Hello!
Not that you need a newsletter in your life other than We're Here, but if you're interested in the fight against tuberculosis, we've got one for ya.
In the most recent edition of the TBFighters newsletter, I discussed what I learned on my trip to the Philippines for the Stop TB Partnership Board Meeting, including how devilishly complicated it is right now to get the cure for TB to the communities that need it most. In deeply impoverished neighborhoods I visited with Doctors without Borders, drug stockouts remain common and people are regularly diagnosed with TB and told there are no drugs—at least not affordable ones. It was a stark reminder of why we're still losing over a million people a year to a curable disease.
On this trip, I was encouraged to meet so many people working to fight tuberculosis and other diseases of injustice, but there's no getting around how "funding gaps" are giving TB a leg up in our fight against it. The same is true in the fight against other global threats—from climate change to malaria. But meeting doctors and nurses serving Manila's poorest neighborhoods reminded me that, even in difficult times, people are working hard in deep partnership to solve difficult problems—and that work matters.
John
You can always email us at [email protected]
This Week in Stuff
The State Library of New South Wales shared a rare (and huge) book that requires two people to turn a page! (YouTube)
Kids were able to file their Halloween candy tax returns at the Treat Revenue Service. (TikTok)
A man paddled a giant pumpkin down a river to set a new world record. (YouTube)
A crochet artist is recreating the Stardew Valley map pixel for pixel. (Instagram)
It’s almost time for Advent of Tess 2025! Madonna, a Nerdfighter and We’re Here reader, is releasing 25 free origami tessellation tutorials in December. (gatheringfolds.com)
Please send us stuff you think we should feature to [email protected]
A century of progress in access to primary education
Esteban Ortiz-Ospina
The world has made major progress in expanding access to education. A century ago, most children did not have the option to go to school at all. Today, access to education is widely seen as a basic right that governments are expected to provide. And most governments succeed — according to statistics compiled by UNESCO, about 9 in 10 children of primary school age are enrolled.
The chart shows how this expansion unfolded for boys and girls separately. Throughout most of the 20th century, enrollment rose steadily, but boys remained more likely to be in school than girls. It was only towards the end of the century that this gap began to close. Today, the gap is small: around 91% of boys and 89% of girls are enrolled in primary school.
While the gap is small globally, it remains large and persistent in some countries. In Chad, in Central Africa, about 80% of boys are enrolled in primary school, compared with 67% of girls.
Our World in Data is a UK-based non-profit organization that publishes research and data to make progress against the world’s largest problems. You can find more of their data insights here.
This Week at Complexly
According to legend, Helen of Troy was so beautiful that her face launched a thousand ships, leading to the Trojan War more than 3000 years ago. But other stories suggest that it might not have been her face, but her /jewelry/ that was the key to her desirability.
19th-century pirate legend Zheng Yi Sao is hardly remembered outside of her native Guangdong. And yet, by most markers, she’s the most successful pirate of all time–not because of her brutality, mad sword fighting skills, or any of those other stereotypical pirate characteristics, but because she was smart, crafty, focused, and really, really organized.
Some Games to Play!
Silly Little Codes (by Silly Little Games)
SpellCheck.xyc (by Answer in Progress)
This Gubbins postcard was made by Gia. Send yours to [email protected]
If you post your results on social media, we’d love it if you post a link for folks to subscribe to “We’re Here” (https://werehere.beehiiv.com/subscribe)
Because Everyone Deserves A Little Good This Season
When you shop for gifts early on Good Store, you’ll not only be the most on-top-of-it person ever, but you’ll save some cash, too. Right now:
Save 10% on orders $50+
Save 15% on orders $75+
Save 20% on orders $100+
And check out our NEW giftables here!
Our community gratitude journal
Last week, we turned our inbox into a gratitude journal. Thanks to everyone who emailed us!
My daughter is the biggest thing I’m grateful for this year. She’s 19 months old as I write, and her budding personality and growth is so fun to watch. It’s a wonderful distraction when I need time away from the news, social media, and negativity in the world.
Every day I am grateful for my best friend. We met almost 10 years ago in middle school, when we were both awkward 14-year-olds. She’s been consistently there for me more than anyone else in my life, through high school, college, church mission trips where we could only talk once a week, and now young adulthood. Last year, she married one of our other friends, a boy I’ve known my whole life, and she asked me to be her maid of honor. They live a few hours away, but we make time to see each other as often as we can. She’s endlessly supportive, kind, funny, and loving; everything you’d want in a best friend. I feel so blessed to have her in my life!
Today I am thankful for my coworker. We both tend to arrive at our office before anyone else and spend 10-15 mins chatting over coffee. She has given me great advice including tips for buying a house, good recipes, proposing to my partner, and so much more. A conversation with her always sets me up for a good work day.
What makes my life better is my family. My immediate family unit and I have moved from the US to the EU over the last few months. It has been a huge upheaval in my usually very organized and controlled life. When the world around me is something I don't recognize as well as I want to, it is my family that brightens the day.
I am grateful to have found a job after a few months of searching, and to be able to get back to my normal life. I am also grateful for the experiences I had while job searching, the kind, friendly, hard working people who interviewed me (even the ones who didn't hire me!), and all the things I learned (I got a new certification with some of my free time and they sent me an actual badge!)
I’m grateful for my sister, Abby. I’m so lucky to have someone to go through this weird life with, have beautiful moments of true understanding, and endless inside jokes. I’m grateful for our wacky internal decorations in our apartment, our late night chats when I have to be at work early the next morning, and our shared love of our community. I came to New York City because she was here, and I know every day that I made the right call. I’m so grateful to be her sister.
I'm grateful for the horde of ducks in the park that silently waddle and hunt acorns every fall. They never fail to make me laugh.
Besides your very positive last E-mail with the awesome news from the MCOE, today I am deeply grateful for this beautiful Saturday which I could spend sailing on a historic boat on the Baltic sea. Five hours in the autumn sun (at this time of the year, this is basically all day!), with a light breeze, lifted my heart.
I am so grateful for modern medicine! Because my type 1 diabetic kid gets to live! Also, for all of my kids who are beautiful wonderful people who make art and send me songs and poetry and love other people really well! And my husband who is a good, good man.
I'm grateful for the willingness of all the parents in our community to treat our preschool-age kids' socks as a communal resource. The kids go to school in socks, they come home in socks, rarely are they the same socks. But we all just roll with it, wash and return, maybe the kid will come home in their own socks another day.
That’s all for now!
We’d love to see some anglerfish art! (Or, if you’ve been a nerdfighter for a while, “Hanklerfish” art.)
Send your Hanklerfish to [email protected]
