i used to be one of those people who would say, marriage is just a piece of paper. but after being with her for years and years through all the tears and laughter it is starting to make me sad that if anything were to happen to me she wouldn’t be able to do things like make medical decisions on my behalf, collect my body when am gone, etc. I had to go to a lawyer to do specific paperwork that were not necessary if we were simply married. will i be able to call her my wife in my lifetime? it is just so saddening that the closest person to me will never be recognised as such in the eyes of the law. when i die, she will just be my “friend”. nevertheless am grateful to spend these 125 months together, perhaps even if she won’t be able to claim my body and if history will deem us as just“friends”, there will still be 125 pieces of my love lingering somewhere on the internet. (she made us clothes again! it is 98% zero waste!)

Anthropic now treats the Pope as a competitor in a battle for souls

At Bang Bang Oriental, Mohammed Ali Salha considers the invention of the London food hall. Photographs by Dashti Jahfar

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On this day in letters