Re: Google Maps Renames Neighborhoods, Residents Fume

See the NYT article here. Photo by Christie Hemm Klok for The New York Times

In the case of "East Cut" anyway, this renaming it is not an error--your article says as much in citing the "rebranding" of the neighborhood by a "brand experience" company and the relationship of the rebranding to a Google employee. Coincidence? I think not. It is an intentional act and yet another example of the tech industry's ongoing efforts to obliterate the culture and history of San Francisco and remake it in it's own robotic, decontextualized, antiseptic, Untucked hoody Allbird wearing, and homogenized image (see also "The longstanding feud between old and new San Francisco has found fresh a new battleground: lunch." The lead story in today's California Today NYT newsletter). All that made San Franciso and interesting and vibrant city disappearing in the grinding maw of tech which only cares about money. I do not speak from some place of sentimentality and nostalgia, but rather the experience of the cultural clear-cut and disappearing diversity that is the result of the the tech invasion. The gray goo (to borrow a term from Bill Joy used in another context is soul killing ...

Re: How Tech Companies Conquered America’s Cities

See the NYT article here.

What a poorly informed analysis this article reflects. Without necessarily defending this recent Israeli legislation, to compare the it and the motivation behind it to the nativist attitudes on the rise in the US and Europe is astonishing. This legislation is ENTIRELY the result of the historical persecution of Jews at the hands of nativists. It is motivated by self-preservation and survival, not prejudice (yes, I can hear the nativists protesting that is all they want too, but they have not been hated for millennia and the victims of a documented holocaust). As I Jew, I would prefer to see Ben-Gurion's philosophy prevail and I believe the democracy depends on diversity and respecting the identity of all, but I understand why this legislation happened and I cannot remain silent when a false equivalence is put forth by the New York Times, THAT is false news and does a real disservice to a complex issue. . .

Re: Edward Enninful Is Named Editor in Chief at British Vogue

See the NYT article here. Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris

Charles Enninful's recent appointment to Editor in Chief of British Vogue is great step back for an iconic magazine (“An Unlikely Journey to Hanover Square?" News article April 30). How is it that there was not a highly qualified woman for a magazine aimed so squarely at a female audience? (70% of British Vogue's readers are women between 26-38 according to Vogue's own advertising materials)? Mr. Enninful now joins four other male Vogue Editors in Chief (Middle East, Italy, Korea and Thailand), two recently appointed. Although Mr. Enninful’s appointment has been hailed as barrier breaking with regard to race and gender, as men enter jobs traditionally held by women, women suffer, not only losing jobs but earning less. Now comes this disturbing trend at Conde Nast in industry with precious few female executives in a world with even fewer.