A New York moment: 

In Manhattan, seating at coffee shops is often hard to find, and I’ve grown accustomed to asking people at a table with a free seat if I can join them. On Monday I (and my new sidekick for the summer, World Journalism Institute graduate Esther Eaton) sat with an elderly man from the Bronx named George, who was sipping his coffee by himself. 

In China, as the economy slows, wages stagnate, and layoffs increase, workers at Chinese tech companies are pushing back against a grueling work culture known as the “996.” 

The term refers to working from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. six days a week.

When Chris Gargiulo finished his 30th year of working at a McDonald’s in this city 37 miles north of Tampa, 60 people attended a celebratory surprise party. Gargiulo “was shocked,” according to Cheryl Stark, a friend from church, but someone else might have been even more surprised: the doctor Gargiulo’s mother, Elizabeth Bridwell, consulted after Chris was born with Down syndrome (DS) in 1960. 

ERBIL, Iraq—Like many living in northern Iraq, Nour Adil watched helplessly as her city filled with Syrian War refugees and Iraqis when ISIS took over and destroyed nearby cities. 

“We saw lots of ladies looking for jobs but having a hard time finding them,” Nour recalls. Her mother was skilled at sewing, and Nour had management skills from years in banking. Hopeful Hands was born. 

Tomiwa Olatunji sat in a classroom with about a dozen other students, all dressed like pilots in white shirts and navy blue trousers. At the back of the room, a plastic foam model aircraft stood on a table, finished with wirings and wooden parts.

The project was the first for Olatunji and four of his classmates who started at the International College of Aeronautics in Nigeria’s Lagos state in July. The group collaborated on the model’s drawing and construction and on sourcing for the materials around Lagos.

A New York moment: 

A half-burned organ sits in a historic building, Brooklyn’s oldest Baptist church, surrounded by new luxury condos. I’m working on a story about the church, formerly called the Baptist Temple but now the Recovery House of Worship. In reporting the story I came across Keith Bigger, 71, who has spent years caring for that organ. 

This year is the 50th anniversary of Richard Scarry’s terrific picture book, What Do People Do All Day? It’s also the 70th anniversary of Candyland, which Eleanor Abbott designed in 1948 after she contracted polio in San Diego and sought something to delight the children in her hospital ward.