about it in the Comments section below.
Now enjoy this latest offering of Sunday Soup.
Articles 📰
The Logic of the ‘9 to 5’ Is Creeping Into the Rest of the Day
"How free time gets conscripted into the service of work"
The Damage to Economic Data May Already Be Done
"Donald Trump’s pick to run the Bureau of Labor Statistics doesn’t have to manipulate any numbers to undermine the reliability of the government’s jobs reports."
A DOGE AI Tool Called SweetREX Is Coming to Slash US Government Regulation
"Named for its developer, an undergrad who took leave from UChicago to become a DOGE affiliate, a new AI tool automates the review of federal regulations and flags rules it thinks can be eliminated."
50 States, 50 Desserts: America's Favorite Sweet Treats
"It’s no easy feat to pinpoint the most iconic desserts in the US. In a country so sprawling, so shaped by the comings and goings of communities, so contoured by unique terrains and the harvests they produce, how does one even describe the American table, for starters — and whose American table are we talking about when we do? What makes it onto our plates varies as widely as the definition of what it means to be American, but if there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s our love of desserts."
How America Got Its Baby Back, Baby Back, Baby Back
"But it’s not just that Chili’s is making money hand over fist. The mozzarella sticks are going viral on TikTok. A Chili’s-produced minimovie celebrating National Margarita Day, starring Maria Menounos and Taye Diggs, just aired on Lifetime. And just when we thought hanging out was dead, Gen Z–ers seem to have rediscovered the joy of going out with friends, pounding a marg, and eating a gut-busting quantity of food. This 50-year-old chain restaurant, this totem of Scranton squareness, has somehow become … cool?"
Are nightmares bad for your health?
"Almost everyone has nightmares. But it is among those who have them weekly —somewhere between 2% and 6% of the population — that connections with ill-health seem to arise."
Do You Need to Own a House? Many Older Americans Decide They Don’t
"Rising property tax, insurance, and home-repair costs are prompting some people 55 and older to consider renting."
What We’re Streaming 📺📲
"What Went Wrong - The Godfather, Part 1"
What We’re Reading 📖 Listening To 🎧
"New York City entered 1986 as a city reborn, with record profits on Wall Street sending waves of money splashing across Manhattan and bringing a once-bankrupt, reeling city back to life.
"But it also entered 1986 as a city divided. Nearly one-third of the city’s Black and Hispanic residents were living below the federal poverty line. Thousands of New Yorkers were sleeping in the streets—and in many cases, addicted to drugs, dying of AIDS, or suffering from mental illness. The manufacturing jobs that had once sustained a thriving middle class had vanished. Long-simmering racial tensions threatened to boil over.
"Over the next four years, a singular confluence of events — involving a cast of outsized, unforgettable characters — would widen those divisions into chasms. Ed Koch. Donald Trump. Al Sharpton. The Central Park Five. Spike Lee. Rudy Giuliani. Howard Beach. Tawana Brawley. The Preppy Murder. Jimmy Breslin. Do the Right Thing, Wall Street, crack, the AIDS epidemic, and, of course, ready to pour gasoline on every fire — the tabloids. In The Gods of New York, Jonathan Mahler tells the story of these convulsive, defining years."
