Welcome back to another edition of The Detour. Right now, we are a free weekly newsletter. But if you have loved reading The Detour as much as we have loved writing it for you, consider supporting our work by pledging a weekly or monthly subscription using the button below.
By doing so, you will help ensure that our team of independent journalists can keep publishing The Detour as well as multimedia stories from around the world at frame.media!
Thank you for being part of a community of tens of thousands of Detour readers. Your support directly benefits independent journalism.
Without further ado, here’s what’s on deck this week:
🦁 Why Pride Month may be under threat
🦞 Did Red Lobster dig its own grave with “endless shrimp”?
🌞 We’re obsessed with “-henges”
But first, here’s a closer look at what’s been going on around the world in the last week or so:
Kelly Kimball for Frame. // Wikimedia Commons
$1 billion — The amount of debt the Orlando-based seafood chain Red Lobster is in right now, according to its Chapter 11 bankruptcy claim it filed earlier this month. The news has taken the internet by storm, with some people suggesting the crustacean-themed company’s downfall may have been its endless shrimp special. But the seas may have been rocky before infinite shrimps. This Vox article breaks down some of the root causes of the chain’s viral demise.
8.7 million — The amount of people in the western Sudanese region of Darfur that have been displaced since the start of a brutal war between the Sudanese paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) that began last year. According to a report by Human Rights Watch released earlier this month, RSF may be committing genocide — a potential horrific repeat of the Darfur genocide 20 years ago.
10% — The percent of reduced fuel burn that a new NASA-powered, high-tech jet engine could generate. NASA’s prospective jet engine — aptly called HyTEC — wants to be the engine for the next generation of ultra-efficient airliners that could enter the marketplace as early as the 2030s. Just last week, NASA announced the project has entered its next phase of development.
“Phase 1 of HyTEC is winding down and we are ramping up Phase 2,” said Anthony Nerone, who leads HyTEC at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. “This phase will culminate in a core demonstration test that proves the technology so it can transition to industry.”
The goal of the new engine is to decrease the size of its core while increasing the size of the turbofan it powers, thus using less fuel and reducing carbon emissions overall.
42,693 — The number of articles that World Health Organization researchers have combed through in order to more deeply understand the impact of climate change on the spread of malaria and other tropical diseases. This may sound like a high number, but WHO researchers are still restless: They’re decrying a severe lack of evidence required to further the understanding of this phenomenon. What they currently theorize is that rising temperatures and changing weather patterns have spread the geographic range of disease vectors like mosquitoes, according to a report released last week by the World Health Organization.
86,000 — The shortfall of physicians that the United States could experience by 2035, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. But why? Population growth amid an increased number of current physicians reaching retirement age, plus atrophying investments in Medicare-supported medical education threaten to cause a shortage. The authors of the report are appealing to lawmakers to make larger concessions to meet the compounding need.
“We are looking at substantial shortages of doctors that will not meet our future health care demands. Further, if we succeed in improving access to care for our growing and aging population, which we very much hope to do, then the workforce shortages will be even larger than projected in this report,” AAMC President and CEO David J. Skorton said in a statement.
A message from our friends at The Climate Optimist
The Climate Optimist newsletter is a weekly dose of radical hope in our climate-changing world. What does it mean to embrace these times from a place of curiosity of the unknown? How can we harness our biggest potential to enact meaningful and transformative change? Climate optimism is not about taking a step back and hoping for the best to happen. It’s about diving into awareness and choosing a path of resilience, action, and hope.
And now onto the main course: As we approach global Pride month this June, the knell of human rights abuses against LGBTQ people is ringing ever louder. A month that is usually defined by celebrating the activism, milestones, and cultural contributions of this community has lately been overshadowed by an increasing need to prevent harm and discrimination.
This year feels no different: To date, there are 515 anti-LGBTQ bills trudging through the U.S. Congress, according to the ACLU. Worldwide, 64 countries still criminalize homosexuality, with 12 countries even instituting the death penalty against LGBTQ people.
Earlier this month the U.S. State Department issued a rare worldwide travel advisory, cautioning American travelers to be wary of an an increased risk of terrorist violence during Pride events this year. The notice comes just one week after the FBI and Department of Homeland Security issued a similar warning around the potential for foreign terrorist organizations targeting U.S.-based Pride events.
These notices may feel alarmist, but some of the most pervasive and prolific advocates for LGBTQ rights are validating this cause for alarm. For the first time in its 50-year history, the Human Rights Campaign, which was instrumental in legalizing gay marriage in the U.S. in 2015, declared a State of Emergency for LGBTQ people.
What can those wanting to support the LGBTQ community amid these increased threats do? From June 1 to June 30 (and, hey, maybe every day in the year), LGBTQ allies have the unique opportunity to make a noticeable difference in the LGBTQ people in their lives. Holding space for marginalized groups and giving genuine, affirming camaraderie could be a matter of life and death, acceptance and rejection, love and hate, and so much more.
Read up on how to be an ally here and here. Listen to — and believe — the experiences of LGBTQ friends and family in your immediate circle. Keep them in your minds and hearts. Open doors for them by uplifting their passions and supporting their dreams and talents. Understand the difference between optical allyship (a pervasive practice even well-meaning people tend to do) and true allyship.
In a piece from 2022, Frame revisited the Stonewall Riots, in a story that maps out how the Mafia inadvertently helped spark the gay rights movement.
Beginning today — Jury members are deliberating on the 34 felony counts that have made up the five-week criminal trial of former United States president Donald Trump.
For those that have been understandably news-avoidant toward this developing story, here’s what you need to know: Trump is accused of falsifying business records regarding a $130,000 hush-money payment to the American porn star Stormy Daniels around the time of the 2016 presidential election. If he’s found guilty, he may face up to four years in prison.
On Saturday, June 1 — Elections in India come to an end, with experts claiming it will reveal highly predictable results. (Here’s a hint, the victor rhymes with Shmarendra Shmodi). The current Prime Minister claimed this week in an interview with the India-based NDTV news channel that he has been sent by god to continue leading the world’s largest democracy. The interview is significant, given that the leader of the Hindu nationalist party BJP has rarely interviewed with the press and has held zero press conferences across two terms and a full decade in power. This take in Foreign Policy is a thoughtful primer for those who aren’t privy to the cult of personality Modi has crafted for himself throughout his tenure.
Alsoon Saturday, June 1 — El Salvador inaugurates Nayib Bukele for a second term. In February the millennial leader, who describes himself as the “world’s coolest dictator” and is known for making Bitcoin a legal tender in the country, had a landslide reelection victory. His tenure has been shaped by futzing with Salvadorian law to consolidate power while spearheading a pervasive and controversial crackdown on the country’s gangs. (We’ve covered the latter at Frame, in this dive into the history of gang crackdowns in El Salvador.)
El Salvador’s 2024 presidential election results. // Source: Statista
On Monday, June 2 — The 100-year anniversary of the Indian Citizenship Act occurs. On this day in 1924, Congress finally granted citizenship to all Native Americans born in the United States (but it took another 40+ years for all U.S. states to allow Native Americans the right to vote). You can dive into the history and significance of this day in the Library of Congress archives.
Also on Monday, June 2 — A rare cosmic phenomena known colloquially as the “parade of planets” will align itself Hercules-style across the night sky. Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune — six planets out of the eight total that make up our solar system — will be queued up and visible just before sunrise. Here are the best spots to see it happen.
The Parade of Planets 2024. // Source: Sky & Telescope
This week thousands of people flocked to the streets of New York to see “Manhattanhenge”. It’s a phenomenon where around four times a year (usually twice in May, and twice in July), the sun sets perfectly aligned with New York’s cross-town avenues.
Manhattanhenge on 42nd street // Source: d26b73/Flickr
The phenomenon got us curious in the concepts of henges as whole, with the most famous being Stonehenge in the UK. Henges are neolithic (a stone age period lasting from around 4,000 to 2,500 BCE in the UK) earthworks (manipulation of the earth by humans) that likely served religious or agricultural purposes.
Stonehenge is a remarkable example of a henge, built of gigantic stones (some nearly 30 feet tall) and constructed over 4,000 years ago. While we don’t know its precise purpose in the lives of its neolithic makers, researchers believe it likely helped them predict the winter solstice, an important marker that spring is around the corner. Stonehenge’s design frames the setting sun during the winter solstice and archeologists have found ancient remains of pigs at the site that were likely slaughtered in the winter, pointing to the existence of winter solstice festivals.
The winter solstice at Stonehenge // Vicky WJ/Wikimedia Commons
Henges not only serve as markers of the changing seasons, but also connect us to the motion of our broader solar system, and the knowledge that we are part of something much, much bigger. That could be the reason why thousands and thousands of years after they were first invented, we still flock to them.
— Ben
We’re a dedicated team of independent journalists creating stories we love. And our focus on undercovered feature stories and cultural commentary wouldn’t be possible without your support and readership. We would be so grateful if you pledged your support below to keep Frame going.
Thank you for being part of the flywheel of thoughtful, nuanced journalism, made in innovative and unconventional formats that fit our modern lives.
