#99: A Presumption of Guilt

Hello there! I hope you’ve had a strong week. Mine was solid, thank you for asking. A highlight was that the Summer Kindle Party was last Saturday, and it was a huge success. (If you’re interested, here’s more about the Kindle Classroom Project.)

Anyway, enough about me. Today’s edition of The Highlighter focuses on race and is organized in two parts. First up is an essay by my hero Bryan Stevenson that offers historical context to our current horror of police killings. The second piece is the digest’s first contribution from a conservative publication, and it makes a key point: that white liberals need to do more than just talk a good game about social justice.

After the photo break, I’ve included two profiles / book reviews. The first piece highlights Roxane Gay and her latest, Hunger, and the second piece highlights Sherman Alexie and his latest, You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me. Please enjoy all four articles and let me know what you think!

A Presumption of Guilt: How Centuries of Racism Have Led to Police Killings

When white police officers kill Black people, they are not acting on their own. Hundreds of years of American racism, from slavery to Jim Crow to lynching to the death penalty, have contributed to the perception that African American people are dangerous and guilty. Police shootings are the new lynchings, according to Bryan Stevenson (#9, #28, #32, #54, #93). In this essay, Mr. Stevenson argues that our country’s inability to acknowledge our history of lynching prevents us from progressing toward any shared goal of justice. Highlighted below is one of my favorite excerpts from the piece. (You see? — I’m highlighting!)

White Liberals Denounce Inequity While Keeping It For Themselves

Loyal subscribers have asked me why I don’t include articles from conservative news sources. It’s not from a lack of trying. Not to be snooty, but the primary reason is that the conservative articles I find are too short, poorly written, and festooned with advertisements. (If you have recommendations, please send them my way.) This piece — about how white liberals claim to advocate for social justice without making any sacrifices themselves — is different. For the most part, author William Voegeli makes solid points: Anyone can denounce inequity, he writes, but it’s much harder actually to renounce it. Checking your privilege doesn’t do anything to make our society more free and fair. (Rebuttal: Neither does denying that inequity exists.)

22 friends and family prepared 400 Kindles last Saturday for middle school students in Oakland. Here is Kindle captain and loyal subscriber Angelina with Kindle #400. Rejoice!

Roxane Gay’s New Memoir, Hunger, Is Her Most Feminist Act Yet

This is a profile of author Roxane Gay (#4, #82) and a review of her new book, Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body. Ms. Gay writes about her weight, what it feels like to be fat, how our society can’t talk about fatness, and about how being a fat person of color negates gender. In addition to decrying the weight-loss industry, and self-help books, Ms. Gay writes about her shame, and whether there is a bottom of it, and how the shame and weight gain emerged from being raped when she was 12.

Sherman Alexie: My mother was a dictionary. She always said to me, English will be your best weapon. She was right, she was right, she was right.

For some crazy reason, Sherman Alexie has not yet appeared in The Highlighter, but that silliness ends right here and now. This well-written profile previews Mr. Alexie’s new memoir, You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me, which focuses on the complicated relationship he had with his mother. Mr. Alexie writes, “For all the damage my mother did to me, the thing she gave me, and that has saved me, is the arrogant belief that I deserve to live.” This article also explains why Mr. Alexie did not protest at Standing Rock, why straight white women are his most devoted readers, and how genocide does not have to involve mass death.

Another issue of The Highlighter is officially in the books! Thank you for reading it. Also, please welcome new subscribers John and Julie. The movement is picking up steam. This week, let me know (either by responding to this email or by giving me a thumbs-up or thumbs-down below) what you thought about the big yellow highlighted excerpt above. (It’s a new feature I’m testing out.) Did you like it? hate it? not care either way? Thank you for sharing your thoughts, and I’ll see you next Thursday at 9:10 am for The Highlighter #100!

#98: Hoarding the American Dream

Happy Thursday, Loyal Subscribers, and welcome to The Highlighter #98! This week centers on two big questions: (1) What does it mean to be American? and (2) Isn’t history, particularly when it’s about quirky things, sometimes great?

Most young people no longer believe in the American Dream, and their sentiments are pretty much right on. Maybe the problem is that too many Americans are sucking up all the possible wealth and not giving the young ones a chance. Or perhaps the issue is with segregation and how our public schools get to dictate who has access to the American Dream. The effects are both systemic and personal, both out in the world as well as inside our homes.

The study of history is boring for some people, and for others, it is extremely painful. For me, reading historical pieces helps me build background knowledge so that I can avoid sounding foolish when talking to people. That’s precisely why I’ve included histories of the U.S. Postal Service and pink doughnut boxes in today’s digest. Go out there and educate the unsuspecting masses!

Hoarding the American Dream

I live in the Bay Area (as do some of you!), where the cost of living is high, where houses are hard to buy, and where people earning $100,000 a year complain that they’re living month to month. Brookings scholar Richard Reeves, author of the new book Dream Hoarders, argues that our country spends too much time admonishing the top 1 percent, when really it’s the top 20 percent — households earning more than $112,000 a year — that are “hoarding the American Dream” and keeping lower-income people from ascending the economic ladder. The hoarding comes in many forms, including owning a home, sending your children to private school, and saving for college. The problem, of course, is that people in the top quintile don’t see themselves as upper-middle class, and attribute their success to hard work, rather than privilege or luck.

Welcome to Refugee High

At first glance, this is a feel-good story about how a high school in Chicago welcomed refugees from around the world with open arms and built a warm, inclusive community. Nearly half the students at Sullivan High School are first-generation immigrant students, coming from 38 countries and speaking 35 languages. What this article fails to mention, however, is how the school used to serve large numbers of African American students. After earning poor marks from the district, and after being perceived as unsafe, administrators at Sullivan High decided on a strategy to alter the school’s demographics by pushing out students with spotty attendance records. Unfortunately, Sullivan is not unique. Many public schools find success by rearranging their notion of public.

Mother Tongue

Yoojin Grace Wuertz is a new mom and Korean American and married to a white man. She is deciding whether or not to speak to her kid in Korean. It seems like the right thing to do: being bilingual is great; all her smart friends are doing it; she wants to do the right thing. But something doesn’t feel right, so Ms. Grace Wuertz outsources the language study to her parents, who later balk at the assignment. She then has to make a decision, but as you’ll find out, by then, it’s a little too late.

My colleague Shannon knows how to get young people to love reading. Here are two of her ninth graders in San Francisco. Check out her story: j.mp/ssrworks

The Lost Genius of the Post Office

I like history and I like the U.S. Postal Service, and this article has both all in one! If you’re dubious, please consider this: The Post Office was once the bastion of innovation, research, and development. One example: In 1959, it tested out delivering mail from New York to San Francisco via a 30-foot missile. (Landing was the tough part.) Did that catch your attention? How about this one — that during World War II, letters to soldiers were first scanned to microfilm, then shipped overseas, then printed out for delivery? Given that exciting history, too bad the U.S. Postal Service has recently fallen on hard times, with its $15 billion debt and 25 percent decrease in parcels since 2008. Still, it’s a wonder that we can send a letter clear across this nation, to some random house on the side of a country road, for 49 cents.

Why Doughnut Boxes Are Pink

More delightful history in this article. If you’re from California, you know that a pink box has delicious doughnuts inside. Apparently this isn’t the case in other parts of the country. The pink box originated in Los Angeles in the late-1970s after several Cambodian-owned mom-and-pop doughnut shops opted for pink over white. What began as a business decision (the square 9-inch boxes were a few cents cheaper, plus the perfect size for a dozen doughnuts) became iconic and famous and saliva-inducing.

Thank you for reading this issue of The Highlighter! Hope you liked it. Let’s please welcome new subscriber Anne! Also, this is the week where I’d like you to read the digest extremely conspicuously, maybe on public transportation, and when a stranger asks you what you’re reading, stretch out your arms and loudly proclaim, “The Highlighter!” Then kindly let me know how they respond. Have a great week, and see you next Thursday at 9:10 am!

#97: Faces of Healing

Hello and welcome to The Highlighter #97. Monday was the anniversary of the massacre at Pulse in Orlando. The first two pieces this week — one a photo essay, the other a first-hand perspective — are dedicated to the 49 people who lost their lives last June.

After a photo break, I’ve included two additional personal essays. Ijeoma Oluo (#89) is back reminding white people yet again not to make everything about themselves. Then John Nova Lomax, a father, thanks the military for helping his wayward son, prompting me to keep an open mind.

Loyal subscribers, we’re well into June, which means summer, naps in hammocks, beach vacations, meandering breakfast mornings, and plenty of time to get caught up on your favorite digest. Thank you for reading The Highlighter!

Faces of Healing: After the Pulse Massacre

More people were killed at Pulse in Orlando, Florida, than in any other mass shooting in American history. Photographer Cassi Alexandra uses her camera to capture the faces of families, friends, and community members as they heal. A year later, it is still very difficult for me to imagine the horror of that evening.

Pulse Nightclub Was My Home

This is a story of coming out, about a young man and his relationship with his older brother, and about what it means to be brown and gay. It is also an ode to Pulse. For Edgar Gomez, Pulse was a safe space. He writes, “It’s where I spent my 18th birthday, my 21st birthday. It was where I lied about my age to older men, telling them I was 21 when I was 18.” He continues: “I claim[ed] Pulse as my home, its inhabitants as my family. I could rely on them as surely as if we shared blood. I knew Pulse’s doors would be open on Thanksgiving, Halloween, Christmas.” Mr. Gomez does not stop there. He suggests that Pulse was a safe haven also for the shooter who killed 49 people.

I like lakes. This one is in Guatemala.

White People Will Always Let You Down

A few issues ago, Ijeoma Oluo excoriated Rachel Dolezal (aka Nkechi Amare Diallo), and now, she reflects on how liberal white people tend not to be helpful, despite their best intentions. Instead of giving up, though, Ms. Oluo — who lives in Seattle — digs in, demands more, doesn’t let go. This essay explains why, and is a reminder to white people to figure things out, fast.

Welcome to the Green Machine

The last few years I was a teacher, more of my students chose to join the military. At first I was surprised: Why were my top-notch students shunning four-year colleges? One main reason was financial, of course, but there was more there. My students craved purpose and discipline; they wanted to be part of something bigger. When they made their decision, my students — focused, resolute — were not similar to obstinate, meandering John Henry Lomax, the focus of this article. “The military,” John Henry’s father writes, “is one of the last great leveling forces in America today.” I’m still not sure I agree with this claim, but I can keep reading, try to relate, try to listen.

The Highlighter #97 is in the books! Thank you very much for being a loyal subscriber. Let’s please welcome new subscriber Mea! If you have someone in mind who might like The Highlighter, do not hesitate to invite them to subscribe. They will be happy, you will be happy, and I will be happy! Have a great week, and see you next Thursday at 9:10 am!

#96: Losing Your Mom to Deportation

Hello and welcome to The Highlighter #96! This issue is coming out in the middle of the James Comey testimony. It’s OK: Go ahead and keep watching that — I understand — but be sure to get back to reading today’s edition as soon as you can, because it is a blockbuster of emotion!

If you can spare the time (60 to 90 minutes) to read the first three articles in order, you will come away changed. I thought I knew a thing or two about the impact of deportation, the ills of the opioid epidemic, and the effects of HIV on African Americans. These three pieces quickly showed me that I have a lot more to learn — and to do. If you choose to read them, take them in slowly.

Then, after your gut is punched, you’ll get a photo break, though it might spur even more emotion, and then, finally, a reprieve. Articles about reading and baseball will follow, and you can relax and take a breath. Please enjoy!

Losing Your Mom to Deportation

Imagine walking home from school and finding out that your mother is in jail, arrested by the police, likely to face deportation. This is what happened to 10-year-old Angel Marin and his three sisters, Evelyn, Yesi, and Briza. The day after their mother’s arrest, the children agreed not to tell anyone, choosing to live on their own. Better to fend for themselves than to alert the authorities. The number of children who have lost their parents as a result of deportation is staggering — about 500,000 between 2009 and 2013. (That statistic does not take into consideration the policies of our current president.) With the foster care system and child protective services overwhelmed, many children go unnoticed for long periods of time. Even when Arizona began to offer support for Angel and his sisters, their lives did not improve. With their mother in Mexico, they faced an excruciating decision: Go live with their mother in Mexico or stay in the United States?

The Addicts Next Door

This is the article I needed to read to understand the scope and severity of the opioid epidemic in our country. It focuses on Berkeley County, West Virginia, which has the highest rate of overdose in the United States. Margaret Talbot writes, “At this stage of the American opioid epidemic, many addicts are collapsing in public—in gas stations, in restaurant bathrooms, in the aisles of big-box stores.” It is assumed that if your car is parked on the side of the road and you’re inside it, you are experiencing an overdose. Paramedics sometimes visit the same house more than once a day to administer Narcan, the opiate antidote. When you think you’ve had enough, Ms. Talbot gives you more, featuring a group of mothers who drive addicts hundreds of miles to detox centers, introducing us to a young woman who has lost 13 friends to overdose, explaining how thousands of children lose their parents and enter the foster care system. It’s a lot.

America’s Hidden H.I.V. Epidemic

Now that HIV is no longer a death sentence, and AIDS no longer an epidemic among gay white men in cities, we seem not to care that one out of every two gay and bisexual African Americans will be infected with the HIV virus in their lifetimes, the highest rate in the world. The problem is the worst in the South, where stigma is strong and resources are weak. As you read this outstanding article, allow your stereotypes (e.g, of the down low) to fade away. Consider why our country has spent billions of dollars to decrease HIV in Africa but has snubbed the American South. Learn why PrEP isn’t available to everyone. And wonder why gay white men are absent, not allied with African Americans to fight the virus.

It has been 28 years since the protests at Tienanmen Square. This image should be in every social studies teacher’s classroom.

Save Reading, Save the Country

English teacher Julia Franks believes we can improve our classrooms and save the country if we encourage young people and adults to read more. Reading more means understanding other people, building empathy, “practicing a different vantage point.” I agree with Ms. Franks in theory—so long as teachers get involved in their students’ reading journeys, learn their interests, encourage books to try out, ask real questions, and help their students to construct what reading guru Teri Lesesne calls “reading ladders.”

How to Be a Better Hitter

You don’t have to be a baseball fan (as I am) to appreciate this article. Almost all Little League coaches urge batters to swing level or down at the ball, causing line drives or ground balls. It turns out that this advice is wrong. After taking a look at the data, more and more professional baseball players are aiming for fly balls. Though fly balls do not result in more hits (a .241 batting average vs. .239 for ground balls), they lead to a big increase in the possibility of extra-base hits, like home runs (a .715 slugging percentage vs. .258 for ground balls). Besides, there’s more space in the outfield that doesn’t have a fielder nearby. (Go Giants!)

Hope you enjoyed today’s issue! Do you agree that there was a ton of emotion in the first half? Please let me know what you thought by voting thumbs-up or -down below, plus leave a comment, too, if you like. Also, let’s welcome new subscribers David and Hagikah! The Highlighter is strong because of its subscribers. Keep getting the word out about the digest, and see you next Thursday at 9:10 am!

#95: The Battle Over Charter Schools

And just like that, it’s June! Welcome to The Highlighter #95. For this week’s edition, I decided to feature articles from publications that most of us may not read regularly. The first, an explanatory piece about charter schools, comes from Ed., Harvard Graduate School of Education’s alumni magazine. The second, a stark warning about our current political climate, comes from the Los Angeles Review of Books. After the photo break, which honors cherry season, the third article, a memoir / how-to manual, is from Catapult, which features emerging writers. The last article, an account of last year’s wildfire in the Smoky Mountains, is from Garden & Gun Magazine, which celebrates “the modern South.” I hope you enjoy reading a few of these pieces, and please let me know what you think!

The Battle Over Charter Schools

Though it highlights Massachusetts, this article includes a solid general history of charter schools in the United States, plus explains why they’ve become even more controversial recently. One tension that emerges: Are charter schools “public?” This piece thinks so, as do I (mainly), but then points out that 80 percent of Michigan’s charter schools are run by for-profit organizations. That bothers me. What also bothers me is the argument that charter schools somehow have destroyed public education, or have promoted resegregation, or have decimated teacher unions. Nope, nope, nope. On the other hand, charter schools are by no means the solution, either. In my mind, the challenge of public education is whether we believe in a public in the first place.

Why Hannah Arendt Matters: How Totalitarian Mass Movements Develop

Speaking of the public, picking up where Masha Gessen left off (#67, #75), Roger Berkowitz discusses how an isolated, lonely populace can lead to an autocratic leader and a totalitarian mass movement. Reviewing The Origins of Totalitarianism, by Hannah Arendt, Mr. Berkowitz argues that manipulative tyrannical leaders offer a fictional stability to people who seek meaning in their lives. He quotes Ms. Arendt: “What prepares men for totalitarian domination in the non-totalitarian world is the fact that loneliness, once a borderline experience usually suffered in certain marginal social conditions like old age, has become an everyday experience of the ever-growing masses of our century.” Scary stuff. Check out parts I, II, and VI of this long review.

Cherry season is my second favorite time of year. My favorite time of year? Peach season (coming soon). Thank you to loyal subscriber Irene (also my mom!) for this year’s harvest.

How to Write Iranian-America

Please tell me if I should like this essay. Written by Porochista Khakpour, this memoir is delivered machine gun style, all in second person — or more accurately, in the imperative form, if my interpretation is correct. (The ending got me thinking.) Ms. Khakpour makes you feel ill at ease, alienated, as she did growing up Iranian-American in Los Angeles and trying to make it as a writer in New York. But she also offers a how-to manual of sorts for marginalized writers to make it despite the odds and the struggle to write about (or not write about) “what you know.”

Fire on the Mountain

Six months ago in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, a small fire, likely started by teenagers playing with matches while on a hike, burst out of control, killing 14 people and destroying thousands of homes. It was the worst wildfire the Smoky Mountains had suffered in more than one hundred years. Justin Heckert, who knows how to write, features the people who narrowly escaped the fire and honors those who perished in the blaze.

Hope you enjoyed today’s issue! Thank you very much for subscribing to The Highlighter and for spreading the word about the digest. We’re coming up on the 100th edition pretty soon, which is pretty great, and which means maybe we should start thinking of a major celebration, don’t you think? Please let me know if you have ideas. Should there be prizes for serious subscribers? In the meantime, have a great week, and I’ll see you next Thursday at 9:10 am, the last day of school around here!

#94: We Cannot Be Afraid of Our Truth

It’s The Highlighter #94, everybody! Welcome. Today’s issue centers on the difficulty of sharing space and building empathy across difference. The first two articles explore how two different cities have decided to live in community. New Orleans is toppling its Confederate statues (in the middle of the night, with bulletproof vests, guarded by snipers) to remove its reverence of racism. On the flip side, the suburb of Troy, New York is calling the police on its African American residents as the town becomes more diverse.

After the photo break, the digest considers how listening and storytelling can promote empathy. However, the third piece—a negative review of S-Town—warns us that listening without an interrogative ear can lead us to complicity. Have empathy but remain leery? That seems complex. Good thing there’s a classic This American Life episode about acting’s transformative effects to round out today’s issue. Please enjoy!

Mayor Mitch Landrieu: Why We Should Remove Confederate Monuments

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu was successful this week in his pledge to remove four monuments commemorating the Confederacy. In this remarkable speech, Mr. Landrieu reminds us that “we cannot be afraid of our truth” as a country. He also wonders why New Orleans has “no slave ship monuments, no prominent markers on public land to remember the lynchings or the slave blocks; nothing to remember this long chapter of our lives; the pain, the sacrifice, the shame.” It’s as if Mr. Landrieu has been talking to Bryan Stevenson. (Here’s Mr. Stevenson on PBS NewsHour.)

Police’s Message to Black Suburbans: You’re Not Wanted. Please Go Away.

White people in Troy, New York — and in many suburbs across the country — tolerate African Americans as long as they don’t live nearby. Then, they say things like, “Things have changed,” and “People shouldn’t play their music so loud.” Over the past 35 years, the percentage of white people living in Troy has declined from 92 percent to 66 percent. With the number of African American residents increasing, more white people have called on the police — 95 percent white, similar to Ferguson, Missouri — to “clear things up.”

Tenth graders in loyal subscriber Samantha’s class debate whether voting should be compulsory. Photo by loyal subscriber Laura. Envision Academy, Oakland.

Airbrushing Shittown

In #87, I recommended S-Town, the podcast from Serial that profiles a Southern man from a Southern town. Since its release in March, S-Town has received very strong (and mixed) reviews. This review by Aaron Bady is the best negative one that I’ve read so far. Mr. Bady writes that producer Brian Reed tries too hard being a neutral New Yorker. In order to build rapport and establish his empathy, Mr. Reed does not question the rampant racism in the town. As a result, even though the stated facts might be right, the omissions are glaring, making S-Town a work of fiction friendly to white people. Note: Spoilers.

Hamlet in Prison

What happens when people in prison put on a performance of Hamlet? The answer: Very good things. This podcast, an oldie-but-goodie from This American Life, reminds me of the power of drama. When we act, when we bring a work of literature to life, when we inhabit a character and make them real, in front of a real audience, we rewrite our own narratives—and therefore, ourselves. For another example of this transformation, check out Last Chance in Texas (reviewed in #9).

That’s it for today! Thank you very much for reading this week’s issue. If you liked it (or if you hated it), please leave a thumbs-up (or down) below. (Last week’s score: 8-0.) Also, let’s welcome new subscribers Kristin and S.M. I appreciate everyone’s eagerness to get the word out about The Highlighter. Maybe there should be prizes! What do you think? See you next Thursday at 9:10 am.

#93: My Family’s Slave

Welcome to the 93rd edition of The Highlighter! This week, I found myself amid a flurry of excellent reporting in the political world (the current scoop score: Washington Post 1 ½, New York Times 1 ½) and excellent writing everywhere else. There was indeed no shortage of high-quality pieces, and I’m proud to say that I’ve selected five of my favorites.

The first three articles — about slavery, a foiled terrorist attack, and the history of racism in the United States — surface the various ways we come to acknowledge the pain we have caused others in our family and community. How do we say we’re sorry and take steps to heal? What’s the best way to make amends — is it through a public eulogy, or punishment, or remorse and repentance, or truth and reconciliation?

After the photo break, the tone shifts, and I include two personal pieces — the first about parenting (and reading), the second about dating (and getting a job). If you’re not in the mood for heavy-heavy, stick with these two. Whatever you choose, please try a few, and thank you for reading The Highlighter!

A Story of Slavery in Modern America

Pulitzer Prize winner Alex Tizon was born in the Philippines and moved to the United States with his mom, dad, and Lola, the family’s slave. This article is gut wrenching, layered, and complicated. The author, who died recently, seems to have written it to give Eudocia Tomas Pulido a voice, to criticize his parents, and perhaps most important, to absolve himself of his complicity. Along the way, we’re reminded of our ability to rationalize, to explain away the horrors of what we’re capable of doing. We also come to get to know Lola, a woman whose life was entirely limited, whose world was kept so small. (A number of you — in particular, loyal subscribers Angelina and Thuy — suggested this story. Thank you! If you feel moved, let’s extend the conversation. Click on the thought bubble and share.)

“The Only Good Muslim Is a Dead Muslim”

This is the story of how the FBI thwarted a Timothy McVeigh-like bombing that targeted the Somali community in Garden City, Kansas. A major meatpacking center, Garden City was once a beacon for refugees — that is, until the white population became a minority. The economic downturn, coupled with presidential candidate Donald Trump’s racist, vitriolic attacks against immigrants, pushed three white men to join the militant group III% (warning: scary blog) and seek revenge. After feeling disgusted, if you read all the way through, there will be a glimmer of hope.

Bryan Stevenson: “The opposite of poverty isn’t wealth. It’s justice.”

Bryan Stevenson (#9, #28, #32, #54) makes his fifth appearance in The Highlighter, which should tell you something. Here’s my advice: Please listen to this 93-minute podcast from the beginning, preferably without distraction, and when you reach the end, make sure to listen again in its entirety. (I’m only mildly joking.) If you care about our country, if you’re interested in seeking justice, if you’re looking for a role model, or if you’re considering your purpose in life, Mr. Stevenson does not disappoint, in this interview with Ezra Klein.

Kelly has been doing a lot of reading in Ms. Michele’s advisory! Each star has a book title on it. Tracking and celebrating reading are two key ingredients in a successful independent reading program.

My Bad Parenting Advice Addiction

Emily Gould writes this funny, well-written reflection on the challenges of being a mom of a newborn child, particularly if you start reading a book or two (or 25 over two months) that includes parenting advice. In particular, Ms. Gould’s discussion of sleep training (the “family bed” approach vs. the close-the-door-from-7-pm-to-7-am approach) is simultaneously hilarious and harrowing. And I don’t even have kids! (Maybe it’s hilarious because I don’t have kids.)

Getting a Job Is Like Online Dating

Andrew Kay is a graduate student who can’t decide which is harder to gain: a professorship or a girlfriend. He takes on both challenges at once in this sometimes brilliant, sometimes off-putting 10,000-word essay. It turns out, he writes, that both processes are pretty much the same. I found noteworthy Mr. Kay’s analysis of the organizational similarities between the academic cover letter and the dating profile on OKCupid. (He had more luck on Tinder.) Also, ghosting isn’t reserved to those who spark your romantic interest; university deans do it, too. (The writing is excellent, even when the author is annoying. Give it a try.)

Thank you for reading today’s issue! Twelve thumbs up last week, and zero thumbs down! Go ahead and vote again if you like. For extra credit, try to bring up The Highlighter naturally in a conversation with friends or family. Say it all casually, as if everyone knows about it. If they don’t react, follow up with, “You do know about The Highlighter, don’t you?” Please let me know how it goes! See you next Thursday at 9:10 am.

#92: Juice Is Bad For You

Happy Thursday, and welcome to The Highlighter #92! Let me begin by saying something simple and plain: This whole Trump Fires Comey thing is pretty huge and pretty scary.

With that out of the way, let’s get to today’s issue. The first article will get you thinking about home ownership, how rigged our tax code is, and how most of us who aren’t struggling day to day don’t much care about those who are. The second piece explores how much of sex education in our country is Sunday school in disguise. After the pet photograph break (two weeks in a row for loyal subscriber Kathleen!), enjoy the first-ever comic featured in The Highlighter, and then end with my excoriation of, my harangue about, my fulmination against fruit juice.

How the American Dream and Homeownership Became the Engine of American Inequality

Matthew Desmond (#29, #34) won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City. Evicted is a stunning book, and this is a stunning article. Prof. Desmond argues convincingly that our tax code offers huge benefits to homeowners through the mortgage-interest deduction. This is great for homeowners (who on average have 36 times the wealth of renters), and it’s great for homes (inflated values, particularly in places like San Francisco), but it’s not exactly great for working class people living check to check. The theory is that the MID encourages people to buy homes, that it promotes stability. Not according to the data. Rather, it exacerbates economic inequality.

We could fix this problem if we wanted to, Prof. Desmond writes — but we don’t want to. “We tend to speak about the poor as if they didn’t live in the same society, as if our gains and their losses weren’t intertwined. Conservatives explain poverty by pointing to ‘individual factors,’ like bad decisions or the rise of single-parent families; liberals refer to ‘structural causes,’ like the decline of manufacturing or the historical legacies of racial discrimination. Usually pitted against each other, each perspective serves a similar function: letting us off the hook by asserting that there is a deep-rooted, troubling problem — more than one in six Americans does not make enough to afford basic necessities — that most of us bear no responsibility for.”

The Problem with Abstinence-Only Sex Education, and the Damage It Causes

More and more states require abstinence-only sex education, which of course is a problem, given that teen pregnancy remains higher in those states. The other problem is who is leading the sex ed in the first place. There aren’t enough trained health teachers to go around, so many schools outsource their sex ed to programs like Life Choices, which say they’re secular but are bursting with religion. Sex ed ends up being about God and Christian morals, not about health — not good for teenagers.

Muffin 3, who here resembles the Mona Lisa, belongs to loyal subscriber Kathleen.

You're not going to believe what I'm about to tell you

This comic from The Oatmeal does a great job explaining why facts don’t matter, particularly when they run counter to what we believe, and especially when they dispute our core values. Apparently there’s a pesky part of our brain called the amygdala that thinks that scary information is the same thing as scary monsters.

Juice Is Bad For You

In Issue #35, I ruined smoothies. Now I am ruining all things juice, once and for all. Whenever I think that everyone has tasted the truth about juice (i.e., that it is not healthful), I meet a new person who extols the virtues of juice, juicing, and the Juicero. No more! (Except for Martinelli’s apple juice, of course, which is the best, particularly in 10-ounce glass containers.)

Thank you very much for reading today’s issue! I would like to encourage you to click on the thumbs-up or thumbs-down icon to share your thoughts about this issue. (Last week’s statistics: 4 thumbs up, 0 thumbs down!) After you do, on the next screen, you can even write a sentence or two, if you like. As always, thank you for being loyal subscribers, and see you next Thursday at 9:10 am!

#91: What Bullets Do To Bodies

Today’s issue of The Highlighter isn’t as gloomy as last week’s, but I’m still trending serious. The first two articles remind us to live for purpose and to use our time well. The second two articles point out that well-intentioned laws do not work when ill-intentioned people carry them out. Finally, the last two articles offer glimpses into worlds you may have never considered. I hope you enjoy all six articles and the two photographs along the way!

What Bullets Do to Bodies

Dr. Amy Goldberg has been a surgeon in the trauma unit at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia for the past 30 years. Her life’s work is to save people from dying from gun violence. If we knew what bullets do to bodies, Dr. Goldberg says, we would change our minds about our right to bear arms. The problem, of course, is that many white people, even after Sandy Hook, have decided that gun violence is not a real problem, that it affects only people of color in cities.

A Father’s Final Odyssey

This is an exquisitely written article about a man and his father who study Homer’s Odyssey and then go on a cruise to Greece. It is about the journey of life; it is about how our parents know us more than we can know them; it is about how living is about facing uncertainty; it is about how the story is better than the real thing. Thank you, loyal subscriber Monica, for recommending this piece.

Elegantly adorned Brandon (the bag is not his) is ready for a walk. He belongs to loyal subscriber Kathleen, who celebrates her birthday tomorrow.

How Case Farms Exploited Immigrants, Then Used Law Against Them

Wow, this one — about Case Farms, a chicken company that supplies to Popeyes and KFC — is a rough one. It starts like Fast Food Nation, with stories of gruesome injuries and horrendous working conditions, and keeps on going, demonstrating how big business exploits undocumented immigrants and then eviscerates them, using laws against their own workers.

Gerrymandering Is Illegal, but Only Mathematicians Can Prove It

I like articles that teach me things. This well-written piece by Erica Klarreich offers a good history of gerrymandering, explains two ways (packing, cracking) that politicians draw biased districts, and shows how technology may help courts decide on standards of fairness. Interesting point: We seem to want our districts “compact,” rather than diffuse (like a salamander), but such a standard may hurt Democrats (who tend to concentrate in urban centers) over Republicans (who tend to live disparately throughout a state).

10th grader Vanessa enjoys a sunny day, an open window, and a good book at Envision Academy in Oakland. Photo credit: Loyal subscriber Laura. Teacher credit: Loyal subscriber Samantha.

Mental Health Services in Ghana: A Prayer’s Chance

When 10-year-old Samuel Donkoh began laughing uncontrollably on a soccer field one day in Ghana, his family did not know what to do, particularly when his erratic behavior did not stop. The Devil had taken him. The local hospital could not help. Samuel’s mother decided to take him to a rural Pentecostal camp for spiritual treatment, which left Samuel chained to a tree. Just when you start blaming Ghana for its lack of regard, the author reminds you of the treatment that the mentally ill receive in the United States.

Looking Up Words? You’re Probably Using the Wrong Dictionary

This article is for all the word nerds out there. James Somers writes this ode to his favorite dictionary, An American Dictionary of the English Language, by Noah Webster. (Mr. Webster wrote the dictionary — all 70,000 entries — himself, over the course of 26 years.) Unlike today’s dictionaries, which are lifeless, the original Webster’s is a delight. Get ready for long exultant language about words like “fustian” and “pathos.”

Thank you for reading The Highlighter #91. Please welcome new subscriber Unity! What did you think of this issue? If you like, please vote thumbs-up or thumbs-down below, or type me a quick response. As always, keep encouraging eager readers to give this digest a try. It’s worth it, don’t you think? See you next Thursday at 9:10 am.

#90: “Did Your Father Die?”

Welcome to #90! Rest assured: Today’s issue includes no articles about Rachel Dolezal. Instead, you’ll meet seven-year-old Tyshaun McPhatter, Teen Vogue’s Adrienne Keene, and the photogenic dog Primo. The second half of today’s digest focuses on Google’s bid to build a universal online library and on Chechnya’s draconian initiative to eliminate gay people. Indeed, today’s articles aren’t the cheeriest, but I hope you’ll read them and then talk about them with your friends and family.

“Did Your Father Die?” The Life of a 2nd Grader Facing Poverty, Gunfire, and His Dad’s Death

This is a sad, heartbreaking story. But please read it. Seven-year-old Tyshaun McPhatter lives in Washington D.C., goes to the local charter school, and plays video games. One day at school, shots ring out, and students and teachers go on lockdown. This is not an unusual experience. Later that night, Tyshaun learns that his father was dead.

How I Feel As a Native Woman When Trump Idolizes Andrew Jackson

Teen Vogue (also #71) again makes a strong contribution with this piece, an article by Adrienne Keene that challenges President Donald Trump’s championship of Andrew Jackson as a leader to emulate. Everyone knows that President Jackson in fact fought for the genocide of Native Americans (most tragically with the Indian Removal Act, which led to the Trail of Tears). This is part of Teen Vogue’s “OG History” series, where “we unearth history not told through a white, cisheteropatriarchal lens.”

Primo, here in his “Girl With a Pearl Earring“ pose, lives in Connecticut with his humans Ziba and loyal subscriber Tony.

Torching the Modern-Day Library of Alexandria

There are about 130 million books in the world, and a while back, Google began scanning all of them, with the goal of having all of them available to read online. The Google Books project got about a fifth of the way there before shutting down after authors and publishers sued the company for copyright infringement. This article explains how it all went down, surfacing the pros and cons of giving everyone in the world universal and free access to books, with Google as Head Librarian.

Russia’s New Scapegoats

In this episode of Reveal (also #67), one of my favorite podcasts, host Al Letson focuses on the recent kidnappings and killings of gay people in Chechnya. For many Russians, Chechens, and Georgians, homosexuality is a Western construct that is anathema to their religious and cultural principles. I appreciate Mr. Letson’s approach: He unveils the evil words and beliefs of hateful people, while simultaneously challenging their views, making clear where he stands.

Thank you for reading The Highlighter this week! Please welcome new subscribers Samantha, L.T., and Veenessa. Thank you for your readership. Loyal subscribers, please continue to get the word out about this digest, and I’ll see you next Thursday at 9:10 am!