Here’s your week in review, in haiku
1.
Where were you when the
waters rose and your dreams died?
Eyes were watching God
2.
One of the wettest
ever seen from the standpoint
of water. Not good.
3.
Supreme Memory:
accuser in the crosshairs.
Tears on my Zillow
4.
A very big phone
takes center stage. Upgrade,
ye true believers
5.
Today and ev’ry
Day: Look for the helpers. You
will always find them.
Wishing you a neighborly weekend.
On Point
| Pushing back on Pew |
| Gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams weighs in with a hopeful message, after a new survey from the Pew Research Center finds that nearly half of respondents say men will continue to hold more high political offices and executive positions than women in the future. Don’t believe the hype, says the woman who hopes to be the first black, female governor of any U.S. state. “With numbing regularity, annual studies remind us how few women lead our biggest companies, and how we can practically fit the name of every CEO with melanin on a single Post-it.” Forget the firsts, the outliers, the ground-breakrs, “we must continue to demand more, to demand parity. So let’s get it done.” |
| Fortune |
| Stop me if you’ve heard this one before |
| This piece from The Economist argues that Europe’s preoccupation with “the booming markets” of Asia comes at the expense of an already existing interdependence with post-colonial Africa. “Europe is too busy rushing into Asia’s arms to embrace a continent on its doorstep which may be even more significant in the long term,” they write. Instead of Eurasia, they suggest making “Eurafrica” a thing. “Europe is increasingly reliant on Nigerian and Liberian minerals, and German environmentalists dream of giant Saharan solar plants feeding clean energy to Europe.” |
| Economist |
| Golf Digest has done a very good thing |
| Valentino Dixon loves golf. So much so, that the self-taught artist has made a name for himself creating gorgeous colored pencil portraits of golf courses. He was also, until recently, an inmate serving a 39-years-to-life sentence for a murder he didn’t commit. Dixon has never hit a ball or even seen a course, but when he was profiled for his work by Golf Digest, it set in motion a series of events that led to justice. “It took about a hundred drawings before Golf Digest noticed, but when we did, we also noticed his conviction seemed flimsy,” writes Max Adler in this follow-up. “So we investigated the case and raised the question of his innocence.” After 27 years in prison, Dixon is now free and his conviction has been vacated. |
| Golf Digest |
The Woke Leader
| The performative love of Serena and Alexis |
| Slate has weighed in with a [tone deaf] take on the public displays of affection from Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian towards his wife, Serena Williams. There have been billboards, video tributes, and adorable Instagram posts, and yes, I agree it seems effusive. “Though these actions are objectively romantic—they feel straight out of a rom-com, in fact—they also play as strangely performative, like Ohanian is the too-good-to-be-true Justin Trudeau of tennis spouses.” Okay. If they were just rich people, maybe. But here are some things to consider: It's rare to see black women publicly adored by their partners in media or real life; it's a lovely counterpoint to the hate speech and misogynoir that’s been directed at her for most of her life; seeing her happy and supported is an inspiration to other black women. My two cents. |
| Slate |
| Did the Middle Ages give birth to white supremacy? |
| Pity the poor medievalists. As an academic community, they’ve been a small but stalwart cohort of researchers and historians. But lately, they’ve been besieged by racists who are flocking to their departments to immerse themselves in what they believe to be the early roots of white supremacist thinking. Last year, The Public Medievalist published the first of a series of academic essays designed to explore the history of racist ideas in medieval studies and history. “Issues of race lie at the heart of our understanding of the medieval world; racists—even within the ranks of the academic medievalist community—have, for far too long, warped our understanding of the past.” By God’s nails, this cannot stand! There are now XLII entries. It is an impressive body of work. I haven’t read them all, but Part XXXVII wonders aloud if Marco Polo was a racist (not exactly) and Part XXXVIII goes deep: Did medieval Christians believe that the Virgin Mary was black? |
| Public Medievalist |
| Ba de ya, say that you remember |
| Comedian and current Late Late Show writer Demi Adejuyigbe is a national treasure and proof positive that diversity in entertainment is making the world a better place. Just click. Really. Do you remember? Dancing in September? Do you? Remember? |
| New York Magazine |
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| Maurice White |
