In the new HBO documentary Alternate Endings, one woman hand mixes her father’s cremated remains with concrete she will have cemented inside an artificial coral reef. “That is the legacy,” a guide tells her. “Not only is it a resting place for your loved one, but it is an active, producing part of the environment. It’s creating new life, and will do so for hundreds of years to come.”

Choosing Love in a Broken World 

Heidi Johnston

Political protests and unrest in Hong Kong have engulfed Disney’s upcoming live-action remake of Mulan.

Worship leader Marty Sampson of Hillsong Church announced earlier this week he is “losing” his Christian faith in a lengthy and since-deleted Instagram post. The news drew swift and widespread reaction, surprising even Sampson, who posted Thursday, “I could not imagine the response. … I never expected to create any waves.”

As a young mom, Martha Hazelrigg rarely left the house with her four homeschooled children during school hours. When they did venture out, she coached them to tell inquisitive grocery clerks and shoppers they attended a local Christian school. It was true: Hazelrigg’s children homeschooled through that school’s independent study program. But in 1985, home education was rare, and mothers had legitimate fears that skeptics, even family members, might report them to the government.

Labor with Hope

Gloria Furman with Jesse Scheumann

Some Chicago-area parents have been gaming the financial aid system to get scholarships for their children that should go to needy students. A recent investigation by ProPublica and The Wall Street Journal uncovered the technically legal but unethical practice of parents transferring custody of their college-bound children to friends and relatives who make less money. Coming on the heels of the college bribery admissions racket in which 19 wealthy parents face criminal charges, the Chicago scandal puts more pressure on the U.S.