The Moroccan Arab spring happening in soccer stadiums Soccer and political revolution are two things you wouldn’t expect to go together, but the Moroccan Arab spring that never happened now takes place in the stadiums. In Casablanca, where my family is from, I wasn’t allowed outside if the local football club was playing. Aida Amali explains how stadiums became a rare place for free speech in Morocco over the past few years. The chants hardcore fans sing carry young people’s message. They’re tired of being forgotten and frustrated by restrictive government. (Sabrina, editorial assistant) The New York Review of Books: The soccer politics of Morocco (reading time: 11 minutes)
Listen to 10 minutes of ‘Somaliness’ "A nation of poets, an oral community of people ... " This short soundscape, narrated by young British poet Amina Jama, provides a welcome introduction to the quirks of her family’s culture. Grab a cup of tea, as she advises, and accept her invitation to visit her 1990s migrant Somali living room. The audio clip was recorded and mixed at the Free Word Centre, a modern literature house based in London. In a distinctive, calm voice, Jama introduces us to her favourite Somali poets from the 1970s and 1980s. "If you find you don’t understand everything," she says, "then that’s OK. Just let the sounds guide you." (Nabeelah, conversation editor) Free Word: Somalinimo (till I dhimo) (listening time: 10 minutes)
The science of romantic rejection Nothing stings like the pain of rejection ... except actual physical pain. Neuroscientists have discovered that people suffer and recover from the pain of rejection the same way they process physical pain. In this story in Gay Mag, Alison Kinney visits a Stony Brook University laboratory and is subjected to various hilarious lab tests to stimulate her response to rejection. The main take away? Your wallowing in cookies and ice cream after romantic rejection is totally reasonable – according to science. (Imogen, engagement editor) Gay Mag: The rejection lab (reading time: 14 minutes)

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