A good piece about the value of hobbies ...
... for linking together people from disparate backgrounds and walks of life
I've long noticed this about online interactions -- every time I'm in a hobby-focused forum (guitar pedals, origami, knitting, etc), it's very background-diverse and also -- usually -- exceptionally civil ...
... because everyone has at least one major thing in common
The essay: 
Unpaywalled: https://archive.is/4OxlC
The Atlantic
What We Lose When We’re Priced Out of Our Hobbies
For a lot of people, it’s getting too expensive to knit or fish.