#302: The Endless Robbing Of Native American Graves

For the first time in eight years, I have all of July off, a luxury, which means my friends are asking, “How are you spending your time?” The answer’s easy: Resting, relaxing, reflecting, recharging, reconnecting with friends, and reading. Another way to look at it: What I used to do in the early morning and late evening now happens during regular business hours. And I like it! (Maybe this is my version of lying flat, a grand protest of capitalism.)

The extra reading time yielded four great pieces this week, including this week’s lead article, “The Endless Robbing Of Native American Graves.” If you have time, read it in tandem with the second piece, which takes on the same topic from a different angle. Sadly, it turns out that our respect for the (Native American) dead is no match for pothunters wanting fame and fortune or for scientists wanting status and prestige.

The second half of this week’s newsletter takes a more hopeful turn, with a profile of an inspiring Black forager and a compassionate interview of poet Nikki Giovanni, who reminds us to find love. Please enjoy!

The Endless Robbing Of Native American Graves

When the FBI knocked on Don Miller’s door in Waldron, Indiana, seven years ago, he knew why they were there. His house was filled with cultural artifacts, sacred objects, and human remains – 42,000 items in all – excavated and stolen from Native American graves. But Mr. Miller did not believe he had done anything wrong. Hundreds of years of pothunting by white Americans had made the practice seem justified. But activism and legal challenges by American Indian tribes have propelled the federal government to crack down, sending pillagers to jail for their offenses.

Author Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson writes: “What compels a person to reach inside the grave of another and take what’s there? ‘There’s this notion that some people’s graves are for plunder because they are not considered to be fully people,‘ says Gabrielle Tayac, a member of the Piscataway Indian Nation and an associate professor of public history at George Mason University. ‘Everything can be owned, taken over and assumed by a conquering society.’ ” (25 min)

A Racist Scientist Collected Human Skulls. Should We Still Study Them?

If you visit the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History, you’ll encounter the remains of 30,000 Indigenous and enslaved people, gathered over the centuries by eugenicist Samuel Morton and his successors in biological anthropology. Since the murder of George Floyd, scientists like Janet Monge and Robin Nelson are leading efforts to question their field’s practices and to repatriate the specimens as a step toward healing and reconciliation. (15 min)

+ “These people did not ask to be prodded, they did not ask to be dissected, they did not ask for numbers and letters to be imprinted upon their remains. They had their lives stolen from them. They deserve rest.“

Foraging: Wild Food For All

Black forager Alexis Nikole Nelson brings an empty backpack to work every day so she can stuff it with burdock, mugwort, field garlic, and juneberries on her walk home in Columbus, Ohio. Despite bans on foraging that date back to Reconstruction and Indian Removal, Ms. Nelson and other BIPOC foragers are reclaiming the centuries-old tradition of searching for provisions to promote health and wellness. At the same time, they’re challenging the notion that foraging is only for the wealthy white elite. (10 min)

+ Big thanks to loyal reader and food connoisseur Kati for recommending this article.

Nikki Giovanni On 70 Over 70: “Everybody’s Job Changes”

In this warmhearted interview, poet, activist, and professor Nikki Giovanni tells stories from the Civil Rights Movement, gives respect to Black Lives Matter, and says she wants to learn how to make biscuits like her grandmother. She says, “I’m not scared of getting older, because I know this: I was born. I’m going to die. And the only thing I have to do in the middle is find someone to love.“ (43 min)

+ The episode begins and ends with tearjerkers: You’ll hear from Hiroshima survivor Howard Kakita and listen to how Ms. Giovanni misses her friend, Toni Morrison.

Thank you for reading this week’s issue of The Highlighter. Did you enjoy it? Let me know by clicking on “Yes” or ”No” below. I like hearing from you.

Also, to our new subscriber Karaitiana, I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. To our long-time subscribers (like Jacob! Julie! Jennifer!), you’re pretty great, too.

If you like The Highlighter, please help it grow. I appreciate your support. Here are a few ways you can help:

On the other hand, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please unsubscribe. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT!

#301: Summerland

Happy Thursday, loyal readers, and thank you for opening up today’s issue of the newsletter. Before diving in, let me start by saying, “Wow, Nikole Hannah-Jones, wow.” Longtime subscribers know I’m a huge fan, so I was extremely happy this week when I found out she had declined a job offer from the University of North Carolina to accept a professorship at Howard University. Even more impressive was her statement explaining her decision. Someday, maybe Ms. Hannah-Jones will stop by and say hello to our reading community. Who knows: Maybe she’ll become a subscriber?

Aspirations aside, this week, I’m trying something new: spotlighting an outstanding author and dedicating an entire issue to their work. That author is Barrett Swanson. Many of you — I see you, Article Clubbers! — already know Mr. Swanson. But it’s altogether possible you’ve never heard of him. He’s remained mostly under the radar at The Highlighter, even though “Lost in Summerland,” this week’s lead piece, was one of my favorite articles last year. I was reading his book of essays this week (also outstanding), and it dawned on me: “This guy has been in The Highlighter a lot!” And so I did a search, and sure enough, Mr. Swanson’s work has appeared many times.

The reason? The guy knows how to write. No matter the topic (e.g., TikTok influencers, scary water parks, masculinity retreats), Mr. Swanson is funny, sensitive, and deep. He knows about longing, depression, postmodern neoliberalism, conspiracy theories, and the absurdities of life. You’ll want to keep a dictionary nearby (in a good way). Most of all, I like how Mr. Swanson has empathy for his subjects, never judging them, choosing instead to interrogate his own choices. And he loves his brother and isn’t afraid to cry.

I hope you’ll read one or all of Mr. Swanson’s pieces this week, and I’d love to know what you think. All you need to do is hit reply. Please enjoy.

+ This month at Article Club, join us for a discussion of “Private Schools Are Indefensible.” Writer and former teacher Caitlin Flanagan is both snarky and serious as she slams elite independent schools. I especially welcome you if you haven’t tried Article Club before. Here’s more information, and here’s where you can sign up.

Lost In Summerland

After recovering from a traumatic brain injury when he was 22 years old, Andy Swanson started hearing things at home: creaky footsteps in the hallway, stray voices in the closet. When his dad showed up, concerned, Andy’s first words were, “There’s someone in the room with us.” The chandelier in the room flickered on its own.

This article, told from the point of view of his little brother, Barrett, explores Andy’s developing identity as a psychic and a medium. Most of all, though, this is a story of two brothers, their relationship, and their trip one summer to Lily Dale, New York, where every year, 20,000 Spiritualists gather to perform readings, conduct seances, and build community.

At the retreat, Barrett notices his brother’s rising confidence and sense of calm. But he’s also aware of his own uneasiness, acknowledges his history of depression, and recounts an incident from his past, when his big brother’s powers may have saved his life. (44 min) (Issue #225)

Men At Work

If you’re a man, and you’re feeling despondent or purposeless, or you’re exhibiting signs of toxic masculinity, maybe it’s time for a retreat in the woods, away from your friends and family, where you and 50 (white) strangers can participate in “manhood-confirming adventures,” including holotropic breathwork and anger ceremonies.

No, I’m not a proponent of this behavior. But we know that men are hurting. They make up 79% of suicides and 80% of violent crime, and their life expectancy continues to decline.

That’s why Evryman and other men-centered self-help organizations have become increasingly popular. They promise a “new masculinity” by supporting men to connect with their feelings and build emotional intelligence. But Barrett Swanson wonders whether this approach does anything to ameliorate the structural causes of men’s malaise. (41 min) (Issue #218)

The Anxiety Of Influencers

Last year during the pandemic, English professor Barrett Swanson needed a vacation. His teaching had become less about analyzing James Baldwin and more about tending to his students’ anxieties and their comfort animals. Prof. Swanson wondered, Was there another way to support young people as they headed into adulthood? Indeed there was — at the Clubhouse for the Boys mansion, a collab house in Los Angeles where TikTok stars “hone their voice.” One of the owners says, “We really see ourselves as an influencer university.” Tons of layers here. (38 min) (Issue #294)

For Whom Is the Water Park Fun?

Need a break? No summer is complete without a visit to the local water park. Don’t concern yourself about potential dangers or tragedies. Turn a blind eye to the 2 million gallons of water they waste every day. Instead, simulate the effects of climate change at the Big Kahuna Wave Pool, with mammoth rogue waves and parents exhorting their children to save themselves. If fear or excess overwhelms you, distract yourself with a large funnel cake. (12 min) (Issue #201)

+ Audio: In addition to his writing, you might enjoy this recent interview of Mr. Swanson on the Longform Podcast.

Thank you for reading this week’s issue of The Highlighter. Did you enjoy it? Let me know by clicking on “Yes” or ”No” below. I like hearing from you.

Also, to our new subscribers Nan, Jared, and Lisa, I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. To our long-time subscribers (like Terrie! Lisa! Michael!), you’re pretty great, too.

If you like The Highlighter, please help it grow. I appreciate your support. Here are a few ways you can help:

On the other hand, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please unsubscribe. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT!

#300: Race Realist

We did it, loyal readers. After six years and more than 1,200 articles, we’ve reached Issue #300. Can you believe it?

What began as an excuse to ply my friends with articles has become a robust community of thoughtful people who care about reading and discussing the best pieces on race, education, and culture. Thank you for being part of it.

When did you first subscribe? Was it before The Rebrand? Or maybe when the website launched? Did you attend the first HHH? Win some original merch? Are you the original VIP? Did your pet appear in the first calendar? Did you make a rowing video with all your Highlighter swag? Or maybe a timelapse video of your multiple-hour holiday reading session? Were you at the first Article Club with Jia Tolentino? Or at the First Annual Game Show? Or are you new, like Marcus, who signed up an hour ago? No matter when you joined, or how you have supported me and this venture, I am deeply grateful.

I’m especially proud that the newsletter has continued to grow over the past year. Since the pandemic started, nearly every new subscriber is a person I have never met before. I appreciate the trust that you place in me to find and share articles worthy of your time and attention. If you want to, and if you feel comfortable, please reach out. I’d like to learn more about you and what you care about.

Even though The Highlighter will always remain playful, we’re also very serious about the power of reading to improve our lives. We are better people when we take time to read well-written articles that urge us to pause, reflect, and act. We are better people when we connect with others and discuss great articles in community, both in affinity and across difference. Reading is a big deal, and I’m happy we’re reading together.

In this week’s issue, you’ll read about a white supremacist professor who teaches mostly first generation Black and Brown students in the Bay Area. Then with help from a film and media professor, you’ll analyze photographs from last summer’s protests for racial justice. Be ready for a gift in the middle of today’s newsletter, then scroll down to the bottom, where you’ll find two noteworthy pieces that illuminate opposing responses to capitalism. (I prefer the second choice.) Please enjoy!

+ I know I’m supposed to say this, but it’s really true: If you’re not participating in Article Club, you’re missing out! Last Sunday, writer and healer Amirah Mercer joined us for a conversation on her outstanding piece, “A Homecoming: How I Found Empowerment in the History of Black Veganism.” It was fun and insightful. Want to try it out?

+ Personal news: I’m starting a new job next month. It’s about reading. I can’t wait to tell you all about it. Until then, I’ll be resting (see below).

The ‘Race Realist’ On Campus

After decades teaching about government finance, health insurance markets, and other humdrum economics topics, Cal State East Bay professor Gregory Christainsen experienced an epiphany. It was time for a change. It was time to follow his true calling: to research and teach about eugenics.

In this well-written special report, journalist Jason Fagone reveals Prof. Christainsen’s racist ideas — for instance, that race predicts intelligence, and that white and Asian people are smarter than Black and Brown people — and wonders why it took challenges by BIPOC colleagues Pascale Guilton and Nazzy Pakpour before university officials interrogated (but did not change) their stances on academic freedom and free speech.

“It is absolutely remarkable how little negative feedback I have received,” Prof. Christainsen wrote in an email to Mr. Fagone. Though he retired from teaching a few years ago, he retains his emeritus status. (35 min)

+ If you prefer reading something entirely different, Mr. Fagone also wrote “Jerry and Marge Go Large,” about delightful septuagenarian lottery schemers. It was one of my favorite articles of 2018. I got to interview Mr. Fagone last July for Article Club.

Picturing Catastrophe: The Visual Politics Of Racial Reckoning

Prof. Rizvana Bradley: “The photographs from early June, which inaugurated the summer of 2020 as a moment of ‘racial reckoning,’ share a common representational ambition: to render Black life and the brutalities arrayed against it present in ways that elide the structural depth and historical intractability of anti-Black violence. The incessant cycling of images of multiracial solidarity alongside intimate images of Black grief and pain demands that singular experiences and expressions of Black suffering and anger, exhaustion and enervation become sutured to a politics of reconciliation. The viewer is confronted with an image of dissent, but it is a visual dissensus engineered in the interest of social consensus.“ (26 min)

Hard Bargain: How Amazon Turned A Generation Against Labor

If it’s true that the labor market is tight, and that wages are rising, then why did workers at the Amazon fulfillment center in Bessemer, Alabama, vote overwhelmingly in April not to unionize? To understand the answer, Daniel Brook writes, we must meet 23-year-old Carrington Byers, who comes from a union family but voted no because he believes Amazon is “family.” Besides, like most young people, he doesn’t see himself tied to this job. After all, Carrington Cosmetics, his nascent business, is where his future lies. (25 min)

Lying Flat: China’s Downwardly Mobile Millennials Are Throwing In The Towel

Having trouble motivating? Is the idea of going outside bringing you down? If so, you might be languishing. But if you’re young, critical of neoliberal capitalism, and pessimistic about your chances for economic mobility, you may want to join thousands of Chinese millennials who are practicing tang ping (躺平), or “lying flat.” This new philosophy champions constraining your desires, forgetting your ambitions, doing very little, and not trying anymore. As I head into a month of vacation, and as an advanced rester myself, I could get into this! (10 min)

Thank you for reading this week’s issue of The Highlighter. Did you enjoy it? Let me know by clicking on “Yes” or ”No” below. I like hearing from you.

I appreciate all of you, but as we finish up on Issue #300, I’d like to thank the newsletter’s 50 VIPs (aka “Magic Markers”) and its first 10 subscribers, who have been supporting me and The Highlighter ever since the beginning: Ben, Peter, Erin, Michele, Jessica, Stuart, Heidi, Clare, Marni, and Barbara. I am very grateful. Did you think I was going to just keep going and going? (Don’t answer that.)

If you like The Highlighter, please help it grow. I appreciate your support. Here are a few ways you can help:

On the other hand, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please unsubscribe. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT!

#299: If We Can Soar

Good morning, loyal readers, and thank you for reading today’s issue of The Highlighter. If you like history, or acknowledge history’s impact on the present, you’ll appreciate how this week’s articles talk to each other. “If We Can Soar,” the lead article, focuses on flight and liberation, telling the story of Cornell Norwood and other fanciers of Birmingham Roller pigeons in South Central over the past 50 years. If you’ve never seen these birds roll, you’ll be astonished.

Scared of birds? No problem. Take in a thoughtful essay about what history is (and isn’t), or spend time with another thoughtful essay considering which history we should (and shouldn’t) teach. Or skip those pieces, head all the way down to the bottom, and celebrate one woman’s journey of body positivity. Please enjoy!

+ You can listen to Article Club favorite Barrett Swanson, author of Lost in Summerland, on this week’s episode of the Longform podcast. He talks about his new book, a compilation of articles, three of which I have featured in the newsletter. “Lost in Summerland” (#225) is still my favorite, but “The Anxiety of Influencers” (#294) and “Men at Work” (#218) are pretty great, too.

If We Can Soar

Shanna B. Tiayon: “Cornell Norwood was a renowned Birmingham Roller breeder in the South Central community. Cornell was introduced to pigeon fancying at age 12 by his older brother and made quite a name for himself in the Birmingham Roller space. He would become a mentor, big brother, second father figure, and friend for many other Black boys and young men in South Central between the 1970s and 1990s, ushering them into the magical world of the Birmingham Roller and offering them knowledge that unlocked their birds’ potential, and their own.

“When asked why they became interested in pigeons, many of the South Central men link their interest in the birds to the adrenaline rush of seeing the birds’ acrobatics, a thrill similar to watching a fast car or motorcycle, or to the perceived instinctive gravitation of children to animals. But there’s a deeper story behind what the birds offered them then and still offer today, with men entering their fifth and sixth decade raising Birmingham Rollers. A why shaped by race, place, and gender. A why that traces the plight of Black men in the U.S., landing us squarely in the prevailing systems of inequality that still exist today.” (30 min)

History As End

If you’re a conservative and believe in The 1776 Report, you’re wrong about history. But if you’re a liberal and believe in The 1619 Project, you’re also wrong. In this outstanding essay, Prof. Matthew Karp argues that we shouldn’t be fighting about whether Critical Race Theory should be taught in schools. Rather, we should understand that history isn’t a linear story with clear origins and defined root causes. “We must come to see history not as what we dwell in, are propelled by, or are determined by,” Prof. Karp writes, “but rather as what we fight over, fight for, and aspire to honor in our practices of justice.” (26 min)

The Importance Of Teaching Dred Scott

One of the biggest decisions as a teacher is what to include and what to leave out of the curriculum. For many reasons, you’ll no longer find Huck Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird on too many syllabi. But what about slavery, Jim Crow, and other challenging topics that may traumatize students and contribute to a racist narrative of history? Providing her reasoning why she begins her course with Dred Scott, law professor Jeannie Suk Gersen explains that the case emphasizes the founding injustices written into the Constitution and the false hero narrative of the Supreme Court. (11 min)

Why I Shared My Nude Photos On The Internet

Sam Juric spent most of her teenage years hiding behind oversized sweaters, turning from the mirror when she got dressed and wearing sports bras to avoid seeing the shape of her breasts. But in her late 20s, Ms. Juric wanted her relationship with her body to change. “I wanted to look at my naked body without wincing. I wanted to think about my naked body without thinking about a man and how he would perceive it. How and if he desired it. I wanted to explore a question I had always been too scared to seriously ask: Was I ugly? I wanted to not care about the answer.” So Ms. Juric did what felt right: She took nude photos of herself and posted them on Instagram. (10 min)

+ Reader Annotations: Loyal reader Matt shared that he appreciated last week’s article, “Abolish High School.” But he rightfully questioned the piece’s title, given that author Rebecca Solnit calls for reform rather than eradication. “I do see how using abolish in the title is much more gripping than reform or something of that nature,” Matt wrote. “But I feel like that word is too bold and has too many other morally significant associations historically than to use in this article’s context.” You’re right on it, Matt! Thank you for reading the piece closely and offering your perspective. Loyal readers, if an article moves you, hit reply and let me know.

Thank you for reading this week’s issue of The Highlighter. Did you enjoy it? Let me know by clicking on “Yes” or ”No” below. I like hearing from you.

Also, to our new subscribers Ben and Jonathan, I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. To our long-time subscribers (like Carrie! Lashawn! Monique!), you’re pretty great, too.

If you like The Highlighter, please help it grow. I appreciate your support. Here are a few ways you can help:

On the other hand, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please unsubscribe. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT!

#298: Twelve Minutes And A Life

Happy Thursday, loyal readers! Thank you for opening today’s issue of The Highlighter. Even though I do my best to scour the Internet to find you the best articles every week, sometimes an outstanding piece slips by unnoticed. That’s the case with this week’s lead article, “Twelve Minutes And A Life,” about the murder of Ahmaud Arbery. Originally published last year, the piece won the Pulitzer Prize this week. Mitchell S. Jackson eulogizes Mr. Arbery and attacks systemic racism by directly challenging the (mostly white) readers of Runner’s World, where the article was published. I highly urge you to read this one.

If revisiting the murder of Mr. Arbery is triggering and retraumatizing, skip to the other great pieces this week. Topics range from abolishing the American high school to restoring the bison to Indigenous lands to recoiling from the disgust of the Australian mouse plague. Please enjoy!

+ The Highlighter is almost six years old, and Issue #300 is coming out soon! Do you have a Highlighter-related memory to share? I’d love to include your memory in our upcoming milestone issue.

Twelve Minutes And A Life

Mitchell S. Jackson: “Ahmaud Marquez Arbery was more than a viral video. He was more than a hashtag or a name on a list of tragic victims. He was more than an article or an essay or posthumous profile. He was more than a headline or an op-ed or a news package or the news cycle. He was more than a retweet or shared post. He, doubtless, was more than our likes or emoji tears or hearts or praying hands. He was more than an R.I.P. t-shirt or placard. He was more than an autopsy or a transcript or a police report or a live-streamed hearing. He, for damn sure, was more than the latest reason for your liberal white friend’s ephemeral outrage. He was more than a rally or a march. He was more than a symbol, more than a movement, more than a cause. He. Was. Loved.“ (26 min)

+ This article won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for feature writing, “for a deeply affecting account of the killing of Ahmaud Arbery that combined vivid writing, thorough reporting, and personal experience to shed light on systemic racism in America.”

Abolish High School

Maybe the way to improve public education isn’t to reform it, or reimagine it, or reinvent it. Perhaps the answer isn’t more PBL and SEL, less SAT and ACT, or just the right amounts of CRT and CRT. If we listen to Rebecca Solnit (see mansplaining), who found middle school dangerous and earned her GED when she was 15, we might choose to get rid of high school altogether. She asks, Why are we trying to save the bastion of bullying and boredom? Let’s try something new. (11 min)

The Bison And The Blackfeet

The Indigenous land reclamation movement is gaining momentum: Thousands of acres of ancestral lands were returned to Native American tribes last year. The next step, according to science journalist Michelle Nijhuis, is to restore the buffalo to the American landscape. This article tells the story of the Blackfeet Nation’s efforts since the 1990s to rescue the bison from near extinction and return them to the Northern Rockies, where they can roam and graze again on the land. (17 min)

+ In case you missed it, “Return the National Parks to the Tribes” (#289), offers an excellent argument for reclamation.

First Came The Drought, Then The Floods, Now Millions Of Mice

Not for the faint of heart, this article explains in graphic detail the extent of Australia’s current mouse plague. (Yes, another byproduct of climate change.) One disgusting tidbit: Farmer Colin Tink and his 5-year-old grandson drowned 7,000 mice in one night, then another 3,000 the next. As someone still healing from a traumatic mouse incident 10 years ago (you don’t want to know what happened), I didn’t want to read this piece, then once clicked, couldn’t avert my eyes. (15 min)

+ Reader Annotations: VIP Marna kindly shared that she loved last week’s lead article on sleep, “Chasing a Waking Life.” She added, “The author seemed to be speaking directly to me.” Me too, Marna. Me too. Anyone else out there in the same predicament? (I’ve heard melatonin is the way to go.)

Thank you for reading this week’s issue of The Highlighter. Did you enjoy it? Let me know by clicking on “Yes” or ”No” below. I like hearing from you.

Also, to our new subscribers Emily, Julie, and Chris, I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. To our long-time subscribers (like Maxwell! Jeanette! Briana!), you’re pretty great, too.

If you like The Highlighter, please help it grow. I appreciate your support. Here are a few ways you can help:

On the other hand, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please unsubscribe. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT!

#297: Chasing A Waking Life

How did you sleep, loyal readers? I hope well. Like many people over the past year, I’ve suffered from mild insomnia (and REM paralysis, spooky!). But all in all, I can’t complain, and sleeplessness is relative, as Aminatta Forna emphasizes in this week’s lead article, “Chasing A Waking Life.” In this cultural history of insomnia, you’ll travel to Sierra Leone and Croatia and Spain and China and Mexico and Spain, gaining perspective that the inability to sleep is a shared human condition across time and place.

If reading about sleeping gets you tired, skip down to this week’s other great articles — an oral history of the California wildfires, an explainer on the surge in plastic surgery, and a rumination on the flourishing chicken wings industry. Please enjoy!

+ Join Article Club this month to discuss “A Homecoming,” by Amirah Mercer, which discusses how the wellness industry erases the long history of plant-based diets in the Black diaspora. We’re meeting up on Sunday, July 27 — at 2 pm online and at 3:30 pm in person. More details here.

+ Don’t be shy! If you’ve found an outstanding article that you’d like to share with our reading community, please let me know.

Chasing A Waking Life

Aminatta Forna: “As a child I slept in the back of cars, I slept on airplanes, I slept in a tangle of sheets, I slept in the arms of one parent while another remade the bed, I slept while they set me back down and turned out the light. On trips to my grandparents’ house I slept in the big bed with my grandmother. I slept while she did not (she complained I kicked her in the night). As a child I slept.

“For 15 years I could not sleep. I would wake up in bed in our home in London at four o’clock in the morning, or three-thirty or four-thirty. Without looking at the clock I came to be able to estimate the hour with some degree of precision. In the winter months, when it was dark until at least seven, I’d lie for a while hoping I was wrong. In the spring I would play with the thought that the sky was merely overcast, clouds obscuring the dawn. None of these attempts to fool myself made any difference, for sleep: silvery, slip-skinned sleep, was already gone from my grasp.” (26 min)

Objects Of Fire: Oral Histories From The California Wildfires

Teresa Pressler misses her mom’s mirror. Jess Mercer misses her grandfather’s belt buckle. Devi Pride misses her dad’s poems. In this oral history of survivors of California wildfires, Tessa Love urges us not to diminish the loss of keepsakes. “A thing may not be a life, but a life is built of things. Our objects are infused with our singular existence — memory, story, sentiment, belonging. They hold and write our histories, helping us explain ourselves to ourselves. Spoken words and lived events are ephemeral. But objects remain solid.” (22 min)

The Cosmetic Surgery “Zoom Boom” Is Real — But There’s More To The Story

Summer is coming. Stay-at-home orders are lifting. And after a year of being cooped up, we’re itching to get outside, doff our masks, and see our friends. But first, rhinoplasty is in order — or maybe cheek filler, or some submental liposuction. The demand for plastic surgery is at an all-time high, as Zoom dysmorphia has reminded us of the crevices on our faces and how maybe we don’t look as perky as we did a few years back. (13 min)

The Great Wings Rush

It’s lucky that chickens haven’t gone extinct, given how many wings Americans are eating. More than 1 billion last year, apparently, thanks to the explosion of pop-up brands, like Pasqually’s Pizza and Wings (Chuck E. Cheese), Cosmic Wings (Applebee’s), and It’s Just Wings (Chili’s). While thousands of restaurants shuttered last year, wings sales rose 10 percent, leading to a spike of wings-only ghost kitchens and virtual brands, all vying for top billing on Door Dash and other delivery apps. (11 min)

+ Reader Annotations: Several of you shared your appreciation for “The Native Scholar Who Wasn’t,” last week’s lead article. If you didn’t get a chance to read the piece, you’re in luck: Here’s an audio recording (63 min), thanks to Julia Whelan.

Thank you for reading this week’s issue of The Highlighter. Did you enjoy it? Let me know by clicking on “Yes” or ”No” below. I like hearing from you.

Also, to our new subscriber Larry, I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. To our long-time subscribers (like Christine! Dave! Camille!), you’re pretty great, too.

If you like The Highlighter, please help it grow. I appreciate your support. Here are a few ways you can help:

On the other hand, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please unsubscribe. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT!

#296: The Native Scholar Who Wasn’t

As we end the school year, I’m sending teachers, parents, and young people my appreciation and gratitude. May the summer bring you big rest and revelry. Please wish me luck as I accompany my goddaughter to Great America (and ride the RailBlazer) on Saturday.

Thank you very much for opening today’s issue. I’m pleased with this week’s selections. The lead article, “The Native Scholar Who Wasn’t,” investigates yet another case of a white woman masquerading as a person of color in order to gain academic clout. But this time, there’s a twist that makes the piece even more disturbing than you’d expect.

Not interested in that? No problem. You can skip to articles investigating the ills of diversity training, the pressures on Black teachers, and the affordances of robotic pets. Please enjoy!

+ Even if you’re not vegan, consider joining Article Club this month. We’re discussing Amirah Mercer’s “A Homecoming: How I Found Empowerment in the History of Black Veganism.” I look forward to the conversation, and it’ll be even better if you’re there, too. Here’s more information.

+ Help make The Highlighter strong. If you enjoy the newsletter, please share it with someone in your life who might like it, too. Thank you.

The Native Scholar Who Wasn’t

If you’re a longtime reader of the newsletter, you know that I’m intrigued by the phenomenon of “ethnic fraud,” a form of racial misrepresentation in which (usually white) people pretend they’re from a different racial background. On the one hand, it’s easy to ridicule Rachel Dolezal (Issue #89) or Jessica Krug (Issue #280). On the other, this is serious.

That’s why I appreciated this thorough, thoughtful piece about Andrea Smith, an Ethnic Studies professor at UC Riverside, who claims to be Cherokee, but isn’t. Instead of going for the snark, author Sarah Viren explores the larger harm of “Pretendians,” especially when people choose to believe the liar. Why has Dr. Smith continued to thrive as an academic? Ms. Viren writes, “We care less as a culture about Native Americans, so the theft of Native identities means less, too.“ (39 min)

Inside The Booming Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion Industrial Complex

Since the murder of George Floyd, businesses have flung billions of dollars at diversity consultants. Some CEOs want to do real work; others want to tweet racial awareness. This article challenges not only the motivations of corporations but also the quality of antiracism providers. In a field where “anyone can call themselves a DEI practitioner,” and where one-off speeches and unconscious bias trainings are more lucrative than transformative work, it’s no surprise that cynicism has risen alongside performative confessions. (22 min)

Black Teachers Ground Down By Racial Fatigue After A Year Like No Other

High school teacher Jasmine Lane quit this year. The reason? It wasn’t the pandemic. Rather, as the only Black English teacher at her school in Minneapolis, it was the constant stress of navigating toxic white spaces. White students asked why they had to read “Ain’t I A Woman?” White colleagues demanded she share her feelings about race, then criticized her views. White administrators expected her to work miracles with kids of color. For Ms. Lane, 27 years old, the racial battle fatigue was too much. (11 min)

What Robots Can — And Can’t — Do For The Old and Lonely

Virginia Keller sometimes feels lonely. She’s 92. She has a family, she says, but she doesn’t want to bother them. So she got a robot cat and named her Jennie. Jennie is orange with a white chest and tapered whiskers. She nuzzles, stretches, and meows, like cats do. You might be sad reading this article (as I was), thinking about your relatives, or about your own loneliness, or about how we don’t really care about the elderly. But meanwhile, Jennie is keeping Ms. Keller company. (25 min)

+ Reader Annotations: Our reading community is kind. After Alison faced a New York Times paywall, loyal reader Kim shared a valuable tip. She wrote, “I wanted to let Alison know that she could check her local library’s website to see if they give access to the NYT and other news sites that have paywalls. The library here in Berkeley gives a free 72-hour code to access the Times, that I can get as often as I want.” Thank you, Kim! Further research suggests: It looks like the Berkeley Library offers free access even if you’re not a patron. Is this really possible?

Thank you for reading this week’s issue of The Highlighter. Did you enjoy it? Let me know by clicking on “Yes” or ”No” below. I like hearing from you.

Also, to our eight new subscribers — including Mitch, Jane, and Ari — I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. To our long-time subscribers (e.g., Tiff! Brad! Carol!), you’re pretty great, too.

If you like The Highlighter, please help it grow. I appreciate your support. Here are a few ways you can help:

On the other hand, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please unsubscribe. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT!

#295: Stop Hustling Black Death

This week marks the anniversary of the murder of George Floyd. Last summer’s large-scale protests have ended, calls to defund the police have subsided, and white Americans’ support for Black Lives Matter has declined. Then we have the absurd: Amy Cooper is suing her former employer for racial discrimination. None of this, of course, is a surprise.

As you reflect and consider your next steps, please consider reading this week’s lead article, “Stop Hustling Black Death.” It’s a profile of Samaria Rice, mother of Tamir, who was murdered in 2014 when he was 12. Ms. Rice challenges the repetitive, performative actions taken by white journalists and Black national leaders (including BLM) after Black men and Black boys are killed by the police. She’s a mom, she says, and she has no desire being a “mother of the movement.”

If that piece is too much for you today, take in some wisdom from our elders, contemplate the power of envy, and find out how you can help your pet get famous. Please enjoy!

+ Help make The Highlighter strong. If you enjoy the newsletter, please share it with someone in your life who might like it, too. Thank you.

Stop Hustling Black Death

Imani Perry: “Samaria Rice is not inclined to speak in pious ways about a national movement for Black lives. She is sharp-tongued, if somewhat more profane. Over two hours one May afternoon — elegantly coiffed with swooping bangs, maroon lipstick, and a silk dress — she told me the story of how she had been cast into the center of the movement at the most tragic moment of her life.

“The mother figure in American culture, especially in Black communities, is expected to be self-effacing, long-suffering, enduring. To be good and dutiful mothers of the movement, they have been expected by the civil-rights Establishment to behave in ways that suppress the emotional turmoil that every mother of a murdered child experiences. Rice has no interest in playing that part.” (19 min)

70 Over 70: A Show About Making The Most Of The Time We Have Left

In my humble opinion, this is the best new podcast of the year. Who needs 30 Under 30 when we can listen deeply to the wisdom of 70 people over 70 years old? Talented interviewer Max Linsky (from Longform) asks deep questions and knows how to get people to open up and have real conversations. So far I’ve listened to just two episodes — including a great one with Sister Helen Prejean — and I’m 100% hooked. Let me know if you listen. (44 min)

+ Later this season, Mr. Linsky will be interviewing Dionne Warwick. That’s all you need to know!

There I Almost Am: On Envy and Twinship

Jean Garnett loves her twin sister. It’s glorious, she says, to have a twin, to look at another person who shares your face, has the same laugh sounds and laugh lines, and the same wrinkles, and to say, “There I am.” But as she reveals in this raw essay, Ms. Garnett can’t escape having jealous feelings. “You want your identical twin to be beautiful, to confirm that you are beautiful,” she writes. “But you also want her to be ugly, to confirm that she is uglier than you.” (22 min)

+ Are you a twin? Does this resonate?

My Dog Is (Almost) Internet Famous

Your adorable pets have graced the pages of this newsletter (and calendar!) for many years. But what exactly makes a pet famous on Instagram? That’s the essential question Erica Lenti explores in this entertaining piece, in which she tries to convince the Internet that her one-eyed puppy Belle deserves pet influencer celebrity status (and therefore earn $2,000 per post). What do you think? Should Belle get a shot at stardom? (10 min)

+ Ms. Lenti last appeared in Issue #179, when she decided not to come out to her Italian grandmother.

+ Reader Annotations: Several of you shared your appreciation for last week’s lead article, “I Feel Like I’m Just Drowning.” Unfortunately, loyal reader Alison, who was “so excited to get a break in the day while dinner was cooking” to read the piece, instead got hit with the tightfisted New York Times paywall. Drat. She wrote, “My heart was saddened when I clicked on the article and I had reached my limit of articles for the month. It’s such a tease!” I am very sorry about that, Alison. Maybe it’s time for me to raffle off another digital subscription. What do you think?

Thank you for reading this week’s issue of The Highlighter. Did you enjoy it? Let me know by clicking on “Yes” or ”No” below. I like hearing from you.

Also, to our new subscriber Etna, I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. To our long-time subscribers (e.g., Vlad! Chloé! Abby!), you’re pretty great, too.

If you like The Highlighter, please help it grow. I appreciate your support. Here are a few ways you can help:

On the other hand, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please unsubscribe. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT!

#294: “I Feel Like I’m Just Drowning”

Hi there, loyal readers, and thank you for opening up this week’s issue of The Highlighter. Back nearly six years ago, when I launched this newsletter, most of its articles directly related to education. After all, I’m an educator, like many of you, so it made sense. Over time, though, my reading tastes have shifted. It’s less common now that I feature pieces on schools and teachers and students. Maybe it’s the pandemic. Or maybe it’s just that I’m reading more expansively now and looking for new topics (like Hot Cheetos, see below).

But no matter where my reading takes me, there’s no way I was going to pass up this week’s lead story — an expertly reported, well-written, kind, generous article about a group of young people in Missouri who have navigated the past year of distance learning. It’s one of my favorite articles of 2021 so far, and I highly recommend it. In fact, I’ll be reaching out to the author, Susan Dominus, to see if I can persuade her to join Article Club in August so we can talk about her piece all together.

+ Not into education? No problem. This week’s other articles — about Hot Cheetos, TikTok influencers, and rent payment grace periods — are worth your reading time and energy, too. Please enjoy!

+ I’d love to hear from you. All you need to do is hit reply.

“I Feel Like I’m Just Drowning”

Before the pandemic, 15-year-old Charles read Shakespeare plays for fun, scoured the Federalist Papers to complement his love of the musical “Hamilton,” and enjoyed bantering with his classmates about Chipotle. But then Hickman High School in Missouri moved to distance learning, and Charles stopped attending classes and turning in work, even for his favorite AP World teacher, Ms. E.K. Like thousands of young people across the country, Charles was barely leaving his bed, instead eating burgers and playing video games all day, depressed and putting life on hold.

This is the dire, touching story of Charles, several of his peers, and their dedicated teacher who texts, cajoles, and supports them the best she can in a year of isolation and desperation. (Her salary: $50,000.) Reporter Susan Dominus, a parent of twin teenagers herself, gets in there and tells an embracing, big-hearted story. If you’re a parent or an educator, or if you care about kids, this is an hour well spent. (57 min)

The Fiery Debate Over Hot Cheetos

It’s been a roller coaster week for Hot Cheetos. It began with this feel-good Planet Money episode that celebrated Richard Montañez, the janitor from Southern California who said he invented the flavor and rescued the brand. But wait: There’s no evidence of that, said Frito-Lay and Los Angeles Times writer Sam Dean, in this exposé, which debunks Mr. Montañez’ claim. That’s the end, right? Not so fast. Mr. Montañez is sticking to his story, and the Latinx community is defending him, asking why everyone’s so quick to believe a white reporter over the son of migrant workers. (Eva Longoria still plans on making a Hot Cheetos movie.) (24 min)

+ Hit a paywall? Try reloading in incognito mode.

+ A big thank you to VIP Mark for sharing this article with me.

Educating The TikTok Generation

Last year during the pandemic, English professor Barrett Swanson needed a vacation. His teaching had become less about analyzing James Baldwin and more about tending to his students’ anxieties and their comfort animals. Prof. Swanson wondered, Was there another way to support young people as they headed into adulthood? Indeed there was — at the Clubhouse for the Boys mansion, a collab house in Los Angeles where TikTok stars “hone their voice.” One of the owners says, “We really see ourselves as an influencer university.” Tons of layers here. (38 min)

+ For the record: I’m a big fan of TikTok. It’s great.

The Battle For 1042: Landlords And Tenants Struggle With The Pandemic

Alfonzo Hill, who lives with his 13-year-old daughter at 1042 Cutler in Schenectady, New York, is broke. He lost his job at the local tavern last March and has been unemployed ever since. Like the 8 million Americans behind on rent (average debt: $5,600), Mr. Hill appreciates that the federal government has banned evictions until at least July. But that’s not good news for landlord Romeo Budhoo, an immigrant from Guyana, who hasn’t collected any rent in more than a year and can’t pay the mortgage and property taxes. “This house is slowly killing me,” he said. (12 min)

+ Reader Annotations: You know you’ve made it in life when you receive a box of biscotti in the mail, thanking you for your newsletter. Thank you, VIP Robert — they’re delicious! I am very appreciative of your support. If I keep publishing issues, will you keep baking biscotti?

Thank you for reading this week’s issue of The Highlighter. Did you enjoy it? Let me know by clicking on “Yes” or ”No” below. I like hearing from you.

Also, to our six new subscribers — Marcus, Roman, Eliot, Einar, Cheryl, and Gretchen — I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. To our long-time subscribers (e.g., Carol! James! Morgan!), you’re pretty great, too.

If you like The Highlighter, please help it grow. I appreciate your support. Here are a few ways you can help:

On the other hand, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please unsubscribe. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT!

#293: Homecoming

May must be the month when things get serious in article writing land. Loyal readers, you’ve come to the right place, because today’s issue of The Highlighter is a blockbuster. Honestly, I couldn’t decide which article should get top billing. Should it be “Homecoming,” the story of an elderly man in a nursing home at the beginning of the pandemic? Or should it be “Magic Actions,” the story of the rebellion that followed the murder of George Floyd? Ultimately I had to choose, but both are outstanding, and after all, is there a rule that you can read only one?

Why all this great writing all of a sudden? It could be coincidental. But I’m thinking it has to do with time. It’s been more than a year since lockdown, and nearly a year since Mr. Floyd’s murder. Thoughtful writing takes space and perspective. I’m appreciative of Davy Rothbart and Tobi Haslett for their pieces — not to mention Clint Smith and Eric Kim, who round off this week’s edition. (All men this week? Might be a first.)

+ Guess what happens when authors get featured in Article Club? They go ahead and publish critically acclaimed, best selling books! Next Friday, Brian Broome (“79”) comes out with Punch Me Up to the Gods, and Barrett Swanson (“Lost in Summerland”) comes out with Lost in Summerland. Is it time for a Highlighter book club, too? 😀

Homecoming: A Family’s Nursing Home Dilemma

A little more than a year ago, Davy Rothbart’s 83-year-old father lived in a nursing home in Michigan after suffering a stroke. Though cogent and stable, he required consistent care to prevent bedsores and to monitor his condition. But the world was changing. A mysterious virus was spreading. Old people were dying. And Mr. Rothbart had a decision to make: Should he get his dad out of there and take him home?

In this poignant essay, Mr. Rothbart takes us back to last March and lets us get to know his mom and dad and 20-month-old son Desi. We’re brought into his world: his family and friends who band together and do their best, despite limited resources and limited information. This is a story about parenthood, mortality, and the power of family. (61 min)

Magic Actions: Looking Back On The George Floyd Rebellion

Tobi Haslett: “It’s vital to insist, over the drone of an amnesiac discourse, that last year’s spate of protest was propelled, made fiercely possible, by massive clashes in the street — not tainted or delegitimized by them, nor assembled from thin air. Those threatened by that fact will work to wipe it from our minds. But something has changed in America; something is still pulsing beneath the carapace of party politics. The rebellion didn’t just release a jet of fury, but lodged the riot, without apology, in the very rhythm of political life.” (46 min)

Why Confederate Lies Live On

Clint Smith visits Blandford Cemetery in Virginia, where 30,000 Confederate soldiers are buried, to investigate why some white people cling to the lie of the Lost Cause. “So much of the story we tell about history is really the story we tell about ourselves,” Mr. Smith writes. “It is the story of our mothers and fathers and their mothers and fathers, as far back as our lineages will take us. But just because someone tells you a story doesn’t make that story true.“ (25 min)

When I Came Out To My Parents, Kimchi Fried Rice Held Us Together

I like coming out stories, and I like food, so this tender piece by cooking writer Eric Kim captured my attention from the start. Telling his conservative Korean parents wasn’t easy — his mom lost her religion, her dad said he’d lost his son — but Mr. Kim focuses instead on the kimchi fried rice his mother makes him at 3 a.m. “It meant something to me that in the midst of my mother’s grave disappointment, somehow she and I could seek refuge in this one thing that would never change. I was still her son and she was still my mom, and kimchi fried rice — something only she could make — was still my favorite thing to eat in the entire world.” (10 min)

+ Reader Annotations: I’m pleased that several of you appreciated last week’s essay by Tyrone Fleurizard. “Wow,” loyal reader Lisa wrote, “ ‘How To Name Your Black Son In a Racist Country‘ was a master class in content and technique.” My thoughts, too, Lisa — thank you for sharing.

Thank you for reading this week’s issue of The Highlighter. Did you enjoy it? Let me know by clicking on “Yes” or ”No” below. I like hearing from you.

Also, to our four new subscribers — Scott, Danielle, Elizabeth, and Kennidy — I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. To our long-time subscribers (e.g., Vinci! Tamyra! Frederik!), you’re pretty great, too.

If you like The Highlighter, please help it grow. I appreciate your support. Here are a few ways you can help:

On the other hand, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please unsubscribe. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT!