The Golden Hour: climate, children, mental health

2 weeks ago | thegoldenhour.substack.com | Anya Kamenetz

Hello friends. Welcome to my weekly paywalled news roundup. Don’t worry and please don‘t hit unsubscribe: my Friday essays will remain free for all. If you want to read this but can’t swing $5/month, simply pay what you CAN afford here and drop me a line so I can comp you!There is an insane amount of news as always, but I decided this week to focus on the bill that just passed the House. Some are calling it the #MAGAMurderBudget. This is the President’s entire legislative agenda.

2 weeks ago | thegoldenhour.substack.com | Anya Kamenetz

Hello friends. On Sunday, May 18, one of the most perfect days of the year thus far, a “Celebrate Israel Parade” marched down Fifth Avenue in New York City. Children in matching T-shirts danced to speakers on poles blaring music. A float from the Tel Aviv tourist bureau, with a billboard showing people relaxing on the beach. Jewish day schools. Orthodox synagogues. Organizations that support illegal settlements in the West Bank. A youth hockey league that observes Shabbat.

3 weeks ago | thegoldenhour.substack.com | Anya Kamenetz

Hello friends!I’m a journalist with two decades of experience. Since Trump’s second inauguration I’ve been sending you a weekly, highly curated list of top stories, bright spots, and action steps, helping you navigate the mayhem, focusing on the topics of this newsletter: caregiving, youth, climate change, human rights, mental health. I do NOT cover pseudo-events or speculation, only real events with real impact on real people.

3 weeks ago | thegoldenhour.substack.com | Anya Kamenetz

Hello friends. I’m so sick of everything falling apart. By sick of I don’t mean “I have broadly negative feelings about it.” I do, of course. I mean I’m actually bored by it. In this moment. The fascist takeover layered on top of a climate crisis, a genocidal war in Gaza, a grinding war in Ukraine, and everything, everything else. This is getting boring. Predictably terrible, repetitive and so, so exhausting. The first few months of 2025, after the inauguration, I was surfing waves of adrenaline.

1 month ago | thegoldenhour.substack.com | Anya Kamenetz

Hello friends. Happy Mothers’ Day. I got a note from a reader last week telling me how both she and her kids are going through it. Learning about environmental disasters in school, with no place to put those feelings. Triggered by unseasonable weather. Her ten-year-old saying sadly at dinner that the world will be broken by the time she grows up.