Good morning, it’s Friday again. I hope there is something bright that you are all looking forward to today or this weekend. I’ve been working six day weeks for the last month because of a digital training series I’ve been facilitating about the importance of journalism covering public service delivery in Indonesia during the pandemic - you can watch one of the recordings here if you speak Indonesian. Unfortunately the recording isn’t very good quality, but the first speaker, dr Rini Endrawati from Puskesmas Bubakan in Pacitan, East Java, gives a fascinating look at what frontline health services look like during COVID-19.
As always, if you’re enjoying Solidaritas, paid subscriptions are available for US$5/month or much much cheaper at US$40/year. Have a lovely weekend!
-Kate
Read
In book news, I zoomed through Emma Donoghue’s The Pull of the Stars in three nights. It’s set in an Irish maternity ward during the 1918 influenza pandemic and I loved every bit of it. The week before, I read Robbie Arnott’s The Rain Heron and also thoroughly enjoyed its beautiful and at time eerie tale of a series of people connected to a not-mythical-after-all rain heron.
Rukmini Callimachi (of Caliphate fame) looks at the awful loss of Breonna Taylor.
A short but great photographical summary of what you can’t say in Hong Kong anymore.
Families in Inner Mongolia fight for their right to Mongolian-language education in the face of Chinese government crackdowns.
Rewilding and reclaiming golf courses and waterways in Australia. I love this idea so much that I want to get involved.
How do people get sucked into anti-vax, COVID-19 denier movements?
Watch and listen
Flatbush Cats is one of my favourite YouTube channels. It follows a small cat rescue and TNR group in New York, and the stories they tell of rescues are just so engaging and moving.
The Guardian’s Full Story podcast had an interesting episode looking at Australian public servants and their (lack of) right to free speech.
Three more weeks until the three eggs of Melbourne’s Collins St peregrine falcons hatch! I could sit here all day watching mum and dad incubate their eggs and chat away to each other.
Eat
We cooked a southern Thai-style red chicken and potato curry a couple of nights ago and were pleasantly surprised at its delightful Malay-Thai combination of flavours. It even has a bit of kecap manis drizzled over the top, along with fresh slices of green and red chillies.
Make the perfect chapati (video) with help from Food with Chetna.