“The wonder world of quilt-making.”
racism
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Recommending reads from David A. Taylor, Rebecca Solnit, Nicholas Russell, D.T. Max, and Jori Lewis.
Tell Me Why the Watermelon Grows
“Throughout its botanical, cultural, and social history, it has been a vehicle for our ideas about community, survival, and what we owe the future.”
Finding Jordan Neely
“He had places he belonged and people looking out for him. How did he end up dying, alone, at the hands of a stranger?”
“America Does Not Deserve Me.” Why Black People Are Leaving the United States
“The expats forging new lives in Puerto Viejo are part of a wider exodus of Black Americans from the U.S. in recent years, with many leaving for reasons that are explicitly political.”
My Time Machine
“The rules of historians are clear: put things in context, be dispassionate, and most of all, never say ‘we’ when you talk about the past.”
Enslaved potter David Drake searched for his family. More than 150 years later, they’ve found him.
“‘He was sending these messages,’ said Daisy Whitner, whom genealogists have identified as a descendent of Drake.”
Lost Illusions: The Untold Story of the Hit Show’s Poisonous Culture
“The show was a groundbreaking smash, but behind the scenes it devolved into such toxicity that even co-showrunner Damon Lindelof now says of his leadership: ‘I failed.'”
A Few Good Men
“Jordan Neely’s killer and the racist violence at the heart of the American imperial project.”
