MEDIUM RARE

Our Favorite Stories About Preparing for Summer

The Medium universe knows how to brace for the unofficial start of a new season

Each week on Medium Rare, I’ll be sharing stories you might have missed that are definitely worth a second look. Got a suggestion for a piece we should feature? Pop it in the responses below!

• Memorial Day once marked an important turning point of the year, when bougie elites of yore were free to start spilling food on their crisp, white shorts or cut out from work early to escape to their weekend beach houses in the Hamptons. Stephanie Buck tells the story of how the tech industry destroyed the once-beloved summer Fridays. But hell, maybe all it’ll take is a pandemic to bring them back.

New York editors invented half-day summer Fridays. Silicon Valley killed them.

• Indeed, it is still possible to achieve the enviable sun-kissed summer glow without becoming a beach-going #covidiot. John McDermott has a step-by-step guide for how to layer on that (vaguely artificial) color that works for life in lockdown.