cekpr — Good stories from every corner

New posts every Tue & Thu

Good stories from every corner of the map.

Long reads, field notes and very strong opinions about places, food, culture and the people who keep them going. New posts every Tuesday and Thursday.

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Dispatches · 12 min The ice road that appears every winter Food · 6 min The great bagel détente Culture · 9 min The throat singers taking an old game to new stages
This week’s pocket
5 new posts Dispatches The newsletter →
( 01 )

Fresh posts

Pick a desk. Every desk has its own colour, so you always know where you are.

A flat blue road drawn across a frozen river between two small towns Dispatches Dispatches — The ice road that appears every winter Each January a highway forms on a frozen river. By April it is gone again, and the towns along it plan their whole year around those few months. Leah Spence 12 min Two people sharing a table with a basket of bagels between them Food Food — The great bagel détente Two bakeries, one street, seventy years of argument over wood-fired dough. A truce, of sorts, has finally been reached. Ravi Chandran 6 min Two figures facing each other, sound waves drawn between them Culture Culture — The throat singers taking an old game to new stages It started as a contest between friends to see who would laugh first. Two cousins are now taking it from the community hall to festival stages. Ravi Chandran 9 min A calendar with days crossed off beside a frozen shoreline Outdoors Outdoors — The long wait for the bears Every autumn a small bay town fills with visitors waiting for the water to freeze and the bears to walk out onto it. Leah Spence 13 min Two linked groups of figures arranged like an organisation chart Ideas Ideas — The quiet return of the co-op Grain elevators, grocery stores, even broadband: in rural towns, owning things together is back. Molly Gallant 11 min A wooden sailing ship at anchor beside a harbour Design Design — The boatbuilders who refuse to go fibreglass In an old harbour town, a handful of shipwrights keep the wooden schooner alive, one plank at a time. Molly Gallant 8 min A quiet bedroom window at night under a crescent moon Culture Culture — Inside a late-night jazz revival Basement clubs, borrowed pianos and a scene that plays until the last bus is long gone. Ravi Chandran 6 min Two people walking together along a snowy path Outdoors Outdoors — How one city learned to love winter again Skating trails through the forest, saunas by the river and a city that stopped hiding indoors. Here is how to borrow the idea. Leah Spence 9 min Glass jars of preserved ingredients lined up on a kitchen shelf Food Food — A coastal kitchen built on seaweed The seaweed locals snack on like chips is having a fine-dining moment. One small kitchen is leading the way. Ravi Chandran 6 min A magnifying glass over a falling line chart Dispatches Dispatches — The town where the ground is thawing A historic northern town was built on frozen ground. Now the ground is changing, and its buildings are starting to lean. Leah Spence 10 min A shopfront with a glowing sign above the door Design Design — The last neon sign makers Glass, gas and a steady hand: five things we learned from the craft that once lit up every main street. Molly Gallant 7 min A staircase of rising blocks drawn like a street plan Ideas Ideas — Why every city argues about bike lanes A decade of plans, reversals and painted lines, and what the fight is really about. Molly Gallant 10 min
( 02 ) — Start here

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38 min #cities The great bagel détente 5 stories 46 min #small towns The ice road that appears every winter 4 stories 44 min #winter The ice road that appears every winter 4 stories 26 min #community The throat singers taking an old game to new stages 3 stories
( 03 )

Long reads worth bingeing

( 04 )

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( 05 )

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( 06 )

Reading lists for every mood

( 07 ) — Lines we loved
“The river was here first. We are just borrowing it for a few months.”
A member of the ice crew — The ice road that appears every winter
“Honey water, wood fire, no arguments before noon.”
Sign above one of the ovens — The great bagel détente
“It is a game first. Whoever laughs loses, and I usually lose.”
One of the cousins — The throat singers taking an old game to new stages
“You don't come here to see a bear. You come to wait for one.”
A local guide — The long wait for the bears
“Nobody out here was waiting for a saviour. We were waiting for a meeting.”
A co-op board member — The quiet return of the co-op
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