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1. Readers responded emotionally to Adam Sternbergh’s story on the fate of the avocado (�Avocados Are Toast,� April 20�May 3). �Warning avocado aficionados,� wrote Elisa Lala from the Philly Voice, �reading the following article may result in a fit of hysteria.� Kristin Iversen from Brooklyn magazine used the article as a launchpad for discussing the ethics of food: �This feels like the tipping point where all of us � even foodies � step back and think about how the choices we make when we eat actually have an effect on the world at large � Maybe eating well can’t anymore be about indulging, and must instead be about abstaining � especially when the common good is being sacrificed for the good of your Instagram feed.� Quartz’s Deena Shanker argued that the avocado crisis wasn’t as dire as Sternbergh made it seem. �In 2015, there will be more avocados available in the US than anytime in the last ten years, according to the Hass Avocado Board � For 2015, [the board] is projecting that at least 1.95 billion lbs of avocados will be available in the US, up from 2014’s 1.85 billion. That’s due largely to the fact that Peru and Chile, major avocado exporters, are having bumper crops this year.� Whatever the future of the fruit, the avocado story shined a light on the impact of the West Coast’s multiyear dry spell. As the website Sustainable Table put it: �The avocado is a great example of how California’s drought is the USA’s drought.�
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2. Art critic Jerry Saltz’s sprawling consideration of the new Whitney sparked a discussion among commenters about the gray zone between art and entertainment (�The New New Museum,� April 20�May 3). �For me,� wrote Saltz, �the genericism of the building suggests that what matters to the Whitney isn’t vanity, grandeur, showboating, celebrity, or destination architecture � it’s what goes on under its auspices.� Commenter DFrazell agreed that presentation should matter far less than content. �I’m sick of museums � they are hollow party scenes.� �And the line between museum and gallery continues to get blurrier and blurrier,� added thebluefairy. Many readers felt that the piece tackled more than just the new Whitney. Helen Rosner, a features editor at Eater, tweeted that Saltz’s story was �ostensibly about museums, but really about the balance between chronicling culture & creating it.� And many more just appreciated the writing. �I’m late to every party,� tweeted Stephen Metcalf, critic-at-large at Slate, �but Jerry Saltz is the best American critic writing about anything right now.� While Saltz critiqued the work inside the new Whitney, architecture critic Justin Davidson delivered what ArchDaily called a �biting critique� of the building itself (�The New Building Is Open,� April 20�May 3). Readers seemed to agree with Davidson’s assessment that the space �might have arrived in an Ikea flat pack and then been prodigiously misassembled,� and contributed their own derogatory comparisons. �Sorry,� wrote Vilila, �but it looks like container shipping boxes stacked up. It is an eyesore. It is totally bland and utilitarian. Sad excuse for a museum.� �It looks like a giant cooler,� added smartone.
3. �Pacquiao is the most famous resident of an entire Pacific nation, which, in the midst of his fights, experiences a drop in the crime rate and an unofficial truce in the war-torn south,� wrote Kerry Howley in her profile of the �backwoods Filipino boy� turned boxer (�Manny Pacquiao Is Fighting a Lot More Than Floyd Mayweather,� April 20�May 3). SB Nation’s James Dator was taken with Howley’s depiction of Pacquiao’s many-layered personality. �Manny Pacquiao is complicated, confusing, maddening, and at times erratic,� he wrote. �That’s what we learned from New York Magazine’s incredible profile.� Commenters weighed in on Pacquiao’s relevance in his home country. �Manny is beloved by both the rich and helpless poor of the country because his success gives Filipinos a reason to hold their head up high,� wrote commenter Fantasmic. �I was in Manila a few years ago on the day he had a fight and, despite it being a Sunday, the streets were virtually empty, which is astonishing considering that Manila is one of the most overpopulated, crowded, and bustling cities in the world. Everyone was glued to the TV, watching Manny’s fight live and by replay � Smaller countries like the Philippines value their celebrities and athletes who have made their mark on a global stage as Manny has much more than here in the U.S., or other major sports powers. Juan Martín del Potro won a bronze medal in tennis at the London Olympics and he was given a hero’s welcome in Argentina. When was the last time you saw a bronze medalist on a box of Wheaties?� �The fact that he was a small, scrawny, impoverished boy from the province who overcame adversity and triumphed to become, hands down, one of the best fighters in the world gives hope to a population that is mostly poor,� added MizM. �As a Filipino who has lived in the Philippines for all of my life, trust me � to the Filipinos, Manny Pacquiao is very much relevant.�