The Weekly Highlights #8
Week #8 (April 6-12, 2026): Music For Spacecrafts
Editorial
Since more than a year now, I’m living on La Côte d’Azur, France. It was 2:00 am (CET) when the astronauts of the Artemis II space mission landed on the coast of San Diego, California. At the same time in France, the moonlight was infinitesimally swirling in my bedroom. If anyone made a field recording of Integrity’s spacecraft splashing down into the Pacific ocean, this is the perfect opportunity to compose an entire symphony.
Funk musician George Clinton, aka Dr. Funkenstein, built the ‘P-Funk Mothership’ to celebrate the success of his band Parliament’s (The Funk Mob) album, Mothership Connection (1975), which led in 1976 to their famous concerts series in the US, The P-Funk Earth Tour. At the same period of time across the Atlantic ocean, Brian Eno published the first Ambient album, Discreet Music (1975). After his car accident, Brian Eno was in his recovery phase and he was listening to an 18th century harp music record, given to him by Judy Nylon. The sound from his stereo was low, and the rain’s one drowned out the notes. Only a few evanescent notes were remaining, dispersing around the bedroom. Or as if the musical notes were suspended in time. This is how the concept of Ambient music was born. Following Discreet Music, in 1978 came Eno’s first album of the Music for Airports series. Even if the astronauts of Artemis II couldn’t return to Earth on airports runways, every airport in the world was touched by the intergalactic journey of the resonated notes from the Music for Airports series, welcoming them as they deserved.
This is the essence of Ambient: a music evoking rest, calm, patience, temperance, meditation, the convergence of elements, stellar galaxies, travel, universalism, peace and the infinity of universes. Since Brian Eno, many Ambient musicians came in life. At Ghostly International, Sam Valenti IV hosts many ambient musicians: Christopher Willits, Loscil, Susumu Yokota (RIP), Whatever The Weather, Helios,... At Affin, Joachim Spieth also hosts ambient musicians such as Yui Onodera, Markus Guentner, Rafael Anton Irisarri, Bvdub, Gustavo Lamas, Polar Inertia,... At Balmat, Philip Sherburne hosts Ylia, Luke Wyland, Patricia Wolf,… Quiet Details is born from ambient music labels like Home Normal, Seil Records, Handstitched*, Ambientologist,... With Cloud Collecting, Marine Eyes highlights ambient female musicians. A Strange Isolated Place (ASIP) hosts Max Würden, Alex Albrecht, Christian Kleine, Leandro Fresco,... Frequently, Flow State makes deep forays into Ambient music. Marty Slagter @ Radio Amor recently wrote a homage to Tim Hecker. Simon James French keeps on his field recordings in Kyoto. In a short chat I had with artist Gizem Vural, she mentioned recently listening to Jon Porras’s album, Voices of the Air. With Zensounds, Stephan Kunze honors frequently Ambient music. And with the book 20th Century Ambient, Dusty Henry will forever be one of the pioneers in the writing of the History of Ambient music.
At the end of my over 10-years as an underground DJ in Paris, the first music I’d listened to at home was Ambient music. A truly stratospheric synthesis. Writing books reviews for the French webzine Zone Critique, and my French debut poetical novel, Signaux (out of print, 2017). (I’m posting the two links just out of curiosity: my contracts ended a long time ago.) And composing my own over 30-mns ambient track, Les Voix Humaines. In addition to already mentioned ambient musicians, I’d especially listened to the Pop-Ambient compilations released by the music label, Kompakt. In DJ’s terms, the transition was seamless between EPs from the Speicher series I’d mixed along Techno music’s nights and Pop-Ambient compilations.
In parallel with instrumental Classic music, Ambient music seems to be its only living successor. Musical measures can be homophony or polyphony, harmonic or dissonant. Sharing identical symphonic structures with the greatest classical symphonies. And with all the irony of the History, musical heirs of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Robert Schumann, Hector Berlioz, Richard Wagner, Johannes Brahms, Gustav Mahler and many others, are in majority locked into recording studios of different sizes and with various equipment levels. As if, decades later, ambient musicians are still waking up from Brian Eno’s car crash.
Anyway, the successful arrival of Integrity’s spacecraft at the end of the Artemis II space mission can only inspire the greatest acclaim and the most beautiful musical creations.
P.S.: Before moving out from Paris in December 2024, I had to sell my turntables and all my vinyl records (in life, there are some difficult decisions to make that are beyond any comprehension...) And since the launch of the Artemis II space mission, I’ve frequently had in ears this techno track from the cinematic album by the French band The Eternals: Astropioneers (2004).
The eighth issue of The Weekly Highlights was composed thanks to Peter Hague and his daily journal of the Artemis II space mission. Emma Varvaloucas @ The Progress Network, with her additional analysis of the Artemis II mission. Ella Frances and her apology for the art of picnic. Jill Brown Sykes, with the Shrimp Cocktail’s recipe in her review of Alfred Hitchcock’s movie, Notorious (1946). Steven Ross Pomeroy @ Big Think and his review of the main opposition to IQ with Howard Gardner’s book, Frames of Mind (1983). Sam Dalrymple, highlighting the synagogues of Calcutta preserved by Jews and Muslims. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, with his speech on the personification of AI. Steve Knepper @ New Verse Review, and his reading of the new translation of Petrarch’s Canzoniere. Paul Drexler, with his tribute to the French writer Jean de La Fontaine. Cecilia Lacerda and the Chanel Fall/Winter 2026 Ready-To-Wear collection by Matthieu Blazy. Samuel Hammond @ The Palladium Letter, with his critique of think tanks. Isabella Reiter and her insightful books recommendations. Wayne Robins, with his memories of Murray Street with Sonic Youth. Evergreen Music and its radio partnership in The Ambient Label Hub with Driftworks, Elm Records and WhiteLabRecs. David Coggins, with his memories of the artist Duncan Hannah. Natasha Poliszczuk @ Book(ish) and her Good Stuff series. Quiet Details, publishing the new Fields We Found’s release, Thoughts Persist. The Slow Music Movement, with its musical selection. Marcus J. Moore and his summarized biography of bassist Buster Williams. Emma Straub, with her promotional tour for her new novel, American Fantasy. Marine Eyes and the April Women of Ambient. Anna Ustenko, with her thoughts on the fashion world without the Internet. White Lab Records and the new episode of their radio show, Vervine015. Rebecca Blackwell, with all her ideas for a successful soup bar. Carly Kuhn and the interview in Ali LaBelle’s office. Skylar Renslow, with his night in a hotel because his flight was canceled at NYC’s JFK airport. Morgann Book and the rise of the romance novel’s market. The Reading List, with 11 books recommended after the accomplishment of the Artemis II space mission. And Ricky Lee Grove, with the story of the paperback vending machine.
I hope you will enjoy reading the eighth issue of The Weekly Highlights. – Tarik Otmani
Monday
Space
Peter Hague, Planetocracy – Artemis II: Day Five
Every day, Peter Hague publishes a report on the Artemis II space mission. On Day 5, Hague confirms that Artemis II is now into the Moon sphere of influence.
This is more of a mathematical boundary than a physical one, used in calculating orbit, but is still a good marker for having reached the Moon.
Peter Hague
Culture
Natasha Poliszczuk, Book(ish) – The Good Stuff #27
Natasha Poliszczuk’s Good Stuff selections are always at the highest levels. While she’s itching to make a rest cure by the sea, Poliszczuk has set her sights on the BBC’s adaptation of Janice Hadlow’s novel, The Other Bennet Sister. Referring to Louisa May Alcott’s novel, Little Women, she recommends to read Daisy Buchanan’s All Grown-Up (out on June 4, 2026). Another advice: reading Ann Kennedy Smith’s essay, The Secret Library in St. Paul’s. And Natasha Poliszczuk also wrote her feelings coming from novels, newspaper’s articles, cook-books, wealth-books, and gave high-quality recommendations for homing.
In the absence of a rest cure, I revelled in The Other Bennet Sister - the BBC’s adaptation of Janice Hadlow’s excellent novel.
Natasha Poliszczuk @ Book(ish)
Skylar Renslow, The Daily Grog – Romance Died With The Split-Flap Display
Skylar Renslow is writer and photographer. Recently in New York, the cancellation of his flight at JFK airport forced him to spend a night in a hotel. Renslow’s post brings back memories for everyone who has found themselves in the same situation. Personally, it was during my student years at the same JFK airport for my return flight to Paris. And like Skylar Renslow, I was fascinated by the airport at night. Closed restaurants and shops. Empty airline counters. Motionless baggage carousels. The airport’s silence at night without airplanes. I don’t know if there are still payphones at the JFK Airport: back then, in that situation a public phone became a reason to write a story. Who do you want to call in an empty airport at night?
I love airports late at night. I mean, they’re a strange place during the day - we all know airports exist in a liminal plane outside space and time. But even more so at night.
Skylar Renslow
Literature
Steve Knepper, New Verse Review – A Review of Petrarch’s Canzoniere, Translated by A.M. Juster
Steve Knepper is editor at the New Verse Review. He studied A.M. Juster’s new translation of Petrarch’s Canzoniere.
Paradoxically, we’re closer not only to Petrarch’s original poem, but to the diction and syntax of our own time, closer, that is, to universal emotion.
Steve Knepper
Music
Evergreen Music – Dispatches from the Ambient Label Hub #01
Evergreen is an ambient music label, founded by Adrian Newton. Everygreen Music has now a monthly radio show, produced by The Ambient Label Hub (a partnership between Driftworks, Elm Records, Whitelabrecs and Evergreen Music). Broadcasting on Camp Radio, and available on Mixcloud.
I’m delighted to announce the launch of a new monthly radio show, focusing on ambient music.
Adrian Newton
Fashion
Cecilia Lacerda, Archivé – Chanel FW 2026 Ready-To-Wear
Cecilia Lacerda is fashion writer and creator. She wrote an exhaustive essay on the last acclaimed Chanel Fall-Winter 2026 ready-to-wear’s collection by Matthieu Blazy.
At Chanel, it is hard for a designer to separate himself from the founder, Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, given that so much of her is woven into the house’s codes. Karl Lagerfeld managed this by clearly assuming the role of artistic director, rather than trying to create what the founder might do were she alive. Blazy is taking a similar approach, but there’s a difference. Whereas Lagerfeld initially focused on Chanel’s icons, Blazy has drawn inspiration from the not-so-obvious elements of her designs. In both ready-to-wear collections, the designer drew on the 1920s and 1960s rather than her peak design periods, offering a fresh perspective on Chanel’s ideas.
Cecilia Lacerda
Tuesday
Space
Peter Hague – Artemis II: Day Six
Artemis II, Days 6. The Artemis II’s crew flew around the Moon: they are the astronauts to have gone the furthest in space. They also experienced a 40-minute communications blackout. And once communications restored, they will have the opportunity to listen to the Space Odyssey mix that Flow State dedicated to them.
I have some thoughts on the messages for Earth that the crew transmitted before and after blackout, but first I’ll drill down on some details about the flyby itself.
Peter Hague
Books
Morgann Book, Bookish Media – Romance Isn’t Just Getting Bigger—It’s Reshaping The Industry
Morgann Book is the founder of Bookish Media. Last week, Lady Jane @ Romancing The Data had presented the growth of the romance book’s market. This week, Morgann Book got focused on the relationship between romance books and their cinematic adaptations. With examples of books such as The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren, The Heir Apparent by Rebecca Armitage, and First Time Caller by B.K. Borison.
The first romance bookstore I ever visited was The Ripped Bodice in Brooklyn, NY, and I have been in love with the idea ever since.
Morgann Book
Ricky Lee Grove, The Paperback Show – The Story of the Paperback Vending Machine
Ricky Lee Grove is bookseller for over 40 years. Booksellers have the secret to inspire the greatest emotions. Thanks to Grove, with the reminder to one of my initial posts written on Substack, about the Penguin Books Vending Machine (or, The Penguincubator). And recently, I’ve shared this anecdote with Petya K. Grady. Three years ago when I came back in Paris, I went to a vintage bookshop in the 15th district (arrondissement) of Paris that I’d already well known before I moved from Paris for the first time. There still was the same old bookseller that I don’t remember the name, and I even wonder if we made presentation once between us. We liked to have long talks. And years later, he was still desperate that people read less and less. On the shelves, more than 5 years later, vintage Paul-Jean Toulet’s books were exactly at the same place. One or two years later, I discovered that he had sold his bookstore, it became a bookstore for children with vintage books for children. I’ve talked a little with the new bookseller, saying that with the former bookseller we had a private joke about Paul-Jean Toulet. Then the new bookseller said to me, Have a look at the windows’ shop: the former bookseller had suggested to the new one to put a Paul-Jean Toulet’s book at the windows. I’ve controlled my feelings as the best as I could until I got out from the bookstore. A few streets away, I cried my tears out, long time I haven’t cried. It remains my most intense experience of bookshops. As I already said, booksellers inspires the greatest emotions.
1822: The First “Book Machine.”
The earliest recorded book-vending device was created in 1822 by Richard Carlile, an English bookseller and radical. Carlile used the machine to sell “seditious” or “blasphemous” works, such as Thomas Paine’s Age of Reason, without personally handing the book to a customer.
Ricky Lee Grove
Culture
Carly Kuhn, The Cartelier – From the Desk Of... Ali LaBelle
Carly Kuhn is artist, illustrator, collector, textile designer. For the first edition of her From The Desk Of series, she invited Ali LaBelle. Last week, Ali LaBelle was in The Weekly Highlights for her essay, Marc by Sofia by Ali. This week, let’s have a read of the interview with Ali LaBelle by Carly Kuhn.
When I started thinking about this Substack, she was one of the first people I called for encouragement and, more importantly, good advice. She gave both in equal measure.
Carly Kuhn
Politics
Samuel Hammond, The Palladium Letter @ Palladium Magazine – Think Tanks Have Defeated Democracy
Samuel Hammond is chief economist at the Foundation for American Innovation. Echoing with Philosopheasy‘s essay from three weeks ago, Why Political Parties Undermine Democracy?, Hammond examines the weakening of democracy because the influence of think tanks on political parties. This is the second layer of the erosion of democratic freedoms by political organizations.
Modern U.S. think tanks, and the broader nonprofit advocacy world, emerged in their place. Ostensibly nonpartisan organizations such as the Center for American Progress and the American Enterprise Institute serve as holding tanks and convening spaces for Democratic and Republican functionaries while they are in and out of power.
Samuel Hammond
Music
Marine Eyes, Cloud Collecting – April Women Of Ambient
marine eyes (Cynthia Bernard) is ambient musician, and photographer. Her monthly newsletter will soon become seasonal. She is essential for showcasing ambient female musicians worldwide. From England: Jessica Roch, Wild Adoration/Sarah Louise Jones, Haiku Salut… From Japan, I.P.U… From Sweden, Vargkvint, Aasma… From Australia, Clariloops… From the USA, Whitney Johnson + Lia Kohl + Macie Stewart, Marielle V Jakobsons… Marine Eyes has an attentive ear! Plus, updates from her musical events.
gentle voices, vol. 1 (the collaborative comp I curated with Anita Tatlow of Echoes Blue) has been out for over a month now! We have been blown away by all of the support. Listen to that here if you have yet to.
marine eyes
The Slow Music Movement – Final Score: Nature 1 - Stress Hormones 0
This week, in the musical selection of The Slow Music Movement’s newsletter: Far Away Nebraska - La Paura Del Vuoto (Home Normal), Elori Saxl & Henry Solomon - Seeing Is Forgetting (True Panther), João Leão & Akim Bamboo - High On A Rocky Ledge, Isabel Pine - Fables (Kranky), More Eaze - Sentence Structure In The Country (Thrill Jockey), Alina Bzhezhinska, Tony Kofi & Tulshi - Whispers of Rain (Live) [Tru Thoughts], Elskavon - Fragments EP, Vol. 1 (Western Vinyl). And also some singles.
The article also mentions that the smell of nature and, if you’re particularly cemented in, that even looking at a picture of nature can be beneficial, so I’m drawing the conclusion that listening to nature-infused ambient music - which accounts for quite a high percentage of the genre I’d wager, will have a similarly positive effect too.
The Slow Music Movement
Wednesday
Space
Peter Hague – Artemis II: Day Seven
Peter Hague described Day 7 of the Artemis II space mission as “a day of rest.” On this day, the astronauts and NASA essentially reviewed the technical aspects of their journey, their experience until today. And they have rested.
Flight day 7 has been fairly uneventful; the crew talked to mission control to relay their experiences of the flyby, and had some time to rest after the big period of activity.
Peter Hague
Music
Quiet Details – qd48 fields we found, thoughts persist, out now!
quiet details is an ambient music label. fields we found is the label owner. The new release, thoughts persist, is the result of an improvisational beginning that culminates in harmony.
It’s hard to put into words, and sometimes difficult to write about my own music. This album didn’t have a concept as the starting point, was more about making music with an open mind and letting things follow their own course. The tracks feel transitional, and I’ll likely understand them more as time goes on. It’s music for deep-listening.
fields we found
Thursday
Science
Peter Hague – Artemis II: Day Eight
The Artemis II space mission is preparing for its return to planet Earth. They spent this day to check the ventilation system. Upon their return to Earth, their primary preoccupation is protecting themselves against solar flare radiation.
The crew spent today preparing the cabin for reentry.
Peter Hague
Emma Varvaloucas, The Progress Network – Blue Marble Redux
Emma Varvaloucas is the executive director of The Progress Network. Regarding the Artemis II space mission, Varvaloucas adds that the landing is planned on the coast of San Diego, California. She devotes a large part of her article to comparing photos of planet Earth taken from space.
The mission brought us deeper into space than humanity has ever been, 252,756 miles away from Earth, as it looped around the moon. The foursome passed at just the right distance away to make them the first humans ever to see certain features of the moon’s far side with the naked eye.
Emma Varvaloucas
Steven Ross Pomeroy, Big Think – 40 years ago, “Frames of Mind” cracked open the idea of intelligence. It’s not done.
Steven Ross Pomeroy is editor at RealClearScience. Starting with Howard Gardner’s 1983 book, Frames of Mind, Ross Pomeroy summarizes the theory of Multiple Intelligences against the IQ theory.
This month, Frames of Mind will be reissued for the fourth time. Its reappearance on the literary scene comes at a time when younger generations, who may be naive to MI theory, are searching for new ways to be defined. IQ’s claim over intelligence has decidedly waned, and novel intelligences are emerging.
Steven Ross Pomeroy
Culture
Ella Frances – The Picnic and the Art of Reverie
Ella Frances is philosopher. At spring, the picnic is the ultimate leisure activity. Daydreaming regains all its prestige. Ella Frances has written a short history in praise of the picnic. With a spring playlist, a selection of artworks (including the movie Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) directed by Peter Weir, based on the 1967 novel by Joan Lindsay), and she also quotes from Les Rêveries du Promeneur Solitaire by Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
According to Rousseau, what reverie requires is a slight animation, a movement that “lightly touches the surface” without fixing or demanding attention.
Ella Frances
Literature
Isabella Reiter, Oh! Sugar! – March Was a Marvelous Month of Reading
Isabella Reiter has published her mini-reviews of the 7 novels she read in March. With recommendations for adjacent books at the end of each mini-review. The 7 novels read by Reiter are:
Workhorse by Caroline Palmer
Victim by Andrew Boryga
The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi
Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage by Belle Burden
Rehearsals for Dying: Digressions on Love and Cancer by Ariel Gore
Bad Bad Girl by Gish Jen
alphabet by Inger Christensen
All in all, I read 7 total books. I rented 6 from the library. 1 book is borrowed.
Isabella Reiter
Paul Drexler, Literarytreats – The Magic of La Fontaine
A lifelong reader, like Paul Drexler, always has a discerning eye for books. This time, Drexler has turned his attention to the French writer Jean de La Fontaine, delving into his memories from college years.
At any event, from the depths of my high school French, I replied with a quote from La Fontaine’s well-known fable, “The Crow and the Fox”: “si votre ramage/Se rapporte a votre plumage,” if your voice matches your plumage,” and presto, I had passed.
Paul Drexler
Music
Wayne Robins, Critical Conditions – Sonic Youth on Murray Street
Former music journalist at Creem, the Village Voice, Newsday,... Since 2020, Wayne Robins was named to the Long Island Music Hall of Fame. His essay, Sonic Youth on Murray Street, is one of the most beautiful texts on a neighborhood: Lower Manhattan. From Sonic Youth’s latest album which he wrote the review with great insight, Wayne Robins reconstructs the entire atmosphere of Lower Manhattan over the early 2000s.
The band’s recording studio and clubhouse Echo Canyon was at 47 Murray Street in Tribeca, where this album was made.
Wayne Robins
White Lab Recs – Vervine015
Founded by Harry Towell (aka Glåsbird) in 2016, White Lab Records is an independent record label based in Lincolnshire, UK. Since 2022, Towell is running the Vervine’s radio show. He had published the playlist of the Vervine015 show. The next episode will be on July 2027. A plenty of time for enjoying this music selection from the founder of White Lab Recs.
So now, these Vervine shows will return to being a 2 hour cross-section of my wide taste in music!
Harry Towell
Fashion
Anna Ustenko, Magister Dixi – Is Fashion Without the Internet Possible?
Despite Russia’s war in Ukraine, like all others Ukrainians staying in Ukraine, Anna Ustenko, public relations executive in the fashion world, is determined to maintain her life in Ukraine. Recalling the last bloody past of Soviet Russia in Ukraine, Ustenko has written a insightful essay on the fashion world in media-driven capitalist countries. Is fashion even conceivable without the media coverage of the Internet? Anna Ustenko wrote a relevant analysis in four points.
This got me thinking: what if the internet suddenly disappeared? Beyond the obvious, which problems would that actually resolve and what could change, exactly? One thing is certain: it would reshape the contemporary industry at its very core.
Anna Ustenko
Friday
Space
Peter Hague – Artemis II: Day Nine
Before landing on the coast of San Diego, the Artemis II space mission had to change the Integrity spacecraft’s trajectory on its way back to the planet Earth.
During the mission NASA have been publishing updated ephemris data - the position and velocity of the spacecraft at each point in time - as corrective burns and the lunar gravity have altered it.
Peter Hague
Music
Marcus J. Moore, Active Listening – Gravity and Grace: The Spiritual Sound of Buster Williams
Marcus J. Moore is music journalist. Author of High and Rising (A Book About De La Soul) (2024) and The Butterfly Effect: a Kendrick Lamar biography (2020). He wrote an exceptional summarized biography of bassist Buster Williams, whose career included playing with James Mtume, Gene Ammons, Herbie Hancock, Art Blakey, Miles Davis,... Pinnacle (1975) is Buster Williams’ masterpiece album.
In jazz, especially, one can feel that gravity. You hear it, sure, but it takes a special kind of ear to register the weight as complicated arrangements unfold. Every so often, a bassist emerges who reframes the conversation. Charles Mingus, Jaco Pastorius, Paul Chambers, and so on. Buster Williams is one of those figures. He’s an artist whose tone and touch have helped shape the course of modern jazz, even if his name doesn’t ring as loudly.
Marcus J. Moore
Culture
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Joe’s Journal – Do You Ever Talk To A Chatbot Like It’s A Person?
Joseph Gordon-Levitt is actor and filmmaker. With the Creators Coalition on AI, he’s involved in the defense of consumers against AI companies. In his latest post, Gordon-Levitt thinks about AI companies methods to make consumers addicted to their products from the relationship between consumers and AI personifications.
Now picture what happens as more and more of us get hooked on these synthetically intimate relationships with products posing as people. Eventually, we get to the point where all of us who used to talk to each other are instead hooked up to the “thing” individually in our own little silos. And the “thing” is just four or five systems owned by the four or five biggest AI companies. None of us are talking to each other anymore.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Saturday
Space
Peter Hague, Planetocracy – Artemis II: Day Ten
Peter Hague @ Planetocracy concluded his daily journal for the Artemis II space mission with the splashdown of Integrity spacecraft on the coast of San Diego, California. He noted the excitement generated by Artemis II. For having daily followed the astronauts lives along the space mission with Peter Hague and all others Substackers, the historical dimension of Artemis II is a significant point that has gathered everyone’s attention. Knowing that Artemis II’s astronauts are the human beings who have traveled farthest into space was one of the highlights during the 9 days of this space mission. Aside beautiful photos of the planet Earth and the Moon taken from space, NASA’s objectives with Artemis space missions remain a subject of public debate: is the economic colonization of the Moon a viable idea? And what would we want to do, once other astronauts from other NASA’s space missions, would go to Mars? Once again, I believe the most important point for astrophysics research is to develop our understanding of universes, and think on our relationship to the various elements of the universal matter. We are proud of all the members of Artemis II for having achieved the prowess of being the ones who have traveled the furthest into space. But this is also like being proud of Olympic athletes who have broken sporting records. To summarize, Artemis II had sent us beautiful photos of their wonderful journey around the Moon. What about the interest of all the humanity in NASA’s space missions? Their future projects will provide answers to the three questions posed.
The crew of the Orion capsule Integrity are safely back on Earth, bringing an end to the Artemis II mission.
Peter Hague
Culture
Sam Dalrymple, Travels of Samwise – The Synagogues of Calcutta
Sam Dalrymple is historian and filmmaker. His debut book, Shattered Lands: Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia, was an international bestseller. He wrote about the Bengali Synagogues in Calcutta. Preserved by both Jews and Muslims. In this time of war between Israel and Iran, Sam Dalrymple’s essay is more than clever.
“They stand and do their namaz [prayer]. We sit and do our namaz. That is the only difference between us,” caretaker Anwar Khan told Al Jazeera a few years ago.
“It is very sad that Muslims and Jewish people are fighting today in Gaza and Israel. But their house of God is also our house of God. We will take care of it all our life.”
Anwar Khan
Cooks
Rebecca Blackwell, Let’s Get Lost – A Fun, Unique Idea For Easy Entertaining
Rebecca Blackwell is cook-chef. She unearthed an archive from April 2024 in which she had shared her ultimate ideas for a great soup bar! Inspired flavors from around the world, different cooking methods for different soup ingredients, alongside with bread and dessert ideas. Bon appétit!
This is the fun part!!! You are really only limited by your imagination when it comes to ingredients to add to your soup bar. My only suggestion here is that you match the soup bar offerings to the flavor profile of the soup.
Rebecca Blackwell
Cinema/Cooks
Jill Brown Sykes, Flicks & Forks: Classic Films. Delicious Bites. – Notorious (1946)
Jill Brown Sykes has everything to please classic movies fans who love good food! With Flicks & Forks, Sykes shares her passion for classic cinema and cooking. For any fan of Alfred Hitchcock’s films, her article about Notorious (1946), starring Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant, is a must-read. From the history of the production for Notorious to the recipe of the Shrimp Cocktail!
What I love most about Notorious is that it sneaks up on you.
Jill Brown Sykes
Literature
Emma Straub – Book Tour Missive #2
Emma Straub is writer. Her new novel, American Fantasy, is available. This is the second part of her promotional tour. Breakfast in Seattle, flight to Los Angeles with the reading of Ayelet Waldman’s forthcoming book, A Perfect Hand, recording her episode for the Song Exploder podcast by singer Hrishikesh Hirway, and finally the meeting with her readers at the Skylight bookstore.
Here’s the thing that I want to say about my book—it’s not about nostalgia, about pining away for some long-ago time that was better or easier or whatever. It’s about loving what you love as you grow and change and evolve, because goddamn, you just never know.
Emma Straub
Arts
David Coggins, The Contender – The Sartorial Scotsman
David Coggins is writer. Author of The Believer (2024) and The Optimist (2021), both subtitled A Year In The Fly Fishing Life. And Men and Style: Essays, Interviews and Considerations (2016). He is co-founder with Michael Williams of the quarterly newspaper The Print Edition. And both of them are also hosts of the Central Division podcast. David Coggins continues to write his fascinating memories of the artist Duncan Hannah.
The late, great Duncan Hannah was one of the most stylish people I’ve known.
David Coggins
Sunday
Literature
The Reading List – 11 Books To Read If You’ve Been Obsessed With The Artemis II Mission
After the accomplishment of Artemis II space mission, there is no better way to end the week than looking at the 11 books recommended by The Reading List:
Apollo 11: The Inside Story by David Whitehouse
Rocket Men: The Daring Odyssey of Apollo 8 and the Astronauts Who Made Man’s First Journey to the Moon by Robert Kurson
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Our Moon: How Earth’s Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet, Guided Evolution, and Made Us Who We Are by Rebecca Boyle
Artemis by Andy Weir
A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts by Andrew Chaikin
2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
A Fire on the Moon by Norman Mailer
Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly
Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut’s Journey by Michael Collins
The Future of Geography by Tim Marshall
Among them, Artemis by Andy Weir seems to be the key to understand all of NASA’s intentions. A dystopian novel set on the Moon? Every reader of Andy Weir’s Artemis already have a head-start on NASA’s next projects.
Thank you for including me! And thank you for introducing me to Peter Hague and his Substack!
Thank you for including me in this wonderful landing spot for so much great work. There is a lot I missed that I look forward to reading here!