It’s been, as it often is in these times, a heavy week in the world — and so let’s begin on the lighter side of life. We offer a gorgeous photo essay about an Italian revival of silk worms, Brian Brennan’s Brief Encounter column with Barry Morse, and Jim McNiven’s baseball yarn. An Italian Renaissance — of Silkworms, a photo essay by Alessandro Bianchi of Reuters Decades after the last silk mills in Veneto, Italy, were shuttered, budding silkmakers – “sericulturists” – are spinning a new niche for high-quality material.  Critiquing the Critics: Barry Morse, Brian Brennan, Brief Encounters

    Among the many items that caught our attention this week was the award of a Canadian stamp to short story master Alice Munro, winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature. The stamp was released on Monro’s birthday, July 10. It features a photograph of the writer by her daughter Sheila, a sample her handwriting, and vintage images of Wingham, Ont., the small town in which Munro was born. (Canada Post.) F&O reported on Monro’s  Nobel prize in 2013:  Alice Munro, Master. For more about Munro’s impact on literature, read Alice Munro: Nobel a victory for the neglected short story,

  There is no shortage of villains in this Greek tragedy, writes Jonathan Manthorpe, as Greece and Europe brace themselves for the Greek referendum on Sunday.  “It hasn’t helped matters that the advent of the euro has been a huge boon for the EU’s industrialized economies,” he adds. Read his new column, The Greek tragedy: a drama with many villains and no heroes  (subscription required). Here’s a good backgrounder on the Greek crisis: Nine things to know about Greece’s IMF debt default, by Andre Broome.   As America celebrates July 4, we highly recommend John Keane on why Alexis de Tocqueville remains a must-read.