Do you have clothes you’ve worn a million times? Mine include this shirt and these flats. So easy and comfy. (Here’s a steal version of the shoes.)

Status shows up whenever humans do, and it is the invisible underpinning of our culture.

The front lawn was only invented around the time of Columbus. The idea was to demonstrate that you had time and money to waste. You could take useful land and make it non-productive. You could take labor and put it to work taking care of this non-productive land with no obvious utility in return. A big front lawn, well cared for, was a sign of status and luxury.

It’s a contagious idea, and a sticky one. Many suburbs have it written into their laws.

John Green reminds us that Jay Gatsby paid to have a neighbor’s yard groomed before Daisy came over to meet him…