Weekly Wrap 5.15.15: The 10 Best Stories You Missed This Week

1. BB King, Blues Legend, Dead at 89

"The crowds treat me like my last name. When I go onstage people usually stand up, I never ask them to, but they do. They stand up and they don't know how much I appreciate it." — BB King, in a 2013 Rolling Stone interview.

2. The ‘Gang of Girls’ Risks Their Lives to Report from Inside a War Zone

Three of its editors have been killed, eight reporters detained and tortured, and 12 have fled the country. “In the ensuing void of order and information, Enab Baladi has become one of the most prominent independent publications of the war. That it's largely female-staffed is extraordinary. Women are barely represented in the government or in opposition groups—and certainly not in the Islamist gangs that control large swaths of the country. Yet the female editors and reporters have driven deeper coverage of how war affects civilians, families, and day-to-day life for millions of Syrians.”

3. WATCH: Divestment 101: What Do People Mean When They Say Divest?
To learn more, go to sojo.net/divest.

4. There Are No Urban Design Courses on Race and Justice, So We Made Our Own Syllabus
“Instruction at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design is based in the work of architects whose worldviews don’t give heavy weight to social problems.” In that vein, here is a suggested reading list for urban designers to begin problem-solving and creating solutions for real-world environments. 

5. Congrats! You Have an All-Male Panel!
The public shaming tumblr calls out events and conferences that feature all-male experts. A humorous, if not altogether depressing, screen scroll.

6. ICYMI: America’s Changing Religious Landscape
You’ve likely read all the headlines this week about the decline of those identifying as Christian as a share of the U.S. population. Read the full report for yourself, from Pew Research.

7. Only One-Third of Millennials Say They’re Millennials
Given the massive amounts of attention and analysis of the largest currently living generation, it’s interesting to note that a full 34 percent of 18-35 year olds do not identify as “millennial.”

8. The Beautifully Ambiguous Apologist
Sojourners contributor Tripp Hudgins pens a piece for Medium on the generation who has shunned the fundamentalism of their youth in favor of more nuance and has fallen into a Protestant mainline tradition. “We offer people something ambiguous enough for a multiplicity of perspectives to exist in one community simultaneously. No fundamentalism is needed. Instead, we offer faith.”

9. ‘Where Are Your Kids?’ Even Amy Poehler Experiences Sexism at Work
"I have these meetings with really powerful men and they ask me all the time, ‘Where are your kids? Are your kids here?’" she says with a sneer. "It’s such a weird question. Never in a million years do I ask guys where their kids are. It would be comparable to me going to a guy, ‘Do you feel like you see your kids enough?"

10. Parental Leave: Toms Shoes Founder Blake Mycoskie on How It Changes Everything
“Frankly, it's nuts that more companies haven't figured out what a win-win paid family leave is … my pitch to bosses everywhere is this: Support family leave. If your employees don't return to work more creative and productive than before, I'll be so shocked I'll send you a Toms bag.”