Welcome to Must Read, where we single out the best stories from around the automotive universe and beyond. Today we've got reports from Fast Company, Petrolicious, The Atlantic, and Joel Johnson.
The theme today is change. Specifically, the change that comes from facing problems through direct action. Protest. Architecture. Travel. Whatever.
STUDIO-GARAGE SPACE INSPIRES INFINITELY – Petrolicious
Once again, I find inspiration in a garage profile on Petrolicious.
Holger Schubert is a man with superb taste, as evidenced not only by his amazing 512BBi, but also by the gorgeous workspace/garage/art gallery he's built to accommodate it. There are no corny framed photos of waterfalls with trite inspirational messages on Schubert's immaculate glass walls, and he doesn't need them—the Boxer provides limitless motivation. Schubert shares with us his thoughts on the space and the car.
Bahrain Is Becoming Even More Repressive Because of the F1 Race – The Atlantic
Why are F1 protestors in Bahrain setting tires on fire? Here's a deeper read into how the Bahraini Royal Family is, again, using the race to crack down on protestors.
Whether or not the sponsors of the F1 are happy with Bahrain as a venue, they should be concerned at human rights violations being committed because their event is coming to town. British media reports suggest that Vodaphone's recently announced decision to withdraw its sponsorship of the F1 was tied to what happened at last year's Bahrain Grand Prix, although the company denies that.
Riding motorcycles into storms, and other inefficient therapies – Joel Johnson
Superfriend Joel Johnson is on a motorcycle. He's also writing. I'm not sure how talented he doing the former, but this attests to the latter.
For my whole adult life, I've developed a good technique for dealing with bad situations: I run away. It's real effective. Stressful job? Quit it. Girlfriend upset? Leave her. Save money? Nope. Better to buy a motorcycle, pack up the bags, and hit the road.
I'm not joking about its effectiveness.
There's not many problems in life that can't be solved, or escaped, I guess, by flipping the bird and heading out on the road, music as loud as you can get it and sunglasses on so truckers can't tell you're crying inside your helmet. And I've had plenty of shit in my life that I really did need to run away from. Clinically insane parents who mete out every type of abuse if you give them the chance. Bad partners who wanted too much while giving too little. Dickhead, manipulative, infurating jobs. (You know, jobs.) I'm proud that I've learned to run, to give myself time to think, to keep myself at least sort of with it—at least with it enough to not kill myself. Enough to keep going, even if I'm miserable.
But when does it stop?
HOW JENNA LYONS TRANSFORMED J.CREW INTO A CULT BRAND – Fast Company
No, this isn't cars. This is the "beyond" section where I can link to whatever I want to. In this case, a kind of puffy piece on J. Crew that nevertheless captures a bit of what we're trying with Jalopnik.
Their partnership would mark the end of the days when J.Crew's product design was dictated by corporate strategy. Together, they would make and sell only what they loved. The love would not be unconditional; they would adjust their product line always, trying new ideas, assessing, and quickly getting rid of anything that didn't work. Under Drexler and Lyons, J.Crew would become a company of constant and freewheeling experimentation, iteration, adaptation.