Kerim’s Triptych for Sunday, April 14th, 2024

Welcome to Kerim's Triptych, a free newsletter that delivers 3 fabulous links to your email inbox, 3 times a month. If you didn't intend to subscribe, or you don't want to receive these anymore, there is an unsubscribe link at the bottom.

Item 1: Making iPhones in India

Last November Viola Zhou and Nilesh Christopher published this in-depth report on Foxconn's efforts to build iPhone factories in India. What I particularly liked about this report are all the small details about the lives of the mostly female factory workers, many of whom are highly educated but from rural areas, and the Chinese engineers, who realize that they are making themselves obsolete by training the Indians who will replace them.

Item 2: Orange Steam Funnels

To quickly establish that a film is set in New York City, a Hollywood director could show the Empire State Building or the Brooklyn Bridge. But often, the chosen symbol is far less majestic: an orange-and-white-striped tube spewing steam over a busy street.

These plumes of hot vapor are as closely linked to the city as yellow taxis, the subway and 24-hour bodegas.

But how many people know what these steam funnels are, or why NY City has them? Enjoy this multimedia piece done for the NY Times by Yuvraj Khanna and Patrick McGeehan.

Item 3: OJ: Made in America

OJ Simpson is back in the news this week, having died of cancer at the age of 76. While many may be thinking "Good riddance!" and hoping that this is the last time they have to think about OJ, I want to try to convince you to watch a five part documentary TV series about OJ that was done back in 2016. Ezra Edelman's award winning series, OJ: Made in America, originally aired on ESPN, which might have misled many people to thinking it was primarily a sports documentary. In fact, it is one of the best documentary films about American race relations ever made. Trust me, it is worth your time.

Some might wish to skip episode four, where the grizzly details of the murders are discussed. But, if you can stomach it, this episode is as important as the rest of the series.

You can purchase the series on most major streaming platforms, or watch it for free on archive.org.

Endnote

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