Iserotope Extras - Issue #39

Hi there, and welcome to Issue #39 of Iserotope Extras. If you want inspiration, check out the first article; Ida Keeling will rid you of all your excuses. Then read two disturbing articles about the state of our current economy. (Enjoy the KenKen in between.) Finally, there are many types of anxiety, and library anxiety is one of them. Have a great week, and thank you for reading!

At 100, Still Running for Her Life

The other day, I was tired and didn’t want to go running. Poor Mark. Then I read this article about 100-year-old Ida Keeling, who has been running every day since she turned 67. (I made it around the lake. Thanks, Ida!)

Many Middle-Class Americans Are Living Paycheck to Paycheck

What would you do if you had to pay for a $400 emergency? According to a recent survey, 47 percent of Americans could not foot the bill. This is disturbing. Neal Gabler investigates why many middle-class people have financial problems (over-consumption, credit cards, financial illiteracy, wage stagnation, and more). Though I agree with this author’s argument, I don’t have empathy for him: a college-educated professional whose challenges seem self-imposed. Mr. Gabler comes across as entitled and annoying.

KenKen is the best. (The check mark means success.)

More cable and internet installers are independent contractors, and the hours and wages are brutal.

This article is going to make you hate Comcast (and other media providers) even more than you currently do. But it will also explain four-hour windows and why technicians never seem to come to your house.

Do You Suffer from Library Anxiety?

A couple years ago, I got in trouble with a few public librarians when I suggested that young people of color may not feel welcome in libraries. This piece suggests that many people find that entering a library provokes anxiety, even when librarians think they’re being welcoming.

Thank you very much for subscribing to Iserotope Extras. It’s something I really like doing, and it’s great that you open the digest every week to take a look at the articles. Feel free, as always, to share these articles and to get the word out about Extras. See you next week!

Iserotope Extras - Issue #38

I can’t help myself: There are 6 articles this week. (I promise they’re all good.) Read about having children (or not), speed reading (or not), how NPR is out of touch, how baseball is out of touch, how poor people keep the internet clean, and how poor people live longer lives in rich communities. Please enjoy!

The Answer Is Never

This 42-year-old woman doesn’t want to have children — and doesn’t have any regrets about her decision. She wonders why childless men don’t have to answer questions about their choices. To women who call her narcissistic, she writes, “You don’t know what’s right for me, and I don’t know what’s right for you.”

Sorry, You Can’t Speed Read

I tend to agree with this article — that claims of “speed reading” really mean “how to skim better.” But I do think that we can train ourselves (and students) to become more focused as we read, and to take in several words at a time, instead of subvocalizing.

My once-a-year day at the races netted $21.50 in profits! (I always win.)

The fight for the future of NPR: Can public radio survive the podcast revolution?

If you listen to NPR, you should read this article. NPR’s average listener is aging (54 years old), and younger listeners don’t like NPR’s bread-and-butter “Morning Edition,” which focuses on authoritative and short news briefs. In this middle of this piece, note how NPR editors and writers get defensive and self-righteous as they talk about covering Syria and Iraq.

The Unbearable Whiteness of Baseball

I like my Giants. (It’s an even year.) But this article — which argues that baseball is a conservative white sport — is compelling. Teams have become less racially diverse, and even though the number of Latino players has risen, baseball is not doing a good job to welcome them. There’s a code in baseball (don’t flip your bat, don’t express emotion) that might translate as, “act white.”

The new Kindle Oasis is $289. Despite the price, I'll be getting one!

The secret rules of the internet

Tech companies like Facebook and Google employ more than 100,000 people worldwide (many in the Philippines) to scrub the internet of violent, distasteful, and illegal content. In fact, it’s a miracle that most of what we see on the web isn’t horrific. This article explains that users — rather than tech companies, rather than the government — do the most to keep online communities safe.

Where living poor means dying young

Iserotope Extras subscriber Nick knows the kind of articles I like, and he submitted this one — thank you, Nick! From the article: “A poor person living in the San Francisco area can expect to live about three years longer than someone making the same income in Detroit. That difference is equivalent to how much national life expectancies would rise if we eliminated cancer.”

That’s it for this week. Hope you enjoyed some (if not all) of the articles. If you know someone who might like Iserotope Extras, invite them to subscribe! See you next Thursday!

Iserotope Extras - Issue #37

Hi there! Extras is back — hope that makes you happy! This issue, check out two articles about health, both of which focus on how our good intentions may be backfiring. Then, read about the worst way to promote reading, plus how it might be possible to change people’s deep-seated beliefs just by talking with them. Enjoy your week!

In San Jose, Poor Find Doors to Library Closed

The San Jose Public Library doesn’t let you borrow books if you owe more than $10 in overdue fines. This is not the best way to be welcoming and not the best way to promote reading, particularly among poor families of color. One Latina woman told her daughter, “Don’t take books out. It’s so expensive.”

The Sugar Conspiracy

Sugar — not fat, not cholesterol — is bad for us. It turns out, we should have known this 40 years ago. This article explains how nutrition scientists and the U.S. government focused on saturated fat rather than fructose, and how this error promoted obesity and health problems for millions of people.

It's Spring in Portland. (These are tulips, right?)

The Youngest Casualties in the War on Obesity

The best time to combat obesity and diabetes is early, and many schools now send report cards home with students’ Body Mass Index (BMI) scores. This article suggests that this move to promote health often leads to shame, body issues, and eating disorders.

How Do You Change Voters’ Minds? Have a Conversation

What if you could change someone’s mind about a controversial issue (e.g., gay marriage, abortion) with a simple 20-minute conversation? Going door to door, a Los Angeles-based activist group reduces prejudice by engaging people in their homes. Except there’s an extra layer: a researcher who likes to make things up.

Have a great week! If you like, email me back with your thoughts on this week’s issue, plus keep getting the word out!

Iserotope Extras - Issue #36

Hi there! What’s the best way to mentor young people, reduce violence, and build a community? The first two articles this week offer two different approaches — both of which are working. Then, after a beautiful vista, enjoy a brilliant profile on Aretha Franklin and a piece about the hotel industry that will leave you really upset. Thank you for reading Iserotope Extras!

Paying criminals not to kill

A few years ago, after suffering one of the highest murder rates in the country, Richmond began a controversial mentoring program for ex-criminals that included paying them up to $1,000 a month if they stayed out of trouble. Critics are vehement: Programs like this send the wrong message. Except it seems to be working: 84 out of 88 of the young men are still alive, with a lower recidivism rate, and my gut says this intervention is cheaper ($70,000 in stipends per year) than many alternatives.

Many gave up on Detroit and its youth — but not Coach Khali

There are a lot of good people out there doing a lot of good things. One is Coach Khali, who runs Downtown Youth Boxing in Detroit. This 8-minute video from Mic features Christal Berry, who you’ll love. “With me being a big girl,” she says, “I was always picked on. I always grew up as that tough girl, always ready to fight. But I know I had to lean out of that personality because it wasn’t taking me nowhere.” Her mom, impressed with her daughter’s boxing skills, has this to say: “Now I had to tell the girl, don’t get beside yourself. Your mama can still knock you down.” Love it.

This is Inspiration Point in Berkeley. My running club and I did a sunrise run last Sunday.

Soul Survivor

This is a extremely well-written profile of Aretha Franklin by David Remnick, the editor of the New Yorker. Mr. Remnick quotes Tavis Smiley: “Aretha gets offended when she thinks you think you’re getting over on her,” ‘Respect’ is not just a song to Aretha. It’s the mantra for her life.“ If you haven’t watched Ms. Franklin’s recent performance of “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” please do.

Spring break in Miami is the worst time to be a hotel maid.

We know that hotel housekeepers have a tough and thankless job. This article won’t make you feel any better. The hospitality industry is abysmal. How about offering low wages, providing terrible working conditions, and exploiting short-term H-2B visas? Not good.

Keep reading, Loyal Extras Subscribers! Here’s a fun fact: Iserotope Extras is opened more than 60 percent of the time. That’s more than double the average. It’s even better than theSkimm newsletter, one of the country’s most popular, which boasts a 40 percent open rate. So there!

Iserotope Extras - Issue #35

Hello, and welcome to Issue #35 of Iserotope Extras! Articles this week are about race, gentrification, books, teaching English, and smoothies. Even if you don’t live in San Francisco, please read the first article. It’s disturbing, but it’s deep. The rest of the articles are solid, too. Hope you enjoy them!

Death by gentrification: the killing that shamed San Francisco

Two years ago, a man named Alejandro Nieto was killed by police in San Francisco. In this article, Rebecca Solnit (who introduced the term “mansplaining”) draws connections between Mr. Nieto’s death and gentrification. Though Ms. Solnit’s writing relies on anecdotal correlations, this article is a must-read. It brings up big questions, like, What is public space? and Who gets to live here? It also reminds us that if we call 911, we’d better have a good reason.

Moneyball for Book Publishers: A Detailed Look at How We Read

It’s common knowledge that if you read on a Kindle, Amazon knows exactly what you’re doing: which books you’re reading, how much, and how quickly. Now a consulting firm in London is taking similar data and helping publishers market new books. (It turns out that most of us buy books, but few of us finish them.) In addition to raising privacy concerns, this trend may mean that books get shorter. (See what author James Patterson is doing.)

I like physical books, but in most schools, they end up tossed randomly inside cabinets next to tall, handmade ceramic bowls. (This is why I like Kindles.)

We Don’t Mean to Ruin Smoothies, But…

Do you like smoothies? Are you a juicer? Ever since I was 12, I have railed against fruit-as-liquid in all forms. (I like orange juice, though.) Better to eat the fruit than drink it, right? This Mother Jones article offers more evidence why my claim is true. It’s all about the sugar, apparently, and too much fruit sugar too quickly is like eating cookies. (I like cookies.)

Why Podcasts Like 'Serial' Are Helping English Teachers Encourage Literacy

Podcasts are way popular right now, and I’m a big fan. (I subscribe to about 30.) This article, by high school English teacher Michael Godsey, points out that having students listen to a podcast while reading its transcript (aka “same-language subtitling”) increases immersive reading and enhances comprehension. I gotta say, this is intriguing, and I’ll be encouraging my colleagues to try podcasts out with their students.

Thank you for reading this week’s issue, and thank you for being a subscriber. If you have thoughts about any of the articles this week, please reply to this email and let me know!

Iserotope Extras - Issue #34

Hi there, subscribers! This week’s edition begins with pieces about two hopeful programs in San Francisco and Oakland. I’m extremely impressed with the Five Keys Charter School and the African American Male Achievement program. They’re inspirational and are doing important work. Then, after the break, it’s back to reality, with an article about how an Idaho school is using professional development time for marksmanship. Extras finishes up this week with a disturbing essay that explains how our country’s current pro-Trump sentiment is related to a half-century Republican strategy to encourage white voters to cling to notions of white supremacy. On that note, enjoy!

The San Francisco Jail That Started a School

This is a great story about Five Keys Charter School, which began in San Francisco in 2003 as the first school inside a jail. By prioritizing rehabilitation over retribution, the school has awarded hundreds of diplomas, and graduates of its program have recidivism rates drastically lower than their counterparts. Its current principal, however, admonishes our public school system: “It’s criminal that in certain communities, like Bayview or Visitacion Valley in San Francisco, or Boyle Heights or Compton in L.A., there’s such a disproportionate number of non-high school graduates. That’s the population filling up our jails.”

Changing The Game For Young Black Males In America

Every year, almost as many black males are killed in Oakland, California, as graduate high school ready for college. That’s why this new 8-minute documentary about the African American Male Achievement program is a must-view. This is why people should teach; this is why people should support public education; this is why you should consider learning more about the AAMA. Plus, this short film exudes hope for and love of Oakland.

Evicted, by Matthew Desmond, is my early vote for 2016 Book of the Year.

How A Remote Idaho School Defends Itself

In Garden Valley, Idaho, guns are a way of life, and help is 45 minutes away. That’s why guns are stored in safes, and teachers get three or four days of training each year on how to shoot. Laree Jones, a teacher aide, says, “I can see how other communities wouldn’t be as receptive. But remember there’s pickups all over the place with rifles on the gun rack. That’s just our normal.”

How Donald Trump happened: Racism against Barack Obama.

This well-written piece by Jamelle Bouie suggests that Donald Trump’s popularity stems from a decades-long approach, beginning with the Southern Strategy, to incite white racial frustration in exchange for votes. Mr. Bouie argues convincingly that “the Obama era didn’t herald a post-racial America as much as it did a racialized one, where millions of whites were hyperaware of and newly anxious about their racial status.”

(Did you notice—no articles from the NYT or the New Yorker. I’m branching out.) Thanks for reading, loyal subscribers! You know you have friends and family out there that may enjoy checking out Iserotope Extras. Forward this issue to them and encourage them to subscribe! Have a wonderful week.

Iserotope Extras - Issue #33

Welcome to Issue #33! Race, crosswords, plagiarism, AIDS, and ugly fruit—it’s all here in this week’s Iserotope Extras. Plus there’s a brilliant quotation from James Baldwin that I’d never seen, so that’s a bonus. Please read as many articles as you like, and let me know what you think!

The Matter of Black Lives

Everyone should know about the history of Black Lives Matter—as well as its goals, organization, strategy, and next steps. This New Yorker piece, as usual, takes its time to introduce us to the major players of the movement. Unless you’re already an expert on BLM, you’ll learn a lot.

A Plagiarism Scandal Is Unfolding In The Crossword World

I like trying to do crosswords, though I mostly fail at completing them, and I’m fascinated by plagiarists, especially when they deny, deny, deny. This piece brings crosswords and plagiarists together, and so therefore I am happy.

James Baldwin, who died in 1987, is still sharing with us the truth.

The forgotten survivors of AIDS

This special report by health reporter Erin Allday is probably the best thing I’ve read in the San Francisco Chronicle for the last, well, forever. Ms. Allday tells the story of eight men who survived the AIDS epidemic and who find themselves forgotten as their city has moved on. Great writing, charts and graphs, photographs—this article has it all.

How ‘Ugly’ Fruits and Vegetables Can Help Solve World Hunger

Every year some 2.9 trillion pounds of food—about a third of all that the world produces—never get consumed, mostly because it’s not attractive enough. And 46 percent of fruit never gets from “farm to fork.” (That’s enough to feed two billion people.)

That’s it for this week! Remember to spring forward this weekend, and feel free to share Iserotope Extras with your friends (and invite them to subscribe)! j.mp/iserotopeextras

Iserotope Extras - Issue #32

Hello, Iserotope Extras community! You’re going to like all 4 extras this week. The first three are about injustice and race—how to escape gangs in El Salvador, who has power in the United States, and ways we can confront injustice. Then the last piece is about reading (no surprise). Please enjoy!

Fighting Fires Is a Form of Salvation for Youth in Gang-Ridden El Salvador

Violence is a way of life in El Salvador, where the murder rate is 104 per 100,000 people. (The United States’ is 4/100,000.) Salvadoran teenagers who want to avoid MS 13 or Barrio 18 join Comandos de Salvamento as firefighters and emergency medical technicians. Because the group saves everyone, including gang members, the comandos in yellow and green have a special power.

The Faces of American Power, Nearly as White as the Oscar Nominees

My teacher colleagues ask their students to provide evidence to back up their claims. This interactive graphic shows us—face by face, thumbnail by thumbnail—who has power in our country. Sometimes the truth is even starker than we think.

Need some privacy? An escape from the stressors of life? Try the Tomoko, built for “privacy and concentration,” particularly in open-space cubicles!

Bryan Stevenson speaks at Google

If you’re a long-time subscriber, you know that Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy was my favorite book of 2015. Last week, Google awarded Mr. Stevenson’s Equal Justice Initiative $1 million. This is a 20-minute speech (beginning at around 3:45) about what we can do to counter injustice. (Thank you to subscriber Peter for letting me know about this video!)

Taught to pass tests, they don't know how to read books

Another college professor decries his students’ lack of preparation as readers. Please let me know what you think about this piece. Is this an indictment of high-stakes testing? or weak teachers? or the ills of technology? Is this nostalgia for a past that never was? Is this guy making a solid argument or assigning the wrong books? (Thank you to subscriber Clare for letting me know about this article!)

You see? They were great articles, don’t you think? Plus, there is now evidence that I have begun to include subscriber-submitted articles. So submit away, if you like, and have a great week!

Iserotope Extras - Issue #31

Welcome new subscribers Phoebe, Phillip, Jamie, and M! Iserotope Extras is really taking off. This week, my favorite piece comes first: a letter that Harper Lee wrote to Oprah Winfrey. Then, please enjoy articles on the digital divide, the Japanese American Internment, and the growing trend among surgeons to perform operations using robots—from far away. Have a great week!

Harper Lee: A Letter to Oprah Winfrey on Reading

Harper Lee died last week. Here’s a letter she sent to Oprah Winfrey about the role of reading in her life. Pay special attention to the fifth and sixth paragraphs. You think the fifth is powerful, and then comes the sixth.

Bridging a Digital Divide That Keeps Schoolchildren Behind

The digital divide means the homework divide. Too many poor urban kids of color don’t have WiFi and do their homework on their phones. Or else they camp out across the street from their school to download their teachers’ assignments. This doesn’t seem like a good answer. But the answer can’t be for teachers to skip assigning homework, either.

Please enjoy this picture of Joshua Tree National Park! I went there once!

Interned: The local history we can’t let ourselves forget

With Donald Trump demanding that we build a wall to prevent immigration from Mexico and Central America, plus his pledge to disallow Muslims from entering the country, many Bay Area history teachers are encouraging students to think critically about how our current political climate compares with the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. This article by students at Palo Alto High School does an excellent job explaining the internment’s impact on the Bay Area.

The Surgeon Will Skype You Now

The tech for surgeons to operate on patients remotely has been possible for over a decade. But will it ever become commonplace? (And, I should add: Do we want it to be commonplace?)

Thank you for reading this 31st edition of Iserotope Extras! Also, I must say that there are some people who are confused by the name Iserotope. What does it mean? Where does it come from? Does it derive from isotope, and if so, why? These are crucial questions! If you know the answers, please email me your thoughts. Have a great week!

Iserotope Extras - Issue #30

Alex, Janet, and Julie are new subscribers — welcome! (Extras is blowing up!) This week, enjoy articles about resilience, the current state of teenagers, and how wealth determines your life expectancy even more than it did in our parents’ generation. (And please don’t unsubscribe just because I’m including an interview with Justice Scalia, who, by the way, had 28 grandchildren.) Have a wonderful week, and thank you for reading Iserotope Extras!

How People Learn to Become Resilient

What sets resilient children apart? Turns out trauma isn’t trauma unless we decide it’s trauma. If we practice a growth mindset, and if we ruminate less, then bad things in our lives don’t have to be so bad.

In Conversation With Antonin Scalia

The death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is, obviously, a big deal. My gut says that the Senate will eventually concede and end up confirming the second or third of President Obama’s nominees. This 2013 interview with Justice Scalia is evidence why people have remember him as “colorful” and a “firebrand.”

This is not Hawaii! This is Pescadero, CA. Growing up and living for years in California often means that you are unaware of nearby beautiful things.

Today’s teens are better than you, and we can prove it

Nope, things aren’t getting worse; they’re getting better. Today’s teenagers take care of themselves better than we did growing up. This article has charts and graphs, plus it’s interactive, so you can play with it and enjoy all the numbers.

Disparity in Life Spans of the Rich and the Poor Is Growing

Despite advances in medicine, a longevity gap that has long favored wealthy Americans has more than doubled since the 1970s. The gap is not small, and it’s startling and disturbing. Part of the reason — smoking — is understood, but other factors (e.g., obesity, drugs, the effects of poverty) still need additional study.

There it is, the 30th edition of Iserotope Extras! I’m going to stick to it on a weekly basis until people start shouting no (or unsubscribing). And if I get better at this, maybe I’ll move away from the tried-and-true Times and New Yorker (though their writing is always solid). Great week to you!