I had a lot of extra time this week, and I used a good chunk of it reading back through things I'd bookmarked on Facebook. Here are some things that stood out as interesting, funny, inspiring, or valuable.
(The Atlantic): "If British children gathered in the glow of the kitchen hearth to hear stories about magic swords and talking bears, American children sat at their mother’s knee listening to tales larded with moral messages about a world where life was hard, obedience emphasized, and Christian morality valued. Each style has its virtues, but the British approach undoubtedly yields the kinds of stories that appeal to the furthest reaches of children’s imagination."
Why Time's Trump Cover Is a Subversive Work of Political Art (Forward): "The brilliance of the chair however, is visual rather than historical. It’s a gaudy symbol of wealth and status, but if you look at the top right corner, you can see a rip in the upholstery, signifying Trump’s own cracked image. Behind the bluster, behind the glowing displays of wealth, behind the glittering promises, we have the debt, the tastelessness, the demagoguery, the racism, the lack of government experience or knowledge (all of which we unfortunately know too well already). Once we notice the rip, the splotches on the wood come into focus, the cracks in Trump’s makeup, the thinness of his hair, the stain on the bottom left corner of the seat — the entire illusion of grandeur begins to collapse. The cover is less an image of a man in power than the freeze frame of a leader, and his country, in a state of decay. The ghostly shadow works overtime here — suggesting a splendor that has already passed, if it ever existed at all."
The Saga of My Rape Kit (The New York Times): "There’s a justified impression that the backlog of untested rape kits is, at least in part, a result of indifference on the part of the police and others in authority dismissing rape as unworthy of prosecution. But this part of the backlog, made of pre-Codis kits like mine, was a result of forward-thinking and diligent police and medical personnel who cared so much about rape that they collected and kept evidence that they, at the time without a database to match up to, would not themselves get to take to court."
Lots of stuff from and about Van Jones ...
his appearance on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah,
his interview in Salon, and
his profile in Rolling Stone.
17 Badass Women You Probably Didn't Hear About in 2016 (Buzzfeed)
Ann Patchett's Guide for Bookstore Lovers (The New York Times): "Before we opened Parnassus, I made a fact-finding tour of American bookstores. The best advice I got was this: If you want customers, you have to raise them yourself. That means a strong children’s section. If e-books have taken a bite out of the adult market, they’ve done very little damage to children’s books, maybe because even the most tech-savvy parents understand that reading “Goodnight Moon” off your phone doesn’t create the same occasion for bonding."
Men Dump Their Anger Into Women (Medium): "...women are expected to regulate the emotions of men as well as themselves. They have to sharpen their emotional regulation skillz because they’ll be regulating for two even when they’re not pregnant. This has been a thing that’s starting to get noticed in feminist circles; the concept of unpaid emotional labor that women are expected to supply. This takes many forms ... and at its most benign looks like listening, support and empathy. However, as it becomes more noxious, women are expected to read the emotions [of] men and proactively protect them from their own negative emotions."
Glenn Beck's Regrets (The Atlantic): "Among big-time national conservative talk-show hosts, Beck—who is tied with Levin for the third-largest listenership after Limbaugh and Hannity—was a rare exception. He didn’t just oppose Trump. He compared him to Hitler. He warned that Trump was a possible 'extinction-level event' for American democracy and capitalism. In an attempt to defeat Trump, Beck campaigned during the primaries for Ted Cruz. Then, when Cruz endorsed Trump, Beck apologized for having supported him."
32 Movie Categories You Wouldn't Find on Netflix (Buzzfeed) ... my favorite's probably "movies where Ben Affleck is a bad husband"
An idea of how to break the news about Santa to older kids, by recruiting them to the Santa cause (ha, pun).
The Nation revisits what was published in its pages in December 1865 when the 13th Amendment (prohibiting slavery) was ratified. "The framers of the Constitution of the United States did not dream that the compromises with slavery, which they so reluctantly consented to incorporate in that instrument, enclosed the seeds of the wickedest and bloodiest civil war that the world has ever seen. Believing a union of the States indispensable to the national life, and therefore a paramount necessity, they were too easily persuaded that, for the sake of achieving so great a good, they might safely make terms with the supporters of a system which they acknowledged to be inconsistent with republican principles and a blot upon the national character, but which they thought was sure of extinction at no very distant day. But the attempt of a nation to shield with the forms of law an institution in flagrant antagonism with its highest professions, and with the principles of justice and humanity, is alike impious and demoralizing, and, if long persisted in, is sure to undermine the foundations of social order and public security."
The Secret to Love is Just Kindness (The Atlantic): "Throughout the day, partners would make requests for connection, what Gottman calls 'bids.' For example, say that the husband is a bird enthusiast and notices a goldfinch fly across the yard. He might say to his wife, 'Look at that beautiful bird outside!' He’s not just commenting on the bird here: he’s requesting a response from his wife—a sign of interest or support—hoping they’ll connect, however momentarily, over the bird ... These bidding interactions had profound effects on marital well-being. Couples who had divorced after a six-year follow up had 'turn-toward bids' 33 percent of the time. Only three in ten of their bids for emotional connection were met with intimacy. The couples who were still together after six years had 'turn-toward bids' 87 percent of the time. Nine times out of ten, they were meeting their partner’s emotional needs."
Not Wanting Kids is Entirely Normal (The Atlantic): "In 2008, Nebraska decriminalized child abandonment. The move was part of a 'safe haven' law designed to address increased rates of infanticide in the state. Like other safe-haven laws, parents in Nebraska who felt unprepared to care for their babies could drop them off in a designated location without fear of arrest and prosecution. But legislators made a major logistical error: They failed to implement an age limitation for dropped-off children. Within just weeks of the law passing, parents started dropping off their kids. But here's the rub: None of them were infants. A couple of months in, 36 children had been left in state hospitals and police stations. Twenty-two of the children were over 13 years old. A 51-year-old grandmother dropped off a 12-year-old boy. One father dropped off his entire family -- nine children from ages one to 17. Others drove from neighboring states to drop off their children once they heard that they could abandon them without repercussion."
Saturday Night Live spotlighted that most predictable of nondescript Christmas gifts in
The Christmas Candle. Complete with a choir and 80s-tastic hairdos.
Obama Reckons with a Trump Presidency (The New Yorker): "Although Obama and his aides had long been alarmed by Trump’s disturbing rhetoric and loose grasp of policy, they decided that the best path forward was to assume the mask of decorum. It was a matter of amour-propre, but—again—also of tactics. To have any chance to influence Trump, they had to avoid any trace of the contempt that had once been so pronounced. Perhaps the more acute personal sadness for White House staffers was the vision of Obama and Trump sitting side by side in the Oval Office. A President who fought with dignity to rescue the country from economic catastrophe and to press for progressive change—from marriage equality to the alleviation of climate change—was putting on a mask of generous equanimity for a visitor whom he had every good reason to despise, an ethically challenged real-estate brander who had launched his political career by promoting “birtherism,” and then ran a sexist and bigoted campaign to galvanize his base. In the Oval Office, the President was quick to comfort the young members of his staff, but he was, an aide told me, even more concerned about the wounding effect the election would have on the categories of Americans who had been routinely insulted and humiliated by the President-elect. At a social occasion earlier this year, someone asked Michelle Obama how it was possible for her husband to maintain his equipoise amid so much hatred. “You have no idea how bad it is,” she said. His practiced calm is beyond reckoning."
Four notable people wrote about Michelle Obama in
"To the First Lady, With Love." The most beautiful sentiments came from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. A taste: "She first appeared in the public consciousness, all common sense and mordant humor, at ease in her skin. She had the air of a woman who could balance a checkbook, and who knew a good deal when she saw it, and who would tell off whomever needed telling off. She was tall and sure and stylish. She was reluctant to be first lady, and did not hide her reluctance beneath platitudes. She seemed not so much unique as true. She sharpened her husband’s then-hazy form, made him solid, more than just a dream."
Adichie also shined in this piece in
The New Yorker, entitled
"Now Is the Time to Talk About What We Are Actually Talking About": "Now is the time to resist the slightest extension in the boundaries of what is right and just. Now is the time to speak up and to wear as a badge of honor the opprobrium of bigots. Now is the time to confront the weak core at the heart of America’s addiction to optimism; it allows too little room for resilience, and too much for fragility. Hazy visions of 'healing' and 'not becoming the hate we hate' sound dangerously like appeasement. The responsibility to forge unity belongs not to the denigrated but to the denigrators. The premise for empathy has to be equal humanity; it is an injustice to demand that the maligned identify with those who question their humanity."
A Dutch graphic designer has created a font called Dyslexie, specifically made to help dyslexic people read more easily and accurately. (And speaking of dyslexic people and/or people with dyslexia,
I was super intrigued by this discussion of identity-first vs. person-first language.)
How Stable Are Democracies? 'Warning Signs Are Flashing Red' (The New York Times): "According to the Mounk-Foa early-warning system, signs of democratic deconsolidation in the United States and many other liberal democracies are now similar to those in Venezuela before its crisis. Across numerous countries, including Australia, Britain, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden and the United States, the percentage of people who say it is 'essential' to live in a democracy has plummeted, and it is especially low among younger generations."
Donald Trump and the Legacy of Andrew Jackson (The Atlantic): "Jackson, like Trump, won over many white working-class voters, who brushed aside critics who warned that he was unstable and a would-be dictator. He maintained their loyalty even though, like Trump, he was of the elite. Though not born to wealth as Trump was, Jackson made his fortune on the early American frontier. He did not clear out Washington elites so much as bring a new coalition of elites to power: New York politicians and Pennsylvania businessmen allied with Southern slaveholders. Jackson tended to their special interests. He also used political patronage to stuff the government with Jackson loyalists. There is something Jacksonian both in Trump’s promise to “drain the swamp” of Washington and his early moves to refill the swamp with wealthy friends, loyal supporters, and family members."
The case for normalizing Trump (Vox): "To beat Trump, what his opponents need to do is practice ordinary humdrum politics. Populists in office thrive on a circus-like atmosphere that casts the populist leader as persecuted by media and political elites who are obsessed with his uncouth behavior while he is busy doing the people’s work. To beat Trump, progressives will need to do as much as they can to get American politics out of reality show mode."
The Everyday Bravery series of pins (by Emily McDowell) rewards terrific behaviors and actions with options like "Someone Didn't Like Me and It Was Okay" and "Picked My Battles."
A video featuring Brenda White Bull, the great-great granddaughter of Sitting Bull. Also, this piece in Time proclaims that
"Women Are the Backbone of the Standing Rock Movement."
What Everyone Talking About Syria Should Know (Elephant Journal): "The conflict began when the Assad regime assassinated a thousand pro-democracy demonstrators over the course of three months in the spring of 2011. This prompted defectors from the national army who did not want to fire on protesters to form militias in defense of demonstrators and their communities. Since that time roughly half a million people have been killed, the vast bulk of them by the regime. Most of the killing has been done through barrel-bombs—rusty old barrels, filled with shrapnel and chlorine—indiscriminately dropped on civilians by the regime, which has the only air force. The bombings have obliterated massive portions of three of Syria’s four largest cities."
25 Words That Are Their Own Opposites (Mental Floss)
18 Times Tumblr Nailed Fragile Masculinity (Buzzfeed)
Colleges Really Need to Rethink the Career Advice They Deliver (The Atlantic): "Incidentally, graduates with the largest amounts of student debt were more likely than those with less debt to say they found their visits to their career-services offices to be not at all helpful, which, Busteed noted, raises the question of whether the offices are clued into which students have debt, and whether they tailor their advice accordingly. Right now, services are often very siloed. And, Busteed added, students often select a major, then take out loans to pay for it, and then look for a job, when it might make more sense to meet with a career-services officer early, firm up some job goals, and backtrack into a major that makes sense."
We're Missing 90 Percent of the Dakota Access Pipeline Story (Earth Justice): "I saw that this assembly of indigenous tribes and supporters is among the most serene and peaceful groups of people I have been around. They are not unified by indignity. What unifies the thousands of water protectors who are bracing for the incoming winter is devotion and prayer. In fact, elders and tribal leaders told us repeatedly that tribal camps aren’t protests; these are ceremonies being held at a sacred place. And, they told us, they expect the behavior of their brothers and sisters to reflect that."
Why I Left White Nationalism (The New York Times): "Most of Mr. Trump’s supporters did not intend to attack our most vulnerable citizens. But with him in office we have a duty to protect those who are threatened by this administration and to win over those who don’t recognize the impact of their vote. Even those on the furthest extreme of the white nationalist spectrum don’t recognize themselves doing harm — I know that because it was easy for me, too, to deny it."
The Lenny Interview: Zadie Smith (Lenny Letter): "I am resistant to a lot of the Internet, not because I disapprove but because the feelings I personally draw from it seem to me shallow and don't lead me anywhere useful or pleasurable. A lot of the social platforms provoke feelings in me I simply don't enjoy. For a moment I am flattered, falsely puffed up, briefly amused, painfully hurt, or infuriated. I accept it feels different for other people, but I have to gravitate to the things that really interest and excite me while I'm alive."
How to Deal With the Lies of Donald Trump: Guidelines for the Media (The Atlantic): "On a single day during the campaign, Trump claimed that the National Football League had sent him a letter complaining that the presidential-debate schedule conflicted with NFL games (which the NFL immediately denied), and then he said the Koch brothers had begged him to accept their donations (which they also flat-out denied). Most people would hesitate before telling easily disprovable lies like these, much as shoplifters would hesitate if the store owner is looking at them. Most people are fazed if caught in an outright lie. But in these cases and others, Trump never blinked. As part of his indispensable campaign coverage this summer, David Fahrenthold (and Robert O’Harrow) of The Washington Post offered astonishing documentation of Trump being caught in a long string of business-related lies and simply not caring. The news media are not built for someone like this."
Utah lawyers step up to protect Muslim refugees from discrimination, threats (The Salt Lake Tribune): "Since Donald Trump was elected president, Muslim refugees in Utah report increased bullying in schools, harassment at work, menacing by strangers and threats to pull off girls' hijabs, their religious headscarves. So on Tuesday, 50 attorneys announced that they have formed the new Refugee Justice League of Utah. Without fees, it will seek to prevent or remedy harassment and, as a last resort, sue in court — even the president-elect if he pursues proposals to create a registry of Muslims. Utah refugees 'need to know that they have friends who are willing to help them,' said Jim McConkie, a civil-rights attorney and founding member of the league."
