Mythili Rao
LightNews LightNews
banner
mythili.bsky.social
Mythili Rao
@mythili.bsky.social
76 followers 70 following 55 posts
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
Pinned
mythili.bsky.social
Mythili Rao @mythili.bsky.social · Feb 9
“Rising temperatures and ecological destruction are reshaping not just the way the planet functions but the way it sounds.” I reviewed two new searching books about the nature of silence for @washingtonpost.com
www.washingtonpost.com/books/2025/0...
Review | Seeking out silence, and discovering all it can say
Jérôme Sueur’s “Natural History of Silence” and Pico Iyer’s “Aflame” explore the quiet (and the sounds) that sustain us
www.washingtonpost.com
1
mythili.bsky.social
Mythili Rao @mythili.bsky.social · 9d
"I had been working at a flower stand on the side of the highway since 2008, but I wanted to be a sailor." This is too well-executed not to share: thebaffler.com/outbursts/th...
The Hatred of Podcasting | Brace Belden
In 2015, if you said, “I heard it on a podcast,” you were trying to sound smart. In 2025, it’s better to lie.
thebaffler.com
1
mythili.bsky.social
Mythili Rao @mythili.bsky.social · 9d
So exciting. Congrats to the Equator team for building a new home for sharp writing from around the world. I can't wait to dive into this beautifully designed first issue.
equatormag.bsky.social Equator @equatormag.bsky.social · 9d
Equator is live today. Read about our mission and our first pieces, which include works of reportage, essays, memoirs, poetry, and fiction from around the world: www.equator.org
EQUATOR
Equator is a magazine of politics, culture and art.
www.equator.org
3 4
mythili.bsky.social
Mythili Rao @mythili.bsky.social · 10d
It was wonderful to be back in Charlottesville earlier this month to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the University of Virginia's Political and Social Thought program and reflect on all that it's given me-- and all it has to give future students: as.virginia.edu/news/politic...
Political and Social Thought Program Celebrates 50th Anniversary
Graduates and current students of the pioneering Arts & Sciences program of interdisciplinary coursework gathered for a celebratory weekend of panel discussions, receptions and reunions.
as.virginia.edu
1
mythili.bsky.social
Mythili Rao @mythili.bsky.social · 18d
I reviewed Malala Yousafzai's new memoir "Finding My Way" for the Guardian: www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...
Finding My Way by Malala Yousafzai review – growing up in public
Clambering up bell towers, dancing the night away and falling in love – how ‘saint’ Malala forged a new identity
www.theguardian.com
3 7
Reposted by Mythili Rao
qjurecic.bsky.social
Quinta Jurecic @qjurecic.bsky.social · 19d
👍 www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
Cringe “implies a kind of naïveté that so often gets coded as feminine,” wrote the New York Times columnist Lydia Polgreen, “a silly belief that human beings, through sincere effort, might actually improve themselves and the world.” Such a belief might seem uncool. But it can be a powerful tool with which to cut through the nihilism of Trump and those around him, which draws its power from its insincerity, its refusal to distinguish between truth and falsehood, its willingness to mock and degrade previously treasured beliefs. As one protest sign put it at a demonstration early in Trump’s second term: BE CRINGE. SHIT MATTERS.
5 47 330
mythili.bsky.social
Mythili Rao @mythili.bsky.social · Oct 8
Tonight! I’m looking forward to speaking with poet Raymond Antrobus about his new memoir, The Quiet Ear, at the Kiln Theatre with @intelligence2.bsky.social. Come by if you can! kilntheatre.com/whats-on/ray...
Reposted by Mythili Rao
mychal3ts.bsky.social
Mychal Threets @mychal3ts.bsky.social · Oct 4
Reading Rainbow emphasis is encouraging kids to read. The focus is not on teaching them to read. The mission is reading should be fun!

We are all readers, worthy of literacy. LeVar Burton said “but you don’t have to take my word for it” because he wanted us to look to the books. That’s the beauty 💚
37 350 1.6K
mythili.bsky.social
Mythili Rao @mythili.bsky.social · Oct 5
Cool layout for the @theguardian.com September paperback roundup, featuring (a condensed version of) my review of What Iranians Want by @arashtehran.bsky.social: www.theguardian.com/books/ng-int...
This month’s best paperbacks: Haruki Murakami, Richard Powers and more
Looking for a new reading recommendation? Here are some wonderful new paperbacks, from a must-read graphic history to a tale of lost love
www.theguardian.com
1 1
Reposted by Mythili Rao
indignity.bsky.social
INDIGNITY @indignity.bsky.social · Oct 1
Indignity Vol. 5, No. 175, CURRENT EVENTS DEP'T.: Who Were the Big War Speeches Meant For? www.indignity.net/audience-capture/
Audience capture
Indignity Vol. 5, No. 175
www.indignity.net
3 2
mythili.bsky.social
Mythili Rao @mythili.bsky.social · Sep 24
This is such a painstakingly reported, clear-eyed account of the hellish search for accountability after a “preventable death.” www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Paul Laity · After Martha
For the hospital, and for the NHS, it was a closed case, another preventable death: medicine is imperfect, such things...
www.lrb.co.uk
Reposted by Mythili Rao
joebonomo.bsky.social
Joe Bonomo @joebonomo.bsky.social · Sep 11
I was happy to pitch in on NPR and talk a bit about Beverly Cleary's Henry Huggins, one of my favorite books as a kid.
Happy 75th birthday to Henry Huggins, Ramona Quimby's big-kid neighbor
Beverly Cleary's fictional third grader with an adopted dog named Ribsy made his debut in 1950. Cleary was praised for writing simple, humorous stories that kids wanted to read.
www.npr.org
1 5
mythili.bsky.social
Mythili Rao @mythili.bsky.social · Sep 8
“In Walker’s treatment, sections of man and horse have been cut apart and resoldered together in a tangle of hooves, haunches, bridles and necks, the parts more or less recognizable but the whole an entirely new, unsettled being.” www.nytimes.com/2025/09/08/a...
Kara Walker Deconstructs a Statue, and a Myth
www.nytimes.com
mythili.bsky.social
Mythili Rao @mythili.bsky.social · Sep 3
Wow. When I went to Amsterdam in 2018 to record the radio companion to this New Yorker piece with Astrid Holleeder, she was still in hiding: I got into a car with my Marantz and mics not knowing where we were going. A most unusual production experience. www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/tny...
Reposted by Mythili Rao
annamerlan.bsky.social
Anna Merlan @annamerlan.bsky.social · Aug 15
The official voice of the U.S. government draws from 4chan trolls, explicitly white nationalist phrases and talking points, and radicalizing, dehumanizing, desensitizing language for its targets. I talked to propaganda experts about what it’s doing to us:
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
The official voice of the US government Is cruel, gross, and weird. What is that doing to us?
Joking memes about imprisonment, deportation, and death by alligator are designed to radicalize and desensitize.
www.motherjones.com
22 580 1.3K
mythili.bsky.social
Mythili Rao @mythili.bsky.social · Aug 16
From this year’s International Booker winner, Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq, translated from the Kannada by Deepa Bhasthi.
mythili.bsky.social
Mythili Rao @mythili.bsky.social · Aug 16
Terrific Bloomberg Weekend essay: “The fight for the soul of the South is nothing less than a fight over the future of America itself.”
amandamull.bsky.social Amanda Mull @amandamull.bsky.social · Aug 15
Got a story out today about something I’ve been fascinated by for years: From Atlanta hip hop to Bama RushTok, here’s how and why the South has taken such a firm grip on modern American culture. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
The United States Is Southern Now
From booming metros to culture-defining exports, the South has quietly become a demographic powerhouse and a battleground for the country’s identity.
www.bloomberg.com
1 3
mythili.bsky.social
Mythili Rao @mythili.bsky.social · Jul 29
Palace intrigue, queer alliances, war with Scotland, war with France, the Black Death-- the 14th century has it all. For the latest episode of @intelligence2.bsky.social I spoke with historian @helencarr.bsky.social about her new book, The Sceptred Isle: open.spotify.com/episode/2QT2...
How did the fourteenth century shape England? With Helen Carr
Intelligence Squared · Episode
open.spotify.com
3
mythili.bsky.social
Mythili Rao @mythili.bsky.social · Jul 24
I spoke w/ @womensprize.bsky.social winner Yael van der Wouden about her novel The Safekeep. We talked about the bureaucracy of war, millennial fantasies of home ownership, repeatedly hearing she resembled Anne Frank as a kid, and more! @intelligence2.bsky.social open.spotify.com/episode/6VzK...
The Safekeep, with Women’s Prize-winner Yael van der Wouden
Intelligence Squared · Episode
open.spotify.com
3
mythili.bsky.social
Mythili Rao @mythili.bsky.social · Jul 21
The gender segregation in little kids’ soccer leagues in the UK drives me insane. It’s bad for girls, bad for boys, bad for parents, bad for everybody.
nytimes.com The New York Times @nytimes.com · Jul 21
From @theathleticfc.bsky.social: The issue of girls and boys playing soccer together has long been a thorny topic in the UK. But attitudes are changing, and there is a broader hope that boys will grow up with more enlightened views of girls’ capabilities. https://trib.al/bt8DjSH
A quote from Dr. Laura Hills, the division lead for sport, health and exercise sciences at Brunel University: “A lot of times, we put gender first before we think about levels of experience, ability, understanding of the game, social skills and social information, or even what the priorities of an event are. Is it just about the competition or is it actually about learning to play together and developing more positive ideas about equality?”
mythili.bsky.social
Mythili Rao @mythili.bsky.social · Jul 16
youtu.be/_Vk93Kk1CM8?... and the video link, for those who prefer watching their podcasts!
Charlottesville: An American Story, With Deborah Baker
YouTube video by Intelligence Squared
youtu.be
mythili.bsky.social
Mythili Rao @mythili.bsky.social · Jul 15
@deborahbaker.bsky.social has written a fantastic book about Charlottesville and the events that set the stage for the 2017 Unite the Right Rally. It was an honor to speak with her about it for the @intelligence2.bsky.social podcast. Do listen! open.spotify.com/episode/49W5...
What can Charlottesville teach us about America’s national story? With Deborah Baker
Intelligence Squared · Episode
open.spotify.com
1 2 1
mythili.bsky.social
Mythili Rao @mythili.bsky.social · Jul 14
“So many of these new gadgets are straightforwardly presented as salves for the massive ennui that plays bass notes beneath the music of contemporary corporate culture.” www.newyorker.com/culture/crit...
What Do Commercials About A.I. Really Promise?
If human workers don’t have to read, write, or even think, it’s unclear what’s left for them to do.
www.newyorker.com
Reposted by Mythili Rao
hilzoy.bsky.social
hilzoy @hilzoy.bsky.social · Jul 5
Jamelle Bouie interviews a biographer of Charles Sumner, and it's absolutely fascinating.

Gift link.

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/05/o...
Opinion | The Civil War That Never Ended
www.nytimes.com
7 43 110
mythili.bsky.social
Mythili Rao @mythili.bsky.social · Jun 18
"Ms. Ukeles saw an entire universe of exploitation, both in the labor markets and in our domestic arrangements, that was being ignored at the expense of all the attention paid to subverting the erotic expectations of men." She is so cool: www.nytimes.com/2025/06/14/n...
The ’70s Performance Artist Who Became a Hero to ‘Garbage Men’
www.nytimes.com
mythili.bsky.social
Mythili Rao @mythili.bsky.social · Jun 17
Happy Pride! 🏳️‍🌈 I reviewed The Sexual Evolution by Nathan Lents for The Guardian: www.theguardian.com/books/2025/j...
The Sexual Evolution by Nathan H Lents review – colourful tales of animal reproduction
From gay penguin parents to snake orgies, a biology professor looks at sexual adaptation in the animal world
www.theguardian.com