Can marriage counseling save America?

As the impeachment inquiry heats up, a new piece in The Atlantic explores the growing civility movement, which aims to foster more productive political dialogue via the techniques of couples therapy. Just when we thought the country was divided beyond repair, the idea that the wisdom of our best relationship gurus could help gives us hope. Though to paraphrase our favorite divorce-lawyer-turned-self-help-guide James J. Sexton, if you’re fighting in the Twitter comments, it’s probably too late.

Speaking of unlikely unions...

Over the weekend Amanda Knox and Lorena Bobbitt (now Gallo) came together for a live episode of Knox’s podcast The Truth About Crime, and in doing so revealed their friendship. These two once-vilified women support each other and share a passion for humanizing the stories of people who have been embroiled in true crime cases. Their bond is next level #friendshipgoals, no?

Fighting for space in space

We can all agree worldwide access to Wi-fi — and bringing access to all the information and knowledge the internet has to offer to otherwise underserved areas — is a good idea, right? Not quite. As Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched some 60 satellites into orbit for its Starlink mission (cluttering areas normally occupied by celestial bodies), scientists weren’t quite on the bandwagon, with one noting: I felt as if life as an astronomer and a lover of the night sky would never be the same.

...and for media doing its due diligence

There’s been a brouhaha going on this week over how the student staff at Northwestern University’s The Daily paper covered protests of Jeff Sessions’s recent visit and talk, which was sponsored by a college Republican group. When the beleaguered staffers apologized for their coverage, reporters at major newspapers around the country weighed in on many sides of the equation. It seems like high stakes for college writing — we’re not talking Woodward and Bernstein work here — but with the hits journalism has taken both industry-wise and publicity-wise, can you blame folks for feeling like it’s all on the table.

Com'è il tempo, Italia? (Non bene 😔)

As devastating images emerge from Venice's worst flood in 50 years (~85% of the city is underwater, and rehabilitation costs are expected to soar into the hundreds of millions), it's perhaps unsurprising that Italy has just become the first country to mandate climate change lessons in schools. The education minister is planning to make environmental concerns central to the country's larger national educational curricula. So if you're looking to supplement your Italian language learning with some cultural immersion, you might consider skipping the cookbooks and picking up this lecture series on the coming climate crisis.

Other notable clickables:

Our Amazon colleagues picked The Testaments for Best of the Year. Stay tuned for our picks!...and the author of another one of their top picks actually *will* see the world again...Everyone’s talking about Robyn Crawford’s new memoir, chronicling her life with Whitney Houston, but not everyone talks *to* Robyn Crawford....Here’s a new phrase to add to your vocab: Mindful masculinity...As the country hunkered down for record-setting low temps, we hunkered down with a Great Course to help us better understand the science of such extreme weather...Just when you thought you’d seen all of the cuteness on the internet, here comes Narwhal Dog.