Good morning, and welcome to the weekend.
Grab your cup of coffee or tea, and sit down with a selection of this week’s great reads from The Globe.
In this issue, Geoffrey York writes about a growing danger to South Africa in the form of decay and dilapidation.
Geoff visited Kliptown’s central square during his early days in Johannesburg more than a decade ago. To Geoff, it seemed to be a symbol of a thriving and successful new country after the end of apartheid. When he learned that the square had been heavily damaged by looting and theft, leaving much of it in a shambles to this day, he says he wanted to take a closer look at an issue that has broader resonance across the country. “If the government cannot safeguard Kliptown’s historic square, what else is at risk today?”
But even under the heavy pressure of decaying infrastructure, Geoff says there are always glimmers of hope and inspiration from South Africans. “This is certainly true of the staff at the Johannesburg Art Gallery, the biggest in Africa, which has a stunning collection of works by twentieth-century European and South African artists,” he says. “The gallery, in a rough part of town, has been forced to shut some of its rooms because of disrepair and stalled contracts. Many of its paintings didn’t even have labels on the day of my latest visit. But the staff still manage to arrange great events, including exhibit openings and children’s days.”
Also in today’s Great Reads, Ira Wells writes about a dramatic decline in humanities enrollments in Canada’s postsecondary institutions and why that has economic consequences.
And the show must go on for the Ukrainian National Ballet, who are dancing their way through a ten-city Canadian tour while navigating the struggles of a home at war.
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Thirty years after apartheid, South Africans fight new threats to their state
An art work depicting voters standing in a row to cast their first ever vote in the first democratic election in 1994.Madelene Cronjé
South Africans have endured a demoralizing decline of their essential services over the past decade, as their economy stagnates and corruption worsens. Power cuts of up to 12 hours per day are now common. In some places, basic necessities – including passenger rail service – are close to collapse, a result of endemic theft of copper cables, corruption in state contracts and persistent neglect of repairs and maintenance. As South Africa approaches the 30th anniversary of its first democratic election, Geoffrey York visits the memorial flame in the Kliptown neighbourhood on the edge of Johannesburg, an unlikely a symbol of a national crisis: the decaying infrastructure and dysfunctional government of what Archbishop Desmond Tutu was once famously called the Rainbow Nation.
Why business needs the humanities: Focusing on STEM degrees has its own economic cost
Students and pedestrians are photographed walking along Gould St. on the Toronto Metropolitan University campus on Jan 22, 2024.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Over the last 30 years, enrollments in humanities programs in Canada’s postsecondary institutions have dropped 50 per cent, according to data from Statistics Canada. With humanities subjects increasingly marginal to the interests of students, donors and universities, writes Ira Wells, it is worth thinking through some the larger consequences of the STEM-ing of higher education. If current trends hold, she warns, the Canadian workforce will be increasingly ignorant of history, philosophy and literature.
The National Ballet of Ukraine takes its ‘show-must-go-on’ grit to a powerful tour in Canada
Dancers in the National Ballet of Ukraine perform Nadiya Ukraine, or Hope for Ukraine at Théâtre Saint-Denis in Montreal, Jan. 17, 2024.The Globe and Mail
The National Ballet of Ukraine is considered one of the world’s top ballet companies – and its dancers strive to maintain that high standard despite their difficult circumstances and reduced numbers. Before Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, it had 150 dancers; now there are around 100. As 23 of them now embark on a Canadian tour that includes 20 performances across ten cities, Janice Dickson reports on the inner workings of the shows that have become a way for the performers to share their culture and support the war effort.
Is biohacking the magic bullet that will help us live longer?
The price of bio-hacking/that it provides wellness solutions for the elite, and is the hype around bio-hacking worth the cost of admission?iStock/iStockPhoto / Getty Images
What wouldn’t you give to have the muscles, metabolism and energy of a 20-year-old? Tech giants, supplement companies and wellness gurus have been working on ways to make us physically younger, selling the idea that with the right gadgets, pills and routines your body can reverse its biological age – an industry that is worth almost US$320-million. Now, biohacking and longevity have been trickling into the mainstream through fitness and wellness circles.
Photodisc - stock imageStock
Recent research suggests that neutral feelings – such as “no preference,” or “whatever,” or “meh” – are both more widespread and more meaningful than previously believed. Neutrality is a lack of strong feelings – and Linda Besner writes we should be examining why we expect ourselves and others to operate consistently in a realm of extreme passion.
One year into B.C.’s decriminalization trial, the legal landscape is a political minefield
B.C. Premier David Eby speaks during a news conference in Vancouver, B.C., Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024.ETHAN CAIRNS/The Canadian Press
The B.C. NDP government faces a difficult challenge this year as it fights to protect the core of its drug decriminalization experiment, the first of its kind in Canada. The three-year decriminalization pilot project that went into effect Jan. 31, 2023, saw adults in B.C. exempt from being arrested or charged for possessing small amounts of certain illegal drugs most commonly associated with overdoses or having their drugs seized. But now concerns have mounted about open drug use in children’s play areas, transit shelters and business entrances, and the government’s former decriminalization allies have grown cautious – or have withdrawn their support altogether.
NBA players’ tunnel style is taking fashion by storm – and winning new fans along the way
Wearing a custom jacket and pants by Marni, James Harden of the Philadelphia 76ers arrives to the arena before Round Two Game One of the 2023 NBA Playoffs on May 1, 2023 at the TD Garden in Boston.Brian Babineau/AFP/Getty Images
For any major league sports hoping to expand their fanbase: look to the NBA, because the fashion world certainly is. This month LeBron James was unveiled as the face of Louis Vuitton’s spring/summer collection. Last year, former Miami Heat shooting guard Dwyane Wade starred in a Versace eyewear campaign, while Toronto-born Oklahoma City Thunder player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander walked the runway for Thom Browne at Paris Fashion Week in 2022.
Showing off their personal style helps players get a younger demographic’s attention, and doing so is lucrative business for both sports leagues and fashion brands, especially luxury brands eager to attract Gen Z as customers, says Livia Zufferli, partner at Deloitte Canada.
Bonus: Which Canadian musician announced she’ll be embarking on a greatest hits concert tour this year?
c. Jann Arden
d. Feist
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