What's Next? An update. And your feedback.
Plus: Yosemite, emoji's go to court, and Idris Elba
This is the fifth week in a row I’ve sent out a dispatch, jumping starting what had essentially been a six-month hiatus on a previous cadence of twice-monthly posts in 2021 and 2022. I’m going to shift the cadence back to twice monthly. This will be more sustainable and, I’m hopeful, increase the quality of both the writing and the focus of what has been to this point known as “Here’s the Thing.”
I say, “has been,” because I am going to be updating the name and the focus of this dispatch. To this point, I’ve written largely on whatever is top of mind for me. And that can be quite a range of topics. So I suppose that it has given it some broad kind of focus (I’d be curious to hear how you might describe any themes or focus if you’ve been reading along for any length of time). But I want to tighten it up, if for no other reason than to make it of more predictable value—to me, to you, and to anyone else who might come along looking for an occasional, intentional moment of reflection and consideration.
So you can look forward to the next dispatch, under a new name, on July 23.
In the meantime, I’d love to hear from you — is there anything you’ve enjoyed in past dispatches? Any themes you’d like to keep around? Anything that you always skimmed past? Comment below (or hit reply if you’re reading this as an email)
Podcasts
More Perfect, “Clarence X” — If you aren’t familiar, “More Perfect” is a podcast (spun off from Radiolab) entirely about the United States Supreme Court. A new season kicked off early this summer. This episode feels incredibly timely, as there is a lot of attention and intense criticism heading in the direction of the court, but especially Justice Clarence Thomas. This episode may be as balanced an attempt to understand who he is and how he sees the world as you’ll find.
Field Trip, “Yosemite National Park” — From the podcast description: “Journey through the messy past and uncertain future of America’s national parks. The Washington Post’s Lillian Cunningham ventures off the marked trail to better understand the most urgent stories playing out in five iconic landscapes today.”
To Check Out
'Race Neutral’ is the new ‘Separate but Equal’ — Uma Mazyck Jayakumar and Ibram X. Kendi lay out a compelling, fact-driven, sobering reflection on the recent Supreme Court decision to overturn affirmative action. I encourage you to take time to read it, and to click links throughout to explore the data and big picture that can be easily missed.
Underrepresentation of Black, Latino, and Indigenous students at the most coveted universities isn’t a new phenomenon, it isn’t a coincidence, and it isn’t because there is something deficient about those students or their parents or their cultures. Admissions metrics both historically and currently value qualities that say more about access to inherited resources and wealth— computers and counselors, coaches and tutors, college preparatory courses and test prep—than they do about students’ potential. And gaping racial inequities persist in access to each of those elements—as gaping as funding for those so-called equal schools in the segregated Mississippi Delta a century ago.
Related: The newest SCOTUS member, Justice Kentaji Brown Jackson wrote a 29-page scathing dissent of the decision to eliminate affirmative action. The Washington Post has a good write-up. Here is a taste of her 🔥
“With let-them-eat-cake obliviousness, today, the majority pulls the ripcord and announces ‘colorblindness for all’ by legal fiat. But deeming race irrelevant in law does not make it so in life.”
“Canadian Court Rules 👍 Emoji Counts as a Contract Agreement” — That’s an actual headline about an actual court case. I’m just picturing the Aaron Sorkin movie based on this case, with giant posterboards displaying the text with a thumbs-up emoji.
As of July 1, I had read more books (15) compared to the number of movies I had watched (14). That reality has already shifted (I watched three movies this weekend), but it was an interesting observation on the first half of my year. Here is my Letterboxd list of movies watched, which I started using to track movies in December of 2022.
Elemental — We saw this newest Pixar movie with the kids. It was good enough, which falls below the bar of expectations for a Pixar movie. The visuals didn’t seem to jump off the screen as with past movies, nor was the story something that stood out as Pixar-esque. Elemental falls toward the bottom of my Pixar rankings.
Hijack — This is a new series on Apple TV+, starring Idris Elba. Three episodes have come out so far and I really wish I hadn’t started this…unless I could binge the whole thing. It’s so good!
This dispatch was written to music, including the 2006 album, Subtítulo, by Josh Rouse.
I don't have any specific feedback or ideas for future content - I have enjoyed reading your thoughts and reflections on the emails I've been able to read! It's all very good stuff. Looking forward to seeing more in the future.