Today’s issue is dedicated to a great conversation I had with Caitlin Moscatello, author of this month’s featured article, “The Monster at the Dinner Table.” In case you hit a paywall, here’s a gift link.

About the article

This is an article about a newish and very scary disorder that is affecting kids. It’s called ARFID, which is short for Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder. Kids with ARFID lose their interest in eating. Sometimes it’s mild — maybe your kid eats only one type of food, like chicken nuggets. But in some cases, it’s extreme — as in, your kid doesn’t eat at all.

About the author

Ms. Moscatello is a features contributor to New York Magazine, and has also written for the New York Times, Vanity Fair, TIME, and Harper’s Bazaar, among other outlets. She’s a National Magazine Award finalist, and also the recipient of a Front Page Award. Her book SEE JANE WIN: The Inspiring Story of the Women Changing American Politics (Dutton) is a New York Times Editor’s Choice selection, and has been called “a profoundly inspiring work of journalism” by Apple Books. Caitlin is co-executive producer of the three-part HBO docuseries “An Update on Our Family,” which premiered at the 2024 Tribeca Film festival. The series is inspired by her 2020 New York Magazine feature Un-Adopted.

About the interview

I deeply appreciated speaking with Ms. Moscatello. We talked about a number of topics, including:

* how this piece originated

* how being a parent affected her reporting

* how she built trust with her sources

* how she balanced demonstrating compassion for the parents, while also making sure to be accurate about how ARFID manifests

In addition, Ms. Moscatello shared how she approaches the writing process, including how she organizes her longform articles. For example, she knew that this piece couldn’t begin with a medical examination of ARFID’s causes and impact on families. That would be too much dense information too soon. That’s why Ms. Moscatello decided to introduce Laura, Mark, and Amelia first. (Very effective, I thought.)

I also liked hearing that Ms. Moscatello is a “top-to-bottom writer,” meaning she begins at the beginning and ends at the end, rather than writing different sections out of order. You can listen to her elaborate on that idea here:

 The way my brain works, I need to start at the top and go in in order. So it’s really, I spend so much time on an opening paragraph. It is not abnormal for me to spend four days or five days on an opening paragraph. And the first part of a piece is always the densest and most difficult for me to get going.

I hope you enjoy the interview. Once again, huge appreciation to Ms. Moscatello for generously saying yes to Article Club.

An invitation to our discussion on October 26

I warmly invite you to participate in our discussion on Sunday, October 26, 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT. We’ll meet on Zoom. You can sign up below, it’s free.

Thank you for reading and listening to this week’s issue. Hope you liked it. 😀

To our 12 new subscribers — including Sam, Matt, Mila, Dominique, Yasmine, Serda, Ali, Rory, and Promit — I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. Welcome to Article Club. Make yourself at home. 🏠

If you appreciate the articles, value our discussions, and have come to trust that reading Article Club is better for your mind and soul than your current habit of scrolling the Internet for hours on end (or avoiding reading altogether, hoping the world will vanish), please consider a paid subscription. It’s $5 a month or $36 a year. Big thanks to Kenyanna, our latest paid subscriber — huge appreciation!

If you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please feel free to unsubscribe below. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT.

We had a great discussion last Sunday. Thank you to everyone who made it so!

At Article Club, we do two main things:

* Every week, we read great articles on race, education, and culture.

* Every month, we do a deep dive on one article.This means reading and annotating the article, interviewing the author, and gathering together for a discussion on Zoom on the last Sunday of the month.

This week’s issue has both components. Let’s dive in.

First, I’m pleased to announce October’s article of the month. It is “The Monster at the Dinner Table,” by Caitlin Moscatello. New York Magazine’s cover story in July, the piece explores ARFID, or avoidant / restrictive food intake disorder. A relatively new phenomenon, the condition is affecting young children, shutting off their instinct to eat. And it’s incredibly shocking and scary. We’re not talking picky eating here, or when your kid goes through a only-chicken-nugget phase. This is something altogether different. You’ll find more info below. If you’re already intrigued, feel free to sign up for our discussion on October 26.

Second, I’m including an article about fruitarians, whose diet relies entirely on eating fruit. If you’ve been a longtime subscriber, you know I’ve included tongue-in-cheek articles that warn about the health hazards of consuming fruit smoothies and fruit juice. Well, this piece is decidedly not funny. But it’s a wake-up call for anyone seeking the promise of “clean eating” or finding the essence of truth via an Internet influencer in Bali. I hope you’ll consider reading it.

1️⃣ The Monster At The Dinner Table

Caitlin Moscatello, on ARFID, yet another reason to freak out about raising children:

Previously, Amelia ate a wide-ranging diet, but after the chicken-nugget incident, she began to refuse solid foods. Within a week, she would consume only yogurt and liquids. “We would buy every drink that she could possibly want — chocolate milk, juice. We were desperate,” said Laura. “And it got worse every single day.” Amelia cut out the yogurt, convinced she would choke on it. A couple of weeks later, she rejected liquids, too. She began spitting into a napkin, unable to swallow her own saliva. It felt like something was stuck in her throat, Amelia said. She believed if she did try to swallow, she would choke, suffocate, and die.

Dinner turned into a nightly standoff: Amelia on one side of the table, growing thinner and frailer, Mark and Laura on the other, their panic mounting. Sometimes, they tried coaxing her. Other times, they couldn’t help but yell. “We didn’t know how to deal with it. Like, ‘Why can’t you eat?’” said Laura. It felt like a failure. They tried to quiet their terror by leaning on what one may believe to be a biological fact — that humans are wired for survival and, eventually, a child will get hungry and want food. “I kept thinking, Mother Nature’s going to kick in here,” said Mark. Instead, Amelia’s hunger response seemed to have shut off. If they tried to feed her, she would spit out the food.

By Caitlin Moscatello • New York Magazine • 26 min • Gift Link

➕ We’re discussing this article on Zoom on Sunday, October 26, 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT. It’s free and easy to sign up. All you need to do is click the button below.

2️⃣ The Woman Who Ate Only Fruit

Ej Dickson, on people who believe that eating fruit is the pathway toward nirvana:

Fruitarians make up a smaller, even more fringe part of the raw-vegan community and subsist almost exclusively on uncooked fruit. Many followers believe that fruit is nutritionally complete and contains the most prana, the Sanskrit word for “life force,” of any food on the planet.

As Karolina wasted away, her loyal followers cheered her on. “I truly believe that you have the right answers. You know what’s good for you even if right now seems like chaos,” one wrote on a selfie she posted in 2023. “Nice neck and collarbones,” a fan wrote on a photo she posted where her clavicle juts out of her skin. “It is so nice to see you so happy,” another posted on a video of an Instagram Live she did last September. She would be dead less than three months later.

By Ej Dickson • The Cut • 10 min • Gift Link

Thank you for reading and listening to this week’s issue. Hope you liked it. 😀

To our 18 new subscribers — including Rob, Sujan, Julia, Lily, Charul, Sean, Ben, Lakshita, Russell, Gail, JR, and Jeferson — I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. Welcome to Article Club. Make yourself at home. 🏠

If you appreciate the articles, value our discussions, and have come to trust that reading Article Club is better for your mind and soul than your current habit of scrolling the Internet for hours on end (or avoiding reading altogether, hoping the world will vanish), please consider a paid subscription. It’s $5 a month or $36 a year.

If subscribing is not your thing, don’t despair: There are other ways you can support this newsletter. Share the newsletter with a friend or buy me a coffee for $3 (so I can read more articles).

On the other hand, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please feel free to unsubscribe below. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT.

Today’s issue is dedicated to a great conversation I had with Piers Gelly, author of this month’s featured article, “What Happened When I Tried to Replace Myself with ChatGPT in My English Classroom.” The conversation was triply great because Prof. Gelly, who teaches at the University of Virginia, invited two of his students featured in the essay — Camille Villalobos and Max Goldberg — to join us.

The result is a thought-provoking discussion about college students’ perspectives on artificial intelligence, particularly when a curious professor engages them genuinely (rather than complaining, banning the use of AI, sticking their head in the sand, and secretly wishing we could turn back time to the Golden Age of Bluebooks).

I hope that you’ll read the article, listen to the interview, and join our discussion on Sunday, Sept. 28, 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT. We’ll meet on Zoom, say hi, and then dive deep into the article. You can sign up below; it’d be great to have you there.

I don’t want to give too much away, because I want you to listen to the conversation, but I must share what I appreciated most. It was how thoughtfully Cam and Max talked about their experiences taking Prof. Gelly’s class, as well as how their points of view on artificial intelligence changed along the way.

Not only are Cam and Max brilliant, but what’s also abundantly clear is that Prof. Gelly cares deeply about his students. They’re at the center of his essay. You’ll get a similar sense when you listen to the interview. Rather than making grandiose philosophical conclusions about the state of artificial intelligence in education, Prof. Gelly is curious, vulnerable, and dedicated to listening to his students’ views, as well as pushing them.

When you engage your students — as Prof. Gelly does — you gain nuance. For example, at the beginning of the class, Cam had been a liberal user of ChatGPT. By the end, she maligned AI as a “crutch” and vowed never to use it again. And her thinking has shifted even more, as you’ll hear in the interview.

On the other hand, Max did not leave the class with the same perspective as Cam. He sees valid uses for ChatGPT. But his experience shifted his sentiments as well. Here he shares what worries him:

 I would say the thing that concerns me most is people who use [AI] for everything. And I don’t just mean like coursework, but things like planning their schedules and asking it questions and having it do, like, basic, basic problems. I think that people need to be able to do some of that on their own.

I hope you enjoy the interview. Once again, huge appreciation to Prof. Gelly, Cam, and Max for generously saying yes to Article Club.

An invitation to our discussion on September 28

I warmly invite you to participate in our discussion on Sunday, September 28, 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT. We’ll meet on Zoom. You can sign up below, it’s free.

Thank you for reading and listening to this week’s issue. Hope you liked it. 😀

To our 24 new subscribers — including Ikechukwu, Amelia, Linda, Abigail, Matalyn, Anna, Inna, JB, Barry, Mohammed, Obaxbila, Damon, Janet, David, Shelly, Raj, Anna, Erfan, Belle, Samuel, and Sarah — I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. Welcome to Article Club. Make yourself at home. 🏠

If you appreciate the articles, value our discussions, and have come to trust that reading Article Club is better for your mind and soul than your current habit of scrolling the Internet for hours on end (or avoiding reading altogether, hoping the world will vanish), please consider a paid subscription. It’s $5 a month or $36 a year. Big thanks to Janet, our latest paid subscriber — huge appreciation!

If you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please feel free to unsubscribe below. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT.

We had a great discussion last Sunday. Thank you to everyone who made it so!

It’s September, which means two things:

* The real school year has begun

* I get to announce our article of the month

I cannot adequately express how honored I am to share with you September’s article of the month. We are going to be reading and discussing “What Happened When I Tried to Replace Myself with ChatGPT in My English Classroom,” by Piers Gelly.

If you’ve been following my article selections over the past year, you know that I’m fascinated with how artificial intelligence has transformed education — mostly for the worse — and how educators don’t know what to do about this sudden shift.

(Besides complain a lot, and wishing we could go back in time, to the golden age of bluebooks, which is what many educators are doing.)

These woe-is-me pieces by educators have gotten so ubiquitous, I’ve begun to skip them. I’ve been looking for something fresh. That’s why I was immediately hooked when I came upon Prof. Gelly’s piece.

In his essay, published in July in Literary Hub, Prof. Gelly does not lament the rise of technology. Rather, in his English class, he engages his University of Virginia students in an authentic exploration of artificial intelligence and its effects. He’s curious. He is unafraid to experiment with his students. He remains vulnerable to the possibility that his role as professor may be in danger. Most importantly, Prof. Gelly takes us into his classroom, introduces us to his students, and tells us a story filled with humanity.

My hope is that you will consider reading Prof. Gelly’s essay. I also hope that you will make space to reflect on his words. If you are moved — as I predict many of you will be — I encourage you to join our discussion so that we can all connect and have a conversation in community.

➡️ Inside today’s issue, you’ll find:

* My conversation with Article Club co-host Melinda, in which we share our first impressions of the article (alongside our banter)

* A quick blurb about the article, plus my handwritten annotations

* A short biography of the author

* More information about our discussion on September 28, plus an invite

One more thing: My gut says, if you’re a high school or college educator, your students would appreciate reading this piece.

What Happened When I Tried to Replace Myself with ChatGPT in My English Classroom

The more I read this essay, the more I appreciate it. Part of the reason is that I am an educator, too, grappling with the same issues surrounding artificial intelligence that so many of us are — whether we are teachers or parents or students or generally concerned citizens who don’t want humanity to be vanquished.

But most of the reason I love this piece is that Piers Gelly is an outstanding teacher. He begins his article with students, and his students are at the center throughout. You’ll meet Cam and Max and other students who take on Prof. Gelly’s writing assignments and in-class activities. You’ll read how they make meaning of artificial intelligence and its impact on education, how their views shift over the course of the semester. Is ChatGPT a “calculator for words,” as Sam Altman suggests? What’s the point of the painful process of writing when a computer can make things easier?

You’ll gain insights on these and other important questions. But what delights me most about this piece is that we get to peer inside Prof. Gelly’s classroom. He doesn’t talk in generalities. He tells us exactly what he did and how his students reacted. Teaching, after all, is about what we do, day after day, with the people in the classroom. It’s about the relationships that are built, the learning community that emerges, and the collective understanding that develops over time.

In this essay about artificial intelligence, Prof. Gelly reminds us of the humanity that is at the core of the endeavor of education.

By Piers Gelly • Literary Hub • 23 min • Gift Link

➕ Bonus: Here’s the essay with my handwritten highlights and annotations.

About the author

Piers Gelly lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he teaches at the University of Virginia. His writing has been featured by such publications as n+1, The Dublin Review, The Point, and 99% Invisible.

About the discussion

My hope is that you’ll read “What Happened When I Tried to Replace Myself with ChatGPT in My English Classroom” and want to talk about it.

We’ll be meeting up on Zoom on Sunday, September 28, 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT. We’ll spend the first few minutes saying hi and doing short introductions. Then after I frame the piece and share our community agreements, we’ll break out into small, facilitated discussion groups. The small groups usually include 5-8 people, so there’s plenty of time to share your perspectives and listen to others. That’s where we’ll spend the bulk of our time. Toward the end, we’ll return to the full group, sharing our reflections and appreciations of fellow participants.

If this sounds interesting to you, sign up by clicking on the button below.

If you’re unsure, I get it. If you don’t know me, it might feel strange to sign up for an online discussion with total strangers. But I am confident that you’ll find yourself at home with other kind people who like to read deeply and explore ideas in community. We’ve done this 60 times, and by now, it’s not a surprise that we’re able to create an intimate space, almost like we’re in the same physical room together.

I hope that you read the piece. If it resonates with you, I encourage you to take the plunge and join us on September 28!

Thank you for reading and listening to this week’s issue. Hope you liked it. 😀

To our 16 new subscribers — including Ernest, Kasey, Alish, Meg, Elliott, Steve, Philip, Alakin, Drake, Enite, Amatullah, Joanie, and Linda — I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. Welcome to Article Club. Make yourself at home. 🏠

If you appreciate the articles, value our discussions, and have come to trust that reading Article Club is better for your mind and soul than your current habit of scrolling the Internet for hours on end (or avoiding reading altogether, hoping the world will vanish), please consider a paid subscription. It’s $5 a month or $36 a year.

If subscribing is not your thing, don’t despair: There are other ways you can support this newsletter. Share the newsletter with a friend or buy me a coffee for $3 (so I can read more articles).

On the other hand, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please feel free to unsubscribe below. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT.

Today’s issue is dedicated to a beautiful conversation with Saint Trey W, author of this month’s featured article, “They Burn Books to Burn Us Too.” He shares space with Sarai Bordeaux, Article Club contributor and Poet Laureate of Eureka, California.

If you haven’t yet, I hope you read the article. Then if you appreciate it, which I predict you will, I invite you to listen to the conversation, then join our discussion next Sunday, August 24. Kind, thoughtful people (like you!) will engage deeply with Saint Trey’s piece on Zoom, beginning at 2:00 pm PT and ending at 3:30 pm PT.

If you’re interested, you can learn more and sign up by clicking the button below.

When I first read “They Burn Books to Burn Us Too,” I was deeply moved. I was moved by the power of Saint Trey W’s message. But I was equally moved by the beauty of his writing. Saint Trey is a poet. This essay is lyrical.

“When a government begins to fear its own history,” Saint Trey writes, “it has already declared war on the people who survived it.”

Yes, this is an essay about book banning. It is about erasure, the war on memory, and our government’s attempt to dominate and destroy Black people. But the piece is also about dreaming. No matter the government’s violence, Black people will not be silenced. They will not be unwritten. Saint Trey writes:

What they do not know is that we were never written in the first place. We were sung. We were carved into tree trunks and kitchen counters and braided into our mother’s hair. We are older than their archives. And our stories do not end with silence.

When I finished the piece, I had three immediate thoughts:

* I must share this essay with Sarai right now

* Hopefully they appreciate it as much as I do

* Wouldn’t it be perfect if Sarai and Saint Trey got to talk to each other?

If you’re newish to Article Club, you may not have met Sarai yet, so here are a few words of (re)introduction: Sarai is one of the most astute readers I have ever met. Whenever we talk, they make me smarter. More importantly, Sarai helps me connect the dots and act with more compassion.

So it was an obvious next step — given my three thoughts above — that I should reach out to Sarai and gather their perspective. The rest is history. Sarai loved the essay, I contacted Saint Trey, he generously said yes to doing the interview, and they met up on Zoom to talk about his beautiful piece.

The result is this wholehearted conversation. Sarai and Saint Trey cover a wide range of topics. I won’t try to list them all here. It was clear to me, as I listened to Sarai and Saint Trey — two poets thinking together and sharing their perspectives about a powerful essay — that I was struck by the mutual care they shared with one another. In their discussion of Saint Trey’s piece, they centered on imagination and possibility, as well as the power of language and lineage.

Here’s an excerpt from the conversation that I especially appreciated. About ancestors, language, Blackness, libraries, and God, Saint Trey says:

Our ancestors are not just bloodlines, right? They're also our bookshelves. People like Toni Morrison, you know — she taught me that language can be a spell. It can be a sword, but it also can be a sanctuary. Reading Beloved and The Bluest Eye — it was the first time I understood the sacredness of Blackness in a way, especially in its unspoken parts — her reminding us that, if you are free, then you must free somebody else.

I think libraries are a portal to that. James Baldwin, giving permission to tell the truth, especially when it burns. This sort of clarity — this heat, this refusal to perform respectability — and his teaching that moral authority doesn't require approval. Audre Lorde, reminding us that silence is not going to protect us. She made queerness feel like gospel. So the reason I mentioned libraries is because they're all-encompassing of these stories. They’re in a sense, I would say, akin to church, right, to those who are believers, right? For me, the way I have reimagined faith in God is in language, it is in words that, you know, are passed through vessels — the artists, the writers, the griots. All have showed me that craft and conviction can dance, right? — that words don't have to be soft to be sacred. And I think libraries, they feed us when the world try has tried to starve us.

Seriously: I could listen to that passage over and over again. The clarity of Saint Trey’s words — both spoken here in this conversation, as well as in “They Burn Books to Burn Us Too” — is a gift.

I hope you take a listen to the conversation. A little disclaimer: The quality of the audio is a bit patchy at times, particularly at the beginning. The Internet was not behaving. It tried to be a nuisance. But it was unsuccessful, for two reasons: First, the audio smooths out after the first few minutes. Second, the quality of Sarai and Saint Trey’s words will make you listen more closely and tune out the distractions.

One more time, I’d like to thank Saint Trey for bringing us this piece. It’s an essay I believe that everyone should read and reflect on. I appreciate your words and your generosity of spirit. And Sarai, I am grateful to you as well, not only for this conversation but also for your contribution to our reading community.

An invitation to our discussion on August 24

I warmly invite you to participate in our discussion on Sunday, August 24, 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT. We’ll meet on Zoom. You can sign up below, it’s free.

Thank you for reading and listening to this week’s issue. Hope you liked it. 😀

To our 20 new subscribers — including Sarah, Sharat, Susan, Ophelia, Emily, Jagadish, Sadiya, Alicia, Jada, Nikki, Vaibhav, Todd, Chana, Nina, and Hannah — I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. Welcome to Article Club. Make yourself at home. 🏠

If you appreciate the articles, value our discussions, and have come to trust that reading Article Club is better for your mind and soul than your current habit of scrolling the Internet for hours on end (or avoiding reading altogether, hoping the world will vanish), please consider a paid subscription. It’s $5 a month or $36 a year.

If you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please feel free to unsubscribe below. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT.

* A big welcome to all the new subscribers from The Electric Typewriter. Thank you for trying out Article Club! I’ve been following TEW for 10+ years. It’s a great curated resource of outstanding articles.

* This week on the podcast, Melinda and I chat about her foster puppy, Melinda’s Grief Corner, and our first impressions of this month’s article of the month, “They Burn Books to Burn Us Too,” by Saint Trey W. Hope you take a listen.

* Speaking of our article of the month, here’s more information about it. I warmly invite you to join our discussion on Sunday, August 24, at 2:00 pm PT. All you need to do is click the button below to sign up.

All right, let’s get to today’s issue. One reason I do Article Club is to read and share articles that push my empathy. This week’s lead article, “Transitional Period,” did exactly that. Written by Kai Cheng Thom, the piece is about parents who say hateful things about their trans kids. As a trans person, Kai can’t accept their hostility. As a therapist, however, she responds with compassion, understanding that their sentiments, though hurtful and wrongheaded, are an expression of grief. “Their anger and bitterness are often a disguise for a deep wellspring of fear and shame around the parental terror of having failed your child,” she writes. If you feel safe to read the article, I encourage you to. I’d love to hear your thoughts about it.

If reading about parents of trans kids is too much or doesn’t interest you, never fear. I have three other pieces ready for your attention. They are articles about:

* a woman who works four jobs and still can’t make ends meet

* a program that pays young people $50 a week, no strings attached

* a policy that forever bans anyone 25 years old and under from buying vapes

Hope you enjoy this week’s issue. As always, thank you for your readership and your support of Article Club. If you appreciate the newsletter, I’d be honored if you shared it with a friend or colleague. Have a great weekend ahead!

1️⃣ Transitional Period

Kai Cheng Thom writes with a generosity of spirit in this thought-provoking piece.

Between the ages of sixteen and thirty-one, I worked in the overlapping fields of grassroots queer community-building, social work and clinical child and family therapy. During that time, I worked with queer and trans youth and their families in a drop-in centre, a psychiatry department, a sexuality clinic, and a community-based therapy program. A core theme I encountered across all those contexts was the grief that many parents of trans youth experience. These parents could not find a way to love their kids as they were, instead mourning who they had thought their children would be. This grief was often paired with anger toward the LGBTQ2S+ community, which some parents framed as having “stolen their kids.”

Like many millennial queer activists, I had been trained by my peers to react to such sentiments by dismissing them outright as wrongheaded and problematic. Contemporary psychological theory and research findings assert that parental expressions of grief and anger over children coming out and transitioning can be significantly harmful to queer and trans youth.

Yet in the role of a practitioner, sitting across from adults caught in a sea of rage, pain, fear and sadness, it was clear that it would be neither kind, nor effective in supporting the wellness of trans youth, to tell these parents to just get over themselves. As I listened to them talk and looked into their eyes, I knew that their fears came from somewhere deep within. Those fears would not be assuaged through academic debate — they needed to be met with compassion in order to be transformed.

By Kai Cheng Thom • Maisonneuve • 13 min • Gift Link

2️⃣ Confessions of the Working Poor

Jeni Gunn works four jobs (security consulting, emergency management, private investigating, freelance writing) and still can barely pay the rent on her 500-square-foot basement apartment in British Columbia, Canada. It doesn’t help that she’s got $6.58 left in her checking account. In this unvarnished, straight-ahead account of her daily life, Ms. Gunn, who is 51 years old, illuminates the struggles that many people face to make ends meet. She acknowledges that dropping out of college, pursuing daycare as a profession, having a kid, and getting a divorce certainly did not help her chances at economic stability. But she wonders, Shouldn’t there be more pathways for the working poor to meet their material needs?

By Jeni Gunn • Macleans • 17 min • Gift Link

3️⃣ How To Improve Kids’ Lives? Give Them $50 A Week

My students used to ask me, “Why do you get paid and we don’t?” It was a fair question, and my answer never satisfied them. Too bad they were born too early, because now, several schools across the country are experimenting with giving students cash, $50 a week. The program, called The $50 Study, began at Rooted School in New Orleans five years ago. So far, the results are mixed. On the one hand, grades and attendance have not improved too much. But on the other hand, students have learned financial literacy skills, saving on average 15 percent of their income — a much higher rate than most American adults. What I find refreshing about The $50 Study is that the money comes unconditionally, no-strings-attached. “I don’t think what we’re doing is so radical. I believe this just works,” says Talia Livneh, Rooted’s senior director of programs. “They deserve deep, deep trust that students and people know what’s best for them.”

By Neal Morton • The Hechinger Report • 8 min • Gift Link

4️⃣ How To Get Kids To Stop Vaping? Ban It Forever.

Want to get young people to change their behavior? One approach (the article above) is to give them what they want and offer them choice. Another approach (this article) is to take away what they want and offer them no choice. If you happen to want to buy cigarettes or vapes in Brookline, Massachusetts, and your identification says you were born on or after Jan. 1, 2000, you’re out of luck. Sorry, no vapes for you, for the rest of your life. Sure, you can bop over to Boston, 10 minutes away, and get your fill, but still, Brookline’s bold stance has elicited praise from health professionals and other cities. But in her reporting, writer Makena Gera is not so sure. Isn’t this taking away young people’s agency? How do we teach kids how to choose if we don’t get them choices?

By Makena Gera • Boston Magazine • 10 min • Gift Link

Thank you for reading this week’s issue. Hope you liked it. 😀

To our 24 new subscribers — including Rukiya, Aalok, David, Aiman, Harper, Les, Vishnu, Laura, Zlatan, Kaie, Prakhar, Jonah, Islam, Omneya, and Joanne — I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. Welcome to Article Club. Make yourself at home. 🏠

If you appreciate the articles, value our discussions, and have come to trust that reading Article Club is better for your mind and soul than your current habit of scrolling the Internet for hours on end (or avoiding reading altogether, hoping the world will vanish), please consider a paid subscription. It’s $5 a month or $36 a year.

If subscribing is not your thing, don’t despair: There are other ways you can support this newsletter. Share the newsletter with a friend or buy me a coffee (so I can read more articles). Thank you Julie and Gillian for the copious coffee (was tons)!

On the other hand, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please feel free to unsubscribe below. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT.

We had a great discussion last Sunday. Thank you to everyone who made it so!

It’s almost August, which means two things:

* It’s my birthday soon

* I get to announce our article of the month

I cannot adequately express how honored I am to share with you August’s article of the month. We are going to be reading and discussing “They Burn Books to Burn Us Too,” by Saint Trey W.

Published in April in Notes From The Undrowned, the essay explores how regimes, most notably the United States government, have banned books in an attempt to dominate Black bodies and to erase Black memory. The goal, Saint Trey writes, is “not only control, but the elimination of imagination.”

But no matter the government’s violence, Black people will not be silenced. They will not be unwritten. Saint Trey writes:

What they do not know is that we were never written in the first place. We were sung. We were carved into tree trunks and kitchen counters and braided into our mother’s hair. We are older than their archives. And our stories do not end with silence.

They begin in fire.

My hope is that you will consider reading Saint Trey’s essay. I also hope that you will make space to reflect on his words. If you are moved — as I predict many of you will be — I encourage you to join our discussion so that we can all connect and have a conversation in community.

➡️ Inside today’s issue, you’ll find:

* My conversation with Sarai Bordeaux, Poet Laureate of Eureka and Article Club correspondent, on what she appreciated about the essay and how it felt to interview the author

* A few more excerpts from the article, plus my handwritten annotations

* A short biography of the author

* More information about our discussion on August 24, plus an invite

One more thing: My gut says, if you’re a high school teacher (e.g., Ethnic Studies, World History, U.S. History), your students would appreciate reading this piece.

They Burn Books to Burn Us Too

I could quote the entire essay because Saint Trey’s writing is so beautiful. But here are a few excerpts that I’m still thinking about.

On reading The Bluest Eye for the first time:

I remember reading that first chapter and feeling the air change — like God had walked into the room, barefoot and breathless. I didn’t know then that some people wanted to bury what I had just touched. I didn’t know that entire states would one day strike Morrison from the classroom like a curse. I didn’t know that the truth could be illegal.

On the government’s campaign to ban books:

They said they wanted to protect the children. But it was only certain children they meant. Not mine. Not me. Not the children who walk into classrooms carrying the weight of a lineage they’re not allowed to name.

What I know now is this: when a government begins to fear its own history, it has already declared war on the people who survived it.

On resistance and the power of memory through human connection:

Long before we were permitted to read, we were remembering. In hush harbors and under moonlight, memory traveled not through paper but through people. The griot, the elder, the preacher, the mama at the stove — all became librarians of the unwritten. The story didn’t need a school board’s approval to be gospel. It needed only breath.

And breath, for us, has always been sacred.

By Saint Trey W. • Notes From The Undrowned • 13 min • Gift Link

➕ Bonus: Here’s the essay with my handwritten highlights and annotations.

About the author

Saint Trey W. is a Black queer poet, essayist, and organizer from Brooklyn, New York. His voice carries the salt of survival, the smoke of protest, and the sacred ache of becoming. He writes from the ruins and the rivers, from pews and dancefloors, from the edge of the altar and the underside of America. His Substack publication, Notes from the Undrowned, is not simply a newsletter. It is also a vessel, it is a prayer, and a political reckoning. It is a place to tell the truth when the world demands our silence.

About the discussion

My hope is that you’ll read “They Burn Books to Burn Us Too” and want to talk about it.

We’ll be meeting up on Zoom on Sunday, August 24, 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT. We’ll spend the first few minutes saying hi and doing short introductions. Then after I frame the piece and share our community agreements, we’ll break out into small, facilitated discussion groups. The small groups usually include 5-8 people, so there’s plenty of time to share your perspectives and listen to others. That’s where we’ll spend the bulk of our time. Toward the end, we’ll return to the full group, sharing our reflections and appreciations of fellow participants.

If this sounds interesting to you, sign up by clicking on the button below.

If you’re unsure, I get it. If you don’t know me, it might feel strange to sign up for an online discussion with total strangers. But I am confident that you’ll find yourself at home with other kind people who like to read deeply and explore ideas in community. We’ve done this 58 times, and by now, it’s not a surprise that we’re able to create an intimate space, almost like we’re in the same physical room together.

I hope that you read the piece. If it resonates with you, I encourage you to take the plunge and join us on August 24!

Thank you for reading and listening to this week’s issue. Hope you liked it. 😀

To our 6 new subscribers — including Isaac, Adrif, Serendipity, Kaila, Brooke, and Nic — I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. Welcome to Article Club. Make yourself at home. 🏠

If you appreciate the articles, value our discussions, and have come to trust that reading Article Club is better for your mind and soul than your current habit of scrolling the Internet for hours on end (or avoiding reading altogether, hoping the world will vanish), please consider a paid subscription. It’s $5 a month or $36 a year.

If subscribing is not your thing, don’t despair: There are other ways you can support this newsletter. Share the newsletter with a friend or buy me a coffee for $3 (so I can read more articles).

On the other hand, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please feel free to unsubscribe below. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT.

Today’s issue is dedicated to my interview with Gideon Lewis-Kraus, author of this month’s featured article, “The End of Children.” I hope you read the article and take a listen to the interview.

Yes: This article is about the imminent worldwide population implosion — in other words, how by the end of this century, we’re going to start losing people, and fast, and how the human race might inevitably go extinct sooner rather than later.

And yes: I was surprised when I found myself interested in this topic. After all, before reading this piece, I would have said two things: (1) Um, isn’t climate change what we should be worrying about? and (2) Doesn’t this inexorably lead to “childless cat ladies” and The Handmaid’s Tale?

But let me tell you: The magic of Mr. Lewis-Kraus’s writing and reporting, alongside the spirit of Article Club — which encourages us to build our empathy — got me to rethink my perspective on the plummeting human fertility rate.

And this was all before getting to talk to the author himself. As you know, one of my favorite things about Article Club is that writers generously say yes to talking with us. The same was true with Mr. Lewis-Kraus. Here’s a photo of him, so you know what he looks like, and then I’ll write a bit about what I appreciated about our interview.

It was wonderful to meet Mr. Lewis-Kraus. More than what’s typical in these Article Club interviews, we talked about writing and craft. A significant part of our conversation was about how he structured and organized the piece.

His thoughtfulness was apparent right from the beginning of our conversation. I loved learning how he decided to write the story in the first place and why he chose South Korea as his case study of population collapse. Some people told Mr. Lewis-Kraus that South Korea and its 0.7 fertility rate was “played out” and “a cliché,” but nobody from a major magazine had spent time in the country, he said. I was personally grateful that Mr. Lewis-Kraus took significant space in his article reporting from South Korea. If you want to gain a better appreciation of how serious the problem is there, I encourage you to watch this 15-minute video, recommended by loyal reader Peter.

I was also impressed with Mr. Lewis-Kraus’s awareness of his readers as he drafted the piece. He understood, for example, that his audience (aka subscribers of The New Yorker) are astute readers who mostly lean progressive and who may believe that population decline is a problem only in some countries, like Italy and Japan. Rather than skirting this issue, Mr. Lewis-Kraus decided to tackle it head on:

What I realized was, Everyone is going to feel like they’ve read this story before — like, everyone is going to feel like they’ve heard this. And so the major thing that I need to do upfront is say to people, essentially directly address the reader, and say, like, You sophisticated reader might think that you know what’s going on here, but you don’t know what’s going on here.

Later in our conversation, I asked Mr. Lewis-Kraus how he makes sure not to get ahead of his readers — on the one hand respecting their knowledge, but on the other hand acknowledging that they haven’t spent hundreds of hours reporting and thinking about this issue, as he has. I found his answer to be humble.

 Part of what, what doing this job is, is it’s starting knowing nothing about something and then very quickly learning as much as you can — without forgetting what it felt like to know nothing about it.

More than anything else, I left this conversation with deep respect of Mr. Lewis-Kraus and his process as a writer. As I’ve said many times over the years, while I can recognize the highest-quality writing when I read it, I still don’t understand how writers are able to pull it off. That’s maybe one reason I keep doing this newsletter — so that I can continue to explore this question and share my findings with you. Thank you very much for joining me on this journey.

An invitation to our discussion on July 27

I warmly invite you to participate in our discussion on Sunday, July 27, 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT. We’ll meet on Zoom. You can sign up below, it’s free.

Thank you for reading and listening to this week’s issue. Hope you liked it. 😀

To our 8 new subscribers — including Juliana, Chris, Imran, Isaac, DJTL, Anish, Asha, and Celi — I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. Welcome to Article Club. Make yourself at home. 🏠

If you appreciate the articles, value our discussions, and have come to trust that reading Article Club is better for your mind and soul than your current habit of scrolling the Internet for hours on end (or avoiding reading altogether, hoping the world will vanish), please consider a paid subscription. It’s $5 a month or $36 a year.

If you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please feel free to unsubscribe below. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT.

Thank you for the kind birthday wishes last week. It’s true that our reading community is 10 years old. And we’re just getting started!

Just like that, we’re in July, which means this week’s issue is dedicated to featuring the article of the month and encouraging you to join our discussion.

I’m happy to announce that this month, we’re going to be diving into “The End of Children,” by Gideon Lewis-Kraus. Published in February in The New Yorker, the article explores the imminent stark drop in population around the world, most notably in South Korea.

Don’t worry: Even though the declining human fertility rate has become a political topic in the United States, this piece is nuanced and deeply reported. I’m certain you’ll appreciate it, even if you end up disagreeing with the writer’s stance.

Inside today’s issue, you’ll find:

* Melinda and my first impressions of the article (on the podcast)

* My blurb about the article

* A short bio of the author

* A warm invite to join our discussion on July 27

If you can’t be bothered by all of that, and just want to sign up for the discussion right here and now, by all means, please do!

The End of Children

Growing up, I worried about many things. One source of worry was my family’s evacuation plan in case of fire; it wasn’t robust enough. Another source was the world’s exponential population increase, which would inevitably doom us.

Turns out, at the time, my concern was not unfounded. In 1968, Paul Ehrlich wrote in The Population Bomb that millions of people would die of starvation unless governments aggressively curtailed the fertility rate. But instead of population rising without bound, the opposite has happened. In 2023, for the first time ever, because on average each woman had fewer than 2.1 children (the “replacement rate”), the world’s population shrank. All projections say this trend will continue, until one day, there won’t be enough people for us to sustain as a species.

In Seoul, where writer Gideon Lewis-Kraus focuses this article, “children are largely phantom presences.” There are more dogs than children. Ask anyone on the street, a Korean demographer said, and they’ll know the country’s fertility rate. (It is 0.7, the lowest in the world.) Kids bring ick. Many businesses are “no-kids zones.”

The United States (fertility rate: 1.6) is headed in a similar direction, Mr. Lewis-Kraus argues. The truth is, for whatever reason (and there are many), younger Americans no longer think having children is an inevitability. As immigration declines, and climate concerns rise, and structural inequities worsen, our country may face the same problem as Korea. And that could lead to catastrophe.

Should we care about the declining fertility rate? Or is it just a misogynistic conservative ruse to distract our attention from the deleterious effects of climate change? In my opinion, this is the first article written by a progressive that has looked seriously at the issue and presented it to a mainstream audience.

By Gideon Lewis-Kraus • The New Yorker • 42 min • Gift Link

➕ Bonus: Here’s the article with my handwritten highlights and annotations.

About the author

A staff writer at The New Yorker, Mr. Lewis-Kraus grew up in New Jersey and graduated from Stanford. He writes reportage and criticism and is the author of the digressive travel memoir A Sense of Direction as well as the Kindle Single No Exit. Previously, he was a writer-at-large at The New York Times Magazine, a contributing editor at Harper’s magazine, and a contributing writer at WIRED magazine. He has lived in San Francisco, Berlin, and Shanghai, and now lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two small children. Mr. Lewis-Kraus generously recorded an interview with Article Club, which will be published in two weeks.

About the discussion

My hope is that you’ll read “The End of Children” and want to talk about it! (Even though we don’t “debate” at Article Club discussions, I predict this topic will lead to a spicier-than-usual conversation.)

We’ll be meeting up on Zoom on Sunday, July 27, 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT. We’ll spend the first few minutes saying hi and doing short introductions. Then after I frame the piece and share our community agreements, we’ll break out into small, facilitated discussion groups. The small groups usually include 5-8 people, so there’s plenty of time to share your perspectives and listen to others. That’s where we’ll spend the bulk of our time. Toward the end, we’ll return to the full group, sharing our reflections and appreciations of fellow participants.

If this sounds interesting to you, sign up by clicking on the button below.

If you’re unsure, I get it. If you don’t know me, it might feel strange to sign up for an online discussion with total strangers. But I am confident that you’ll find yourself at home with other kind people who like to read deeply and explore ideas in community. We’ve done this 58 times, and by now, it’s not a surprise that we’re able to create an intimate space, almost like we’re in the same physical room together.

I hope that you read the piece. If it resonates with you, I encourage you to take the plunge and join us on July 27!

Thank you for reading and listening to this week’s issue. Hope you liked it. 😀

To our 8 new subscribers — including Bruna, J.M., Heidy, Jelena, Mervin, Elisa, Ryan, and Nancy — I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. Welcome to Article Club. Make yourself at home. 🏠

If you appreciate the articles, value our discussions, and have come to trust that reading Article Club is better for your mind and soul than your current habit of scrolling the Internet for hours on end (or avoiding reading altogether, hoping the world will vanish), please consider a paid subscription. It’s $5 a month or $36 a year. Thank you Sage and J.M. for generously supporting me and this endeavor.

If subscribing is not your thing, don’t despair: There are other ways you can support this newsletter. Share the newsletter with a friend or buy me a coffee for $3 (so I can read more articles).

On the other hand, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please feel free to unsubscribe below. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT.

In case you’re new here: Every month over the last five-plus years, we’ve done a deep dive on an outstanding article. This means reading, annotating, and discussing the piece on Zoom. It also means inviting the author to share their views in a podcast interview. They almost always say yes. Click here and scroll down to check out all the authors we’ve had.

Today’s issue is dedicated to my interview with Brendan I. Koerner, author of this month’s featured article, “The Spectacular Burnout of a Solar Panel Salesman.” Scroll down for:

* a quick review of the article (and why I liked it so much)

* a short bio of the author (and why I appreciated our conversation)

* an invite to our discussion on June 1

The Article (and why I liked it so much)

“The Spectacular Burnout of a Solar Panel Salesman”Original Article • My Annotations • Gift Link • Wired (20 minutes)

Eighteen-year-old Aaron Colvin lives in New York and attends college at Niagara University. But like many young men right now, Aaron is unsure that college is for him. He feels incomplete, lost somehow — and he’s yearning for a way to make it big. Then one day, while at the gym, Aaron meets a bodybuilder, an enormous man who says he’s made “crazy money” selling solar panels down in Florida. You should check it out, he says. After thinking about it, Aaron takes the plunge, leaving college to join a door-to-door solar panel sales crew named Seal Team Six. He spends his days “blitzing” neighborhoods with his colleagues — also young men wanting to strike it rich. In the evenings, Aaron records content for his fledgling YouTube channel and downs burritos with the bros, all the while seeking personal enlightenment (and paying for his lodging, and making very little money, and not receiving benefits).

I’ve been telling people, this article is quintessential Article Club material. The writing is superb, the pace is quick, and most importantly, you’ll have empathy for Aaron, because Mr. Koerner writes with compassion. In addition, the piece explores many of the topics we care about: masculinity, capitalism, higher education, technology, and the American dream. If you haven’t read it yet, I hope you try it.

The Author (and why I appreciated our conversation)

Brendan I. Koerner is a contributing editor at Wired, where he writes in-depth stories about criminal justice, national security, biomedical research, and sundry other topics. Mr. Koerner is also the author of two books of narrative nonfiction: Now the Hell Will Start, the tale of an American G.I. who went native in the Indo-Burmese jungle, and The Skies Belong to Us, a history of the American hijacking epidemic of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

I appreciated my conversation with Mr. Koerner for many reasons. We covered a wide range of topics, including how this article came about, how he found Aaron, and why he was interested in the topic. Mr. Koerner also spoke about how he reported and organized the piece, and most importantly, how he wanted the reader to feel about Aaron. He said, “ We have to come out of this admiring Aaron, because I admire Aaron. He made kind of a foolish choice, which he acknowledges, and he went through something kind of crazy, but I admire him. I admire his authenticity. I admire his earnestness. I admire his perspective and his intellect.”

It was illuminating to hear Mr. Koerner share his thoughts on the challenges that young men face and the allure of get-rich-quick schemes, especially when they embrace notions of spirituality and self-help and cultiness. I liked the entire interview, but my favorite part was when Mr. Koerner talked about his teenage son, who is not much younger than Aaron. My hope is that you’ll take a listen.

Note: If you prefer listening on Apple Podcasts, you can subscribe to Article Club there. It’s easy: Click here.

An invitation to our discussion on June 1

I warmly invite you to participate in our discussion on Sunday, June 1, 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT. We’ll meet on Zoom. You can sign up below.

If it’s your first time: We’ll spend the first few minutes saying hi and doing short introductions. Then after I frame the piece and share our community agreements, we’ll break out into small, facilitated discussion groups. The small groups usually include 5-8 people, so there’s plenty of time to share your perspectives and listen to others. That’s where we’ll spend the bulk of our time. Toward the end, we’ll return to the full group, sharing our reflections and appreciations of fellow participants.

If you’re unsure, I get it. If you don’t know me, it might feel strange to sign up for an online discussion with total strangers. But I’m confident that you’ll find yourself at home with other kind people who like to read deeply and explore ideas in community. It’s not a surprise that we’re able to create an intimate space, almost like we’re in the same physical room together. I hope you’ll try it!

Thank you for reading and listening to this week’s issue. Hope you liked it. 😀

To our 12 new subscribers — including Christopher, Devan, Jimmy, Audrey, Rajshree, Asma, Mona, Geert, Elliott, Leigh, Valen, and Helena — I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. Welcome to Article Club. Make yourself at home. 🏠

If you appreciate the articles, value our discussions, and have come to trust that reading Article Club is better for your mind and soul than your current habit of scrolling the Internet for hours on end (or avoiding reading altogether, hoping the world will vanish), please consider a paid subscription. It’s $5 a month or $36 a year.

If you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please feel free to unsubscribe below. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT.

* Many of you reached out after last week’s issue to say kind things. Thank you.

* Several of you signed up for our discussion of “The Egg” on April 27

That’s what Article Club is all about. We’re a kind, thoughtful community that likes to read and discuss the best articles on race, education, and culture. Whether you’re a new or not-so-new subscriber, thank you for being here.

Over the last 5 ½ years, one consistent feature of this newsletter has been its monthly interviews with authors. We launched with Jia Tolentino back in January 2020 and have never looked back. This week, I’m excited to share a conversation that my co-host Melinda Lim had with Susan Berfield, who co-wrote “The Egg” with a team of investigative journalists at Bloomberg. My hope is that you’ll listen to the interview and then sign up for our discussion on April 27.

If learning more about the human egg trade is not your thing, scroll down past the fold for two other pieces that I feel are worthy of your time and attention. They’re about:

* A librarian in New York who reminds us there was a time before Google

* A college student who wanted to fit in at his fraternity, no matter the cost

As always, thank you for trusting me to supply you with things to read. My hope is that they spark new thinking, expand your empathy, and bring you joy.

An interview with Susan Berfield, author of “The Egg”

The more I re-read “The Egg,” the more I respect Susan Berfield and her colleagues at Bloomberg who brought us this robust report on the human egg trade. If you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, I highly recommend you do:

Original Article • Gift Link • Google Docs version • Audio version

Sadly, this kind of journalism — big investigative journalism — rarely exists anymore. That is why I am so grateful that Susan Berfield generously said yes to sharing her thoughts with us at Article Club.

In her interview with Melinda, Ms. Berfield shares the impetus for the article, how she and her team went about reporting it, and the lessons she learned along the way. I appreciated how Ms. Berfield characterizes the tension between the opportunity and the exploitation that women experience in selling their eggs.

It’s a thoughtful conversation on an important topic — one that seems to be receiving a lot of attention lately. I hope you take a listen and let me know your thoughts.

Thanks again to Ms. Berfield. Here’s more on her work:

Susan Berfield is an award-winning investigative reporter and editor for Bloomberg Businessweek and Bloomberg News where she’s exposed how Walmart spies on its workers and McDonald's made enemies of its Black franchisees. She uncovered a con man who talked a small Missouri town out of millions and revealed how Beverly Hills billionaires bought up an enormous water supply in the Central Valley. Her story about the biggest food fraud in U.S. history was the basis for an episode of the Netflix documentary series, Rotten.

2️⃣ The Department Of Everything

Stephen Akey: “⁠How do you find the life expectancy of a California condor? Google it. Or the gross national product of Morocco? Google it. Or the final resting place of Tom Paine? Google it. There was a time, however — not all that long ago — when you couldn’t Google it or ask Siri or whatever cyber equivalent comes next. You had to do it the hard way—by consulting reference books, indexes, catalogs, almanacs, statistical abstracts, and myriad other printed sources. Or you could save yourself all that time and trouble by taking the easiest available shortcut: You could call me.”

By Stephen Akey • The Hedgehog Review • 8 min • Gift Link

3️⃣ Greek Tragedy: A Drowning At Dartmouth

Susan Zalkind: “Signs of Won Jang’s mounting distress appeared almost immediately after he pledged the Beta Alpha Omega fraternity in the fall of 2023. During calls and visits home, his parents noticed their once-confident son had lost his spark, increasingly preoccupied with his standing among fraternity brothers. He worried about how he fit in — or didn’t — with the brothers and about the ‘vibe’ of his house. ‘I could see that it was very stressful because he didn’t feel like he fit into the mold of what a person from that house would be,’ a college friend later explained, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of student blowback. ‘He wasn’t a white athlete. He wasn’t tall. He wasn’t from an affluent family. And he felt like he had to compensate for that.’ ”

By Susan Zalkind • Boston Magazine • 26 min • Gift Link

Thank you for reading this week’s issue. Hope you liked it. 😀

To all of our 8 new subscribers — including Vicky, Niko, Mikee, Jennifer, Sophia, and Danielle — I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. To our long-time subscribers (Mandy! Mindy! Mony!), you’re pretty great, too. Loyal reader Annalise, thank you for getting the word out.

If you like what we’re doing here at Article Club, and want to support this venture with a paid subscription, I would be very grateful. It’s $5 a month or $36 a year or 72 cents an issue. I am very appreciative of Gina, our latest paid subscriber. Thank you!

If subscribing is not your thing, don’t despair: There are other ways to support this newsletter. My favorite would be to send me an email at mark@articleclub.org.

On the other hand, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please feel free to unsubscribe below. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT.

This week’s issue is dedicated to our article of the month. For all of you who are interested, we’ll be reading, annotating, and discussing “Radicalized,” by Cory Doctorow. You’ll learn more about the piece below, but here are a few tidbits:

* It’s a fictional novella written in 2019 about a man who becomes radicalized after his health insurance denies his claim. Sound familiar?

* I read this piece in December, the week after all-things-Luigi Mangione

* Mr. Doctorow‘s writing is fast-paced and his details eerily prescient

Sound compelling? If so, you’re invited to join our deep dive on the article. We’re meeting up to discuss the piece on Sunday, March 23, 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT. All you need to do is click the button below to sign up. 📖

If you like what we’re doing here at Article Club, and want to support this venture with a paid subscription, I would be very grateful. It’s $5 a month or $36 a year.

1️⃣ Radicalized

Originally published in 2019, this novella follows Joe Gorman, a regular guy with a wonderful wife. One day she calls him at work with horrific news: Stage 4 breast cancer. They find a treatment that offers hope, but their health insurance denies their request. Reeling, Joe goes online for comfort. He discovers a discussion forum of men facing similar challenges. He feels safe online; he feels a sense of community. Over time, Joe finds himself on his computer in the middle of the night, as men on the forum writhe in pain and discuss ways to achieve vengeance. What will it take, they ask, in order for things to change? What will it take to achieve justice?

To say that the story is prescient would be an understatement. Don’t worry, Article Club is not going to rebrand as a Luigi Mangione fan newsletter. Nevertheless, Cory Doctorow’s writing is eerie, down to the details.

+ Content warning: violence

By Cory Doctorow • The American Prospect • 65 min • Gift Link

⭐️ About the author

Cory Doctorow (craphound.com) is a science fiction author, activist and journalist. He is the author of many books, most recently Picks and Shovels. His most recent nonfiction book is The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation. In 2020, he was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. Mr. Doctorow also coined the term “enshittification,” also known as platform decay, used to describe the pattern in which online products and services decline in quality over time.

⭐️ About the podcast

This month’s podcast is a two-parter. You get:

* An introduction to the story, brought to you by Article Club co-host Melinda and me. You’ll also hear our first impressions — and don’t worry, there are no spoilers!

* An interivew of Mr. Doctorow, in which he shares his thoughts on his novella.

I’m always deeply appreciative that authors agree to do an interview for Article Club. It’s a gift that they share with us their process, their craft, and their perspective. Thank you, Mr. Doctorow, for saying yes to participating in our reading community!

In the interview, Mr. Doctorow and I talked about a number of topics, including:

* how he reacted to the breaking news of Luigi Mangione’s actions

* how he conceived of the piece — which emerged from his Canadian background, his understanding of America’s predilection toward gun violence, and his father’s health journey

* how he can empathize with people who become radicalized online

I encourage you to listen to the podcast if you have the time. Thank you!

🙋🏽‍♀️ Interested? I encourage you to sign up.

You are certainly welcome to read the article, listen to the podcast, and call it a day. But if you’re intrigued, if you’re interested, you might want to discuss this article in more depth with other kind, thoughtful people.

If you sign up, I’ll be sure to get you all the info you need, including the Zoom link and what you can expect from the discussion.

If this will be your first time participating in Article Club, I’m 100% sure you’ll find that you’ll feel welcome. We’re a kind, thoughtful reading community.

What do you think? Interested? All you need to do is sign up below. Or if you have questions, hit reply or email me at mark@articleclub.org.

Thank you for reading and listening to this week’s issue. Hope you liked it. 😀

If you appreciate these interviews, value our discussions, and in general have come to trust that Article Club will have better things for you to read than your current habit of incessantly scrolling the Internet for hours on end, especially during “these times,” please consider a paid subscription. (Big thanks to Jenn, Article Club’s latest paid subscriber.)

If subscribing is not your thing, don’t despair: There are other ways you can support this newsletter. Share the newsletter with a friend (thanks Zelda!) or buy me a coffee for $3 (so I can read more articles).

On the other hand, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please feel free to unsubscribe below. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT.

They say in schools, February’s no joke. Alongside my colleagues, I’ve certainly been putting in the hours in order to serve our students the best we can. But there’s always still reading to be done — not only for this newsletter and our reading community, but also for my own self-care. It makes me happy that I keep getting to do this, week after week. Thank you for reading and supporting Article Club.

I have a feeling you’re going to like this week’s issue. Instead of the regular offering (i.e., four articles), I’m switching things up and sharing with you some great writing and thinking from a variety of genres. Scroll down and you’ll find:

* an essay about racial appropriation and the end of an interracial friendship

* an interview with Susan Dominus about IVF and her article, “Someone Else’s Daughter”

* an article about the care a park ranger takes in order to support unhoused people in Golden Gate Park

* a podcast episode about how young people definitely don’t think using generative AI is cheating

Also, don’t miss our pet photo, as well as our poll toward the end. Hope you enjoy.

If you like what we’re doing here at Article Club, and want to support this venture with a paid subscription, I would be very grateful. It’s $5 a month or $36 a year.

1️⃣ Dear White Sister

I appreciate the work of Tressie McMillan Cottom, so when she recommended Don’t Let It Get You Down, a collection of essays by UC Berkeley Law professor Savala Nolan, I knew I needed to check it out. I was not disappointed. As the book’s subtitle makes clear, Prof. Nolan writes plainly and thoughtfully about race, gender, and the body. In the chapter, “Dear White Sister,” Prof. Nolan decides whether to approach a close and long-time white friend after an objectionable post on Instagram. In short, the friend quotes Beyoncé’s song “Freedom” to celebrate her love for roller skating and progress in roller derby.

Prof. Nolan writes: “I feel a peculiar sensation when white people borrow — take — something Black: it’s like there’s an octopus in my chest, peacefully afloat, when danger suddenly appears. The animal contracts its jellied body and expels a gush of protective ink, then darts away in panic. Don’t belittle ‘Freedom,’ I hissed inside. ‘Freedom’ isn’t for a white girl in the Midwest taking up roller derby.”

By Savala Nolan • Don’t Let It Get You Down • 25 min

2️⃣  An Interview With Susan Dominus: “I was just so inspired by the goodness of the people involved.”

Many of you read and appreciated January’s article of the month, ”Someone Else’s Daughter,” by Susan Dominus, which told the story of a horrible IVF mistake that resulted in two women giving birth to the other woman’s genetic baby. More importantly, the piece illuminates the generosity of the human spirit, as the mothers, filled with grief and shame for an error they didn’t make, embrace each other and figure out a way to raise their children together.

I got to interview Ms. Dominus a few weeks back, and hope you take a listen. Over and over again in our conversation, she shared how reporting and writing the piece left her inspired and hopeful. Here’s an excerpt:

 I would say the main thing that I really did want people to feel reading the piece was that same inspired feeling I felt in hearing their stories — that there is always a way, not always, but that when there is conflict or crisis, if you respond with openness and generosity, sometimes beautiful things come of that. That's what I took away as a human being, just being part of it. I was so inspired by the goodness of the people involved and the way that their goodness allowed them to turn something awful into something really beautiful.

➡️ Listen to the interview by clicking the play button below.

3️⃣ Her Job Is To Remove Homeless People From SF’s Parks. Her Methods Are Extraordinary.

It’s easy to bewail the rise and intractability of homelessness. It’s much harder to do something about it. That’s why I appreciated reading this article about the efforts of Amanda Barrows, a park ranger for San Francisco Recreation and Parks. In 2015, the government agency launched a new program designed to connect unhoused people with the services they need. Since Ms. Barrows joined the force in 2021, she has helped 60 people leave Golden Gate Park and accept more permanent housing.

Reporter Susan Freinkel does an excellent job following Ms. Barrows as she builds relationships with her clients, earns their trust, and listens to what they need. Having grown up in public housing, having lived in a “dodgy SRO” for five years, and having lost her father to a fentanyl overdose, Ms. Barrows says that her work feels natural. “I can relate to a lot of the people who I contact through my own lived experience.”

By Susan Freinkel • The San Francisco Standard • 16 min • Gift Link

4️⃣ Playboi Farti And His AI Homework Machine

In case there’s any doubt: How teenagers think about using generative artificial intelligence in school is very different from how most educators think about it. In essence, we think it’s cheating (or plagiarism, or whatever big word we want to use), and they don’t. To them, ChatGPT is like a word calculator. Why slog away at a boring five-paragraph essay about The Great Gatsby that’s been done millions of times when a robot can do you it for you?

That’s the essential question of this podcast episode, in which host PJ Vogt tests a theory he holds — that writing is more than answering a teacher’s prompt, and that generative AI is more than just a labor-saving tool. It’s thinking, he argues, and if we give away thinking to a computer, then our humanity is doomed.

By PJ Vogt • Search Engine • 61 min • Apple Podcasts

✅ It’s time for a quick poll. I’d love to hear from you.

Last week, we confirmed that there’s no widespread conspiracy to keep this newsletter out of your inbox. Delivery is working well most of the time.

But what about your reading habits? Do you focus on the current week’s issue? Or do you like diving into the archives to check out past issues?

Thank you for reading this week’s issue. Hope you liked it. 😀

To our 8 new subscribers — including Hilary, El, Christopher, Brimbus, Gloria, and Paul — I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. Welcome to Article Club. Make yourself at home. 🏠

If you appreciate the articles, value our discussions, and in general have come to trust that Article Club will have better things for you to read than your current habit of scrolling the Internet for hours on end, please consider a paid subscription. I am very appreciative of Gary, our latest paid reader. Thank you!

If subscribing is not your thing, don’t despair: There are other ways you can support this newsletter. Recommend the newsletter to a friend (thanks Yolanda!), leave a comment, buy me a coffee (thank you, Anonymous Coffee Giver!), or send me an email. I’d love to hear from you.

On the other hand, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please feel free to unsubscribe below. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT.

You and me, I’d venture to say, we like to read. This is why I put together this newsletter week after week. And this is why you generously subscribe to it. After all, this is Article Club, right? We’re here to read.

But we also know (though I don’t like to admit it): Reading isn’t for everyone. This month’s article of the month, “Is This the End of Reading?” follows the downward trend of reading, especially among Gen Z college students. In her piece, writer Beth McMurtrie looks at the problem straight on: listening to professors, considering causes, and most importantly, thinking of ways to respond.

There’s still room to join our discussion on Feb. 23, 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT. For more information and to sign up, click the button below.

Leading this week’s issue is a conversation I had last week with Ms. McMurtrie. Especially if you’re an educator or a parent, I highly recommend that you listen. In the interview, Ms. McMurtrie shares the feelings of professors dealing with the abrupt shifts they’re witnessing in the classroom. Reading stamina has significantly declined, and so have critical reading skills. Gone are the days when students could read a book or an article on their own. Now, according to one professor, reading has become a “scavenger hunt,” in which students search for discrete answers to discrete questions, dipping in and out of short excerpts, rather than taking in a whole text.

If that interview does not catch your interest, never fear. I urge you to read one of the other three articles in this week’s issue. They are about:

* how we shouldn’t blame phones and the pandemic on the decline of reading

* how a woman visiting an abortion clinic finds Christianity confusing

* how a college in Texas espouses free speech, unless they don’t like it

If you like what we’re doing here at Article Club, and want to support this venture with a paid subscription, I would be very grateful. It’s $5 a month or $36 a year.

An interview with Beth McMurtrie, author of “Is This the End of Reading?”

I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Beth McMurtrie this week. Senior writer at The Chronicle of Higher Education, Ms. McMurtrie knows what she’s talking about when it comes to the status of reading among college students. It was a delight to talk to her. I encourage you to listen to our entire conversation. Here’s an excerpt:

If you think of teaching as a vocation, a calling, which a lot of academics do, [the decline of reading] is really an existential crisis because you’re seeing harm come to your students. I didn’t find many professors who were angry at their students; they were sad for their students. They were certainly frustrated and sometimes wanted to beat their head against the walls, but they were sad for their students because they could see the anxiety that the students felt when they couldn’t do the work.

[The professors] would often say to me, These students have no idea how much less I’m asking of them than I asked of students 10 or 15 years ago. It changes what you can do in the classroom and how you can teach. You can’t get through as much material, which means students just simply aren’t as learning as much content. If you can't get through as much content, you may end up having to teach the skills that you thought students had learned in high school. So then your teaching becomes a different kind of teaching.

And if you don't do those things, then you kind of have a dead classroom, or you might have a discussion that goes off the rails because the students are not interpreting kind of what they're learning in a useful way.

2️⃣ The Loss Of Things I Took For Granted

I included this fair, well-written piece last year when it was published, but I’m sharing it again, especially since Ms. McMurtrie highlighted it in our interview. Focusing on the decline of reading among college students, it’s a great companion piece to hers.

Prof. Adam Kotsko writes: “For most of my career, I assigned around 30 pages of reading per class meeting as a baseline expectation — sometimes scaling up for purely expository readings or pulling back for more difficult texts. (No human being can read 30 pages of Hegel in one sitting, for example.) Now students are intimidated by anything over 10 pages and seem to walk away from readings of as little as 20 pages with no real understanding. Even smart and motivated students struggle to do more with written texts than extract decontextualized take-aways. Considerable class time is taken up simply establishing what happened in a story or the basic steps of an argument — skills I used to be able to take for granted.”

By Adam Kotsko • Slate • 7 min • Gift Link

3️⃣ Two Days Before Abortion Stopped In Kentucky

Savannah Sipple: “I grew up in a conservative, religious part of eastern Kentucky where fundamental Christianity rules. For most of my upbringing, I recognized the pastors, choir leaders, and Sunday school teachers as the folks who lived the kindness they preached. When someone’s family member died they cooked food, cleaned house, and prayed with the grieving. They regularly took up offerings and gave food to those struggling.

“What I didn’t recognize at the time were the microaggressions. They’d say slight comments about Catholicism, which confused me as a kid because part of my family was Catholic. They’d make jokes about gays. Preachers pronounced lesbians the scourge of the nation because they dared to live without men. I was closeted, but I was both the butt of the joke and then the monster. Still, I was devout. This kind of confusing Christianity where hate is enmeshed with love was the only kind of sacred available to me. Even when my personal beliefs stood in contrast to what I was taught, I remained silent. I heard church folks disparage women who sought abortions. I heard their judgments, the way words like abomination, backslider, and sin always carried a tone of disgust and dismissal. And I stood by.”

By Savannah Sipple • The Arkansas International • 8 min • gift link unavailable

4️⃣ An American Education

Noah Rawlings: “A revolution in education! A resuscitation of the university mission! To happen in, of all places, not the pompous old northeast or the debauched West Coast, not New York or California but the country’s southern reaches — in the Texas Hill Country, in the city of Austin, where already technologists and venture capitalists had swarmed, drawn by the absence of income tax and the looseness of labor regulations, pulled by the mild zoning laws and the natural beauty and the food trucks and the good vibes. Austin, because it was a ‘hub for builders, mavericks, and creators.’ Here a new university: the University of Austin, or UATX.

“UATX is a ‘genuinely safe space,’ in the sense that it isolates students from the inconvenient opposition of other peers and professors. It is a monoculture of free-market faith which provides, in the end, a venue for young people seeking success in tech and finance to network and to fortify the rightwing ideas that brought them here in the first place.”

➡️ Big thanks to loyal reader Tim for recommending this article. Want to nominate an article to appear in the newsletter? Click here.

By Noah Rawlings • The New Inquiry • 26 min • Gift Link

✅ It’s time for a quick poll. I’d love to hear from you.

Last week, we confirmed that most of you read Article Club via email. That’s what I suspected. (But no problem if you use the app!)

This week, let’s solve a mystery.

Thank you for reading this week’s issue. Hope you liked it. 😀

To all of our 9 new subscribers — including Ines, Julia, Maira, Kate, Lex, and Jasun — I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. To our long-time subscribers (Lee! Leo! Leonel!), you’re pretty great, too. Loyal reader Zaira, thank you for getting the word out.

If you appreciate the articles, value our discussions, and in general have come to trust that Article Club will have better things for you to read than your current habit of scrolling the Internet for hours on end, please consider a paid subscription. I am very appreciative of Kate and Carol, our latest paid subscribers. Thank you!

If subscribing is not your thing, don’t despair: There are other ways to support this newsletter. My favorite would be if you recommended Article Club to a friend. Other great options include buying me a $3 coffee, leaving a comment, or sending me an email at mark@articleclub.org. I’d love to hear from you.

On the other hand, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please feel free to unsubscribe below. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT.

First things first: Let’s welcome our 51 new subscribers Violet, Rae, Olga, Taylor, Joyce, Sogo, Emily, Callie, Angelina, Peter, Tya, Emily, Natalie, Christine, Heather, Mary, Hannah, Marie-Pierre, Kristy, Fernanda, Maurtini, Helen, Angelina, Colette, Ronald, Courtney, Kelley, Jaymi, Katy, Steph, Deborah, Cathy, Christina, Brenna, Megan, Jacki, Alina, Cynthia, Caryn, Brittany, Nimi, Katie, Shell, Jamie, Candice, Samuel, Leslie, and Stephanie. New subscribers, I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. Welcome to Article Club. Make yourself at home. 🏠

A big thank you goes to Katy O., who writes The Mindful Librarian, for writing about last week’s issue and sharing it with her kind readers. I’m very grateful.

As you can see, this week was a joyous one. Here are some more highlights:

* HHH was a big success (see below)

* We reached 1,500 subscribers (thank you for your readership!)

* I interviewed Beth McMurtrie, author of “Is This the End of Reading?” (coming next week)

* I interviewed Susan Dominus, author of “Someone Else’s Daughter” (coming later this month)

* I got to chat with Melinda about “Is This the End of Reading?” (see below)

Not a bad week at all, don’t you think? Let’s keep up this momentum.

This week’s lead article, “After All This,” caught my interest from the first paragraph. Author Dana Salvador is a teacher and a parent who cannot fathom why we’ve done so little to protect our children against mass shootings. You might not want to read another article about guns in schools, but this one is tightly and beautifully written. I especially appreciated Ms. Salvador’s ability to create vivid images with spare, succinct prose.

If that article does not catch your interest, never fear. Choose between:

* reading about the end of reading and signing up for our discussion Feb. 23

* learning about what it takes to live like a hermit in the woods of central Maine

* reminding yourself to follow your gut when searching for an apartment

If you like what we’re doing here at Article Club, and want to support this venture with a paid subscription, I would be very grateful. It’s $5 a month or $36 a year.

1️⃣ After All This

Dana Salvador was in college in 1999 when two young people killed 12 students and one teacher at Columbine High School. That fall, she became a teacher, and remains one to this day. Throughout her career, Ms. Salvador has ruminated on the vast harm that guns in schools have caused. She is devastated by our country’s inability to protect our children. In this powerful piece, Ms. Salvador juxtaposes her personal experiences as a teacher alongside our failures as a nation to stop the killing. “Every day I know I could be shot,” she writes. “I understand how someone who feels powerless might crave dominance, how someone who feels fragile might long to feel control.” Not to give away any spoilers, but the end is particularly illuminating, and sad.

➡️ In case you’re interested, here’s my hand-written annotated version.

By Dana Salvador • The Sun Magazine • 10 min • Gift link

2️⃣ “Is This the End of Reading?” Join our discussion Feb. 23

Last week, I revealed February’s article of the month, “Is This the End of Reading?” Written by Beth McMurtrie and published in The Chronicle of Higher Education, the piece focuses on the decline of reading among college students. I highly recommend the article, especially if you’re a parent, educator, or worried about the state of reading. (I am worried. 😬)

Already, several of you have signed up for our discussion on Feb. 23, 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT. This is great news. If you’re still on the fence, click on the play button below to listen to an introduction to the piece, which Melinda and I recorded last weekend. (Plus there’s an extra perk if you listen to the end!)

Everyone is welcome to sign up for the discussion. This is how it’ll go:

* We’ll sign up by clicking the button below

* We’ll read and annotate the article together on this shared Google Doc

* We’ll listen to an interview with author Beth McMurtrie (coming next week)

* We’ll gather on Zoom to discuss the article in facilitated small groups

Are you interested? I hope so!

If this will be your first time, rest assured: Like you, Article Club readers are kind and thoughtful. We love the best writing that’s out there, and we appreciate building connection and empathy across difference. If you have any questions, hit reply or email me at mark@articleclub.org.

3️⃣ The Last True Hermit

Reading this article about Christopher Thomas Knight, who lived for 27 years as a hermit in the woods of central Maine — never talking to anyone — confirmed for me, once again, that I dislike camping and do indeed prefer the comfort of my abode.

But Mr. Knight’s story, brilliantly told by Michael Finkel, certainly earned my respect of the North Pond Hermit, who survived bitter winters without once lighting a fire. Doing so, he said, would give away his location. The trick was to wake up early, around 2 a.m. “If you try and sleep through that kind of cold, you might never wake up.”

But true hermits and survivalists might scoff at Mr. Knight’s dependence on plundering homes and businesses — at a rate of 40 burglaries per year, always in the dead of night — in order to stock up on food and provisions. His favorites included propane (to cook with and to melt ice, for water) and candy, especially Smarties.

After all, how can you look down on Henry David Thoreau (as Mr. Knight does) when you’re rummaging around for bacon and burgers?

By Michael Finkel • GQ • 32 min • Gift Link

4️⃣ A Hellish Apartment

If the last article convinced you that living by yourself in the middle of the woods might not be the ticket to bliss, this article will remind you of the importance of knowing your housemates before entering into a lease agreement. Also, if your gut says no (see below), then maybe your gut is correct.

A few years back, Tabatha Pope was down on her luck, living with her boyfriend at a $35-a-night motel in the West Side of Houston. Desperately needing a permanent place, she heard about an open apartment in a three-story house downtown. Perfect, Ms. Pope thought. Let’s take a look.

The tour of the house went smoothly — that is to say, until the owners showed Ms. Pope the available apartment. “When she started to open the door, an intense, rotten stench flooded the hallway. [The owner] told Pope not to worry about the smell: A refrigerator had stopped working, spoiling some meat.”

By Ian Frisch • Curbed • 27 min • Gift Link

✅ It’s time for a quick poll. I’d love to hear from you.

Last week, we learned that you definitely click on gift links (95% yes, 5% no). To be clear, these are made possible by our generous paid subscribers.

This week, let’s learn more about your reading habits. (My gut says I know this answer, but I want to make sure.)

Thank you for reading this week’s issue. Hope you liked it. 😀

If you appreciate the articles, value our discussions, and in general have come to trust that Article Club will have better things for you to read than your current habit of scrolling the Internet for hours on end, please consider a paid subscription. I am very appreciative of Seewan and Courtney, our latest paid subscribers. Thank you!

If subscribing is not your thing, don’t despair: There are other ways you can support this newsletter. My favorite would be if you shared Article Club with a friend and encouraged them them to subscribe. (This is what happened this week.) Or buy me a $3 coffee, leave a comment, or send me an email at mark@articleclub.org. I’d love to hear from you.

On the other hand, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please feel free to unsubscribe below. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT.

Happy Halloween! I wish you successful tricking and treating. In case this needs to be said, 100 Grand is the best candy bar. (It used to be Twix.) Thank you.

Now let’s get to this month’s featured article. But before that:

* If you’re a newish subscriber: Since January 2020, I’ve chosen one article every month for a deep dive. Folks who are interested read it, annotate it, and discuss it. The author generously records a podcast interview. It’s been fun.

If you’ve never participated (that is to say, most of you), you’re invited. We’re a kind, thoughtful reading community. I think you’ll enjoy it.

All right, let’s get down to business. I’m excited to announce this month’s article: “Athens, Revised.” Written by Erin Wood and published in The Sun, the article is equal parts devastating and uplifting. It’s raw and vulnerable. Throughout, it is brilliantly written.

Here’s what you can expect in today’s issue:

* My blurb about this month’s article

* A short biography about the author

* A podcast interview with the author

* What you need to do if you’d like to participate

Are you already confident that you’d like to join? We’re meeting up on Sunday, Dec. 1, 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT. All you need to do is click on the button below and sign up. 📖

Athens, Revised

When she was 26, Erin Wood was on the last leg of a trip to Greece. On the afternoon before her flight, a man approached her, offered her a free tour of the Acropolis, a recommendation to a quality hotel, a meal, and a drink. Early the next morning, Ms. Wood woke up in her hotel bedroom, naked from the waist down, her body heavy, her sheets wet. “What have I allowed to happen?” she asked.

In this article, Ms. Wood explores the answer to that question. At first, she considers two versions of what happened. She writes two narratives. They both don’t feel right. Then, after unhelpful couples therapy with her unhelpful husband, she realizes that she’s been asking herself the wrong question. One night, unable to sleep, Ms. Wood reads an essay online about a woman who survived a serial killer. “What if I am not alone?” she asks. This new, revised question — it’s the one.

By Erin Wood • The Sun Magazine • 23 mins • Gift Link

✚ If you read Amanda E. Machado’s “The Abstract Rage To Protect,” June’s article of the month, this piece is a perfect complement.

⭐️ About the author

Erin Wood writes, edits, and publishes from her home in Little Rock, Arkansas, and is a native Arkansan.

Erin owns and runs Et Alia Press, a “small press for big voices,” publishing award-winning adult nonfiction and children’s books with strong ties to Arkansas. She provides publishing advice, editing, and coaching for creative writers, and loves helping businesses and nonprofits share their stories.

Erin’s book, Women Make Arkansas: Conversations with 50 Creatives, was a silver medalist for “Best Nonfiction South” from the Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPYs) and was featured at the 2019 Arkansas Literary Festival.

Erin’s work has been anthologized and is forthcoming or has appeared in The Sun, HuffPost Personal, River Teeth’s “Beautiful Things,” Scary Mommy, Catapult, The Rumpus, Ms. Magazine's Blog, Psychology Today, and elsewhere, and has been a notable in Best American Essays and nominated for a Pushcart Prize.  

⭐️ About the interview

I’m always deeply appreciative that authors agree to do an interview for Article Club. It’s a gift that they share with us their process, their craft, and their perspective. Thank you, Ms. Wood, for saying yes to participating in our reading community!

I’m also grateful that loyal reader and co-host Melinda generously agreed to facilitate the conversation with Ms. Wood. I feel the interview was richer as a result.

In the interview, Melinda and Ms. Wood discussed a number of topics, including:

* how the essay originated in 2008 when Ms. Wood was in graduate school, and how the piece transformed through the support of three writing groups

* how Ms. Wood captured the haziness and disconnection she felt waking up the morning after surviving the sexual assault

* how meeting Natalie helped Ms. Wood feel less shame and less alone because of the power of sharing their stories and rewriting their traumatic experiences

* how women deserve opportunities to revise their own narratives

I encourage you to listen to the interview if you have the time. Thank you!

🙋🏽‍♀️ Interested? Here’s what’s next.

You are certainly welcome to read the article, listen to the interview, and call it a day. But if you’re intrigued, if you’re interested, you might want to discuss this article in more depth with other kind, thoughtful people.

If you sign up, I’ll be sure to get you all the info you need, including the Zoom link and what you can expect from the discussion.

If this will be your first time participating in Article Club, I’m 100% sure you’ll find that you’ll feel welcome. We’re a kind, thoughtful reading community.

What do you think? Interested? All you need to do is sign up below. Or reach out with all of your questions.

Thank you for reading and listening to this week’s issue. Hope you liked it. 😀

To all of our 8 new subscribers — including Everette, PD, Janet, Mary, and Isabella — I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. To our long-time subscribers (Keith! Kevin! Konstance!), you’re pretty great, too. Loyal reader Yolanda, thank you for getting the word out.

If you appreciate these interviews, value our discussions, and in general have come to trust that Article Club will have better things for you to read than your current habit of incessantly scrolling the Internet for hours on end, please consider a paid subscription. (Big thanks to Robbie, Article Club’s latest paid subscriber.)

If subscribing is not your thing, don’t despair: There are other ways you can support this newsletter. Recommend the newsletter to a friend (thanks Oz!), leave a comment, send me an email, or send me a voicemail. I’d like to hear from you.

On the other hand, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please feel free to unsubscribe below. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT.

Welcome to October. Thank you for being here.

In just a moment, I’ll reveal this month’s featured article. But before that, two things:

* If you’re a newish subscriber: Since January 2020, I’ve chosen one article every month for a deep dive. Folks who are interested read it, annotate it, and discuss it. The author generously records a podcast interview. It’s been fun.

* A small celebration: This will be our 51st article of the month. 🎉 I’m very appreciative of the 150 of you and the 51 authors who have participated.

If you’ve never participated (that is to say, most of you), you’re invited. We’re a kind, thoughtful reading community. I think you’ll enjoy it.

All right, let’s get down to business. I’m excited to announce this month’s article: “The Sextortion of Teenage Boys” Written by Olivia Carville and published in Bloomberg, the article is equal parts devastating and crucial to read, especially if you’re an educator or a parent of teenagers.

In short: I have no problem reading depressing articles. If you’ve subscribed to Article Club for a while, you understand this about me. But this piece was at a different level. In parts, not only was it sad, it was frightening.

Here’s what you can expect in today’s issue:

* My blurb about this month’s article

* A short biography about the author

* A podcast interview with the author

* What you need to do if you’d like to participate

Are you already confident that you’d like to join? All you need to do is click on the button below and sign up. 📖

1️⃣ The Sextortion Of Teenage Boys

First, a warning: This article is sad and disturbing. It discusses the suicide of Jordan DeMay, a 17-year-old senior at Marquette Senior High School in Michigan. Jordan played football and basketball and was the school’s homecoming king.

One Instagram message: That was all it took for scammers in Nigeria to convince Jordan DeMay that they were a sexy, innocent girl named Dani who liked to flirt and play “sexy games.” After sending a naked photo, Dani asked for one in return. Jordan’s decision to reciprocate cost him his life.

Even though this is a harrowing story, I found myself riveted and could not put my phone down before finishing the article. Professor Olivia Carville does an outstanding job reporting on the latest horrible technology trend: the sextortion of boys. She also follows Jordan’s family’s response to the tragedy, as well as puts the blame on Meta, other social media companies, and Congress for allowing these horrors to continue.

By Olivia Carville • Bloomberg • 26 min • Gift Link

 ✚ This article is free, but Bloomberg requires you to register your email. You can use the gift link above (made possible by paid subscribers). But for the full experience, which involves multimedia, I recommend the original link.

⭐️ About the author

Olivia Carville is an investigative reporter at Bloomberg News. She writes about the intersection of child safety and the digital world for Businessweek magazine. Ms. Carville is president of the New York Financial Writers' Association and an adjunct professor at Columbia Journalism School, where she teaches investigative reporting techniques. Ms. Carville studied business and economics reporting at Columbia Journalism School in 2017. Prior to moving to the United States, she was working as a multi-media investigative reporter at the largest daily newspapers in both Canada and New Zealand. Ms. Carville’s stories influenced legislation in both countries.

⭐️ About the interview

I’m always grateful that authors agree to do an interview for Article Club. I was deeply appreciative of Ms. Carville’s persistence and determination. It took us several tries and several months to schedule the interview, but Ms. Carville never gave up. I’m happy she didn’t, because the perspective she shared is very important.

In our conversation, we discussed a number of topics about her article, including:

* why Ms. Carville decided to write this article

* how she protects her subjects’ dignity and sense of control in her reporting

* how this piece affected her personally

* what we can do to educate our youth about sextortion

I encourage you to listen to the interview if you have the time. Thank you!

🙋🏽‍♀️ Interested? Here’s what’s next.

You are certainly welcome to read the article, listen to the interview, and call it a day. But if you’re intrigued, if you’re interested, you might want to discuss this article in more depth with other kind, thoughtful people.

If you sign up, I’ll be sure to get you all the info you need, including the Zoom link and what you can expect from the discussion.

If this will be your first time participating in Article Club, I’m 100% sure you’ll find that you’ll feel welcome. We’re a kind, thoughtful reading community.

What do you think? Interested? All you need to do is sign up below. Or reach out with all of your questions.

Thank you for reading and listening to this week’s issue. Hope you liked it. 😀

To all of our 10 new subscribers — including Lav, Leo, Og'abek, Ingrid, Gurur, Mike, Deborah, and Viv — I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. To our long-time subscribers (Janice! Janet! Jeanette!), you’re pretty great, too. Loyal reader Wanda, thank you for getting the word out.

If you appreciate these interviews, value our discussions, and in general have come to trust that Article Club will have better things for you to read than your current habit of incessantly scrolling the Internet for hours on end, please consider a paid subscription. (Big thanks to Quincy, Article Club’s latest paid subscriber.)

If subscribing is not your thing, don’t despair: There are other ways you can support this newsletter. Recommend the newsletter to a friend (thanks Melissa!), leave a comment, send me an email, or send me a voicemail. I’d like to hear from you.

On the other hand, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please feel free to unsubscribe below. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT.

Welcome to September. Thank you for being here.

In just a moment, I’ll reveal this month’s featured article. But before that, two things:

* If you’re a newish subscriber: Since January 2020, I’ve chosen one article every month for a deep dive. Folks who are interested read it, annotate it, and discuss it. The author generously records a podcast interview. It’s been fun.

* A small celebration: This will be our 50th article of the month. 🎉 I’m very appreciative of the 145 of you and the 50 authors who have participated.

If you’ve never participated (that is to say, most of you), you’re invited. We’re a kind, thoughtful reading community. I think you’ll enjoy it.

All right, let’s get down to business. I’m excited to announce this month’s article: “What My Adult Autism Diagnosis Finally Explained” Written by Mary H.K. Choi and published in The Cut, the article is thought-provoking, nuanced, and heartfelt. In other words, it’s perfect for us at Article Club.

Here’s what you can expect in today’s issue:

* My blurb about this month’s article

* A short biography about the author

* A podcast interview with the author

* What you need to do if you’d like to participate

Are you already confident that you’d like to join? All you need to do is click on the button below and sign up. 📖

What My Adult Autism Diagnosis Finally Explained

A year ago, at the age of 43, author Mary H.K. Choi was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. The diagnosis didn’t explain everything. But it gave her answers. Ever since she was a child, Ms. Choi had never understood why she was the way she was. She always longed to be different. She writes:

I wanted to know how to be breezy. To meet someone for a drink but order food because I’d missed lunch. To free myself of this habit of rehearsing conversations in advance only to be disappointed when none of my prepared talking points naturally arose. To pee when I wanted to, not when the other person did. No matter where I was, it seemed I was doomed to always feel as though I were in the window seat on a flight, prodding apologetically, mincing and smiling for the person in the aisle to get up.

I loved my friends but didn’t particularly want to spend time with them. I couldn’t stand the gnawing suspicion that everyone was humoring me. Or mad at me. Or shooting one another knowing looks because I was overstaying my welcome or not staying long enough. I reasoned that this was why I had friends but was never invited to their weddings. By my late 30s, I’d concluded I was simply bad at people. I was also indescribably lonely.

Until the diagnosis, in all aspects of her life — her interactions with her father, her relationship with her husband, the way she avoided people — Ms. Choi had constructed narratives to account for her behavior. It was because she was an immigrant, for instance. She was a people pleaser. She was a workaholic. For decades, those explanations held.

But then one day, she was fighting with her husband, Sam. Before leaving their apartment, to get some air, he said, “Jesus, I swear you’re autistic or have a personality disorder.”

In this essay, Ms. Choi shares her journey of finding out about her diagnosis, what it revealed, and how we still know very little about adults with autism.

By Mary H.K. Choi • The Cut • 23 min • Gift Link

⭐️ About the author

Mary H.K. Choi is the New York Times bestselling author of Emergency Contact, Permanent Record and Yolk. She is currently working on her fourth book. Her first adult novel.

Permanent Record is currently being adapted for a feature film; and Yolk, for a TV series, with Choi serving as executive producer and writer for both. She can be found on Twitter or Instagram for more musings. Very rarely on TikTok.

➕ A few words from me: Somehow I first learned about Ms. Choi not through her novels or her nonfiction pieces. Rather, it was through “Hey, Cool Life!” her micropod about mental health and creativity. In the podcast, organized as an audio diary, Ms. Choi authentically shares her celebrations and struggles navigating life as a writer. You might like it. It’s raw, generous, and even a bit hypnotic.

⭐️ About the interview

I’m always grateful that authors agree to do an interview for Article Club. They always bring it. But I must say: Ms. Choi really brought it. I was deeply appreciative of Ms. Choi’s candor, vulnerability, and wisdom. It was an honor to listen and learn from her.

In our conversation, we discussed a number of topics about her article, including:

* how finding out she has autism clarified many aspects of her life, but also called into question how our identities are constructed, and if we’re truly the authority on ourselves

* how she felt conflicted receiving the diagnosis, especially as a high-functioning adult requiring minimal support. “Was I autistic enough?” she wondered.

* how she approaches writing, and the writing choices she made in this piece

* how this article was the first time she has been able to write about her father, who recently passed away

I encourage you to listen to the interview if you have the time. Thank you!

🙋🏽‍♀️ Interested? Here’s what’s next.

You are certainly welcome to read the article, listen to the interview, and call it a day. But if you’re intrigued, if you’re interested, you might want to discuss this article in more depth with other kind, thoughtful people.

If so, here’s more information about how the rest of the month will go:

* Week 1: We sign up below and begin reading the article on our own.

* Week 2: We annotate this shared version of the article (optional but encouraged).

* Week 3: We share our first reactions on a discussion thread (optional but encouraged).

* Week 4: We discuss the article together on Zoom on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT.

If you sign up, I’ll be sure to get you all the info you need, including the Zoom link and what you can expect from the discussion.

If this will be your first time participating in Article Club, I’m 100% sure you’ll find that you’ll feel welcome. We’re a kind, thoughtful reading community.

What do you think? Interested? All you need to do is sign up below. Or reach out with all of your questions.

Thank you for reading and listening to this week’s issue. Hope you liked it. 😀

To all of our 12 new subscribers — including Tatina, Marina, Neal, Sam, Devy, Zoe, Jen, Arthur, Sophie, and Susan — I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. To our long-time subscribers (Horace! Harry! Harriet!), you’re pretty great, too. Loyal reader Violet, thank you for sharing the newsletter and getting the word out.

If you appreciate these interviews, value our discussions, and in general have come to trust that Article Club will have better things for you to read than your current habit of incessantly scrolling the Internet for hours on end, please consider a paid subscription. (Big thanks to Gregory, Article Club’s latest paid subscriber.)

If subscribing is not your thing, don’t despair: There are other ways you can support this newsletter. Recommend the newsletter to a friend (thanks Nancy!), leave a comment, send me an email, or send me a voicemail. I’d like to hear from you.

On the other hand, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please feel free to unsubscribe below. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT.

August has arrived. This means (at least) three things are true:

* It’s my birthday tomorrow. (Because I’m a Leo, I’ll be celebrating all month.)

* School is starting soon (very soon).

* You deserve a blockbuster issue. Because why not?

We’ve had a ton of new subscribers lately, so before launching into today’s issue, I want to say thank you for signing up. Welcome to Article Club. We’re a kind, thoughtful reading community that believes that reading and discussing the best articles on race, education, and culture will grow our empathy.

One thing we do here (if you’re interested) is a deep dive on one article a month. We read it, annotate it, listen to the author’s viewpoints on it, and discuss it on the last Sunday afternoon of the month, on Zoom.

That’s what today’s issue is all about. No matter if you’re a new or longtime reader, I encourage you to participate. If you’re feeling extra bold, why not sign up now, even before I reveal the article?

All right, in case you need more information before you take the leap, I’m excited to announce this month’s article: “Is the hardest job in education convincing parents to send their kids to a San Francisco public school?” Written by Gail Cornwall and published in The Hechinger Report, the article is perfect for us to discuss as we head into the new school year.

If public schools matter to you, if you’re a parent or a teacher, if you care about issues of race and class, if you are feeling hopeless, if you want to feel hopeful, if you worry about whether public schools will survive — this article might be for you.

Here’s what you can expect in today’s issue:

* My blurb about this month’s article

* Some information about the author

* A double feature podcast episode: interviews with both the author of the article, Gail Cornwall, and the subject of the article, Lauren Koehler

* Information on what comes next if you want to join us this month

All right, let’s get to it. 📖

Is the hardest job in education convincing parents to send their kids to a San Francisco public school?

Traditional public schools are in a bit of trouble. Between the pandemic, private schools, charter schools, virtual schools, homeschooling, unschooling, and school refusal, does your neighborhood school stand a chance?

Of course, says Lauren Koehler, the executive director of San Francisco Unified School District’s Enrollment Center. Public schools face a bad rap, and it’s her job to convince leery families that their child will get an excellent education in SFUSD.

This is a task easier said than done. There’s plenty standing in the way, like:

* Decades of racism, white flight, and failed attempts to desegregate

* A bewildering lottery system that determines where students go to school

* We love reading stories about failed schools, so the press keeps publishing them

* White parents want diversity but don’t want their kid learning next to a Black kid

I found this article illuminating because it combines an historical look at enrollment issues in San Francisco, while also featuring Ms. Koehler and what her office is doing right now, on a daily basis, to keep the school system solvent.

By Gail Cornwall • The Hechinger Report • 22 min

⭐️ About the author

Gail Cornwall’s award-winning writing covers education, parenting, psychology, and a smattering of other issues impacting current and former children.

Her qualifications are cobbled together from a series of roles, including stay-at-home mother, higher education lawyer (Edwards, Angell, Palmer & Dodge, LLP), ninth-grade English teacher (Crossland High School), federal law clerk (U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit), special education intern (Stanford’s Youth & Education Law Project), research assistant, teacher’s assistant, elementary and secondary education intern (U.S. Department of Education), and history major (University of California, Berkeley).

​Gail’s work has been published online by the Atlantic, Guardian, Washington Post, New York Times, USA Today, Salon, and U.S. News & World Report, among others – as well as in print by national glossies (the Nation, Good Housekeeping, and Real Simple) and newspapers (the LA Times, SF Chronicle, Boston Globe, and more).

⭐️ About the interviews

What usually happens for our article of the month is that the author generously agrees to participate in a podcast interview. That’s what happened again this time, and I’m very thankful that Ms. Cornwall said yes to answering our questions. We discussed a number of topics, including:

* How Ms. Cornwall met and built trust with Ms. Koehler

* How it felt to report a day-in-the-life of the SFUSD Enrollment Center

* How racism is a prime reason for the district’s enrollment challenges, and how Ms. Koehler is tirelessly working to counteract systemic inequities

It was a delight to speak with Ms. Cornwall. Our conversation made clear not only how much of an expert she is on this topic but also how compassionately she approaches her reporting and writing.

Now comes the part that has never happened before an Article Club: a bonus podcast interview with the subject of the article. This came about thanks to the kindness of longtime subscriber Tim, who reached out to me after reading the piece earlier this year. “Mark,” he said, “did you know that I work with Lauren? Want me to reach out to see if she’d be interested in being interviewed?” Well, of course!

Given that Ms. Koehler is at the center of this piece, it was an extra gift getting to interview her. We discussed a number of topics, including:

* How Ms. Koehler felt when she first got the job

* How she makes decisions about allocating the enrollment center’s resources

* How she approaches engaging white families on their decision making process

I encourage you to listen to both interviews if you have the time. You’ll likely notice how the conversations complement one another, and how Ms. Cornwall and Ms. Koehler’s thinking intersects on a number of issues that urban school districts face.

🙋🏽‍♀️ Interested? Here’s what’s next.

You are certainly welcome to read the article, listen to the interviews, and call it a day. But if you’re intrigued, if you’re interested, you might want to discuss this article in more depth with other kind, thoughtful people.

If so, here’s more information about how the rest of the month will go:

* Week 1: We sign up below and begin reading the article on our own.

* Week 2: We annotate this shared version of the article (optional but encouraged).

* Week 3: We share our first reactions on a discussion thread (optional but encouraged).

* Week 4: We discuss the article together on Zoom on Sunday, August 25, 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT.

If you sign up, I’ll be sure to get you all the info you need, including the Zoom link and what you can expect from the discussion.

If this will be your first time participating in Article Club, I’m 100% sure you’ll find that you’ll feel welcome. We’re a kind, thoughtful reading community.

What do you think? Interested? All you need to do is sign up below. Or reach out with all of your questions.

Thank you for reading and listening to this week’s issue. Hope you liked it. 😀

To all of our 12 new subscribers — Nancy, Scott, Nicole, Maria, Mariana, Bexy, Abdullahi, MJ, Heather, Tom, Moses, and Siddhi — I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. To our long-time subscribers (Christopher! Christian! Chris!), you’re pretty great, too. Loyal reader Ulysses, thank you for sharing the newsletter and getting the word out.

If you appreciate these interviews, value our discussions, and in general have come to trust that Article Club will have better things for you to read than your current habit of incessantly scrolling the Internet for hours on end, please consider a paid subscription. (Big thanks to Erik, Article Club’s latest paid subscriber.)

If subscribing is not your thing, don’t despair: There are other ways you can support this newsletter. Recommend the newsletter to a friend (thanks Mary!), leave a comment, send me an email, or send me a voicemail. I’d like to hear from you.

On the other hand, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please feel free to unsubscribe below. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT.

Today’s issue is dedicated to an interview with Mike Hixenbaugh, co-author of Southlake and author of They Came for the Schools: One Town's Fight Over Race and Identity, and the New War for America's Classrooms.

Published by NBC News, Southlake is a six-part podcast about how a mostly-white community in a Texas suburb failed to respond to the harm that white students caused when they chanted the N-word in a video after a homecoming dance in 2018. (It’s about a whole lot more, too.)

I highly encourage you to listen to the podcast (if you haven’t already), then take in the interview with Mike, then sign up for our discussion on Saturday, July 20, 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT. I’d be very happy if you were there.

⭐️ About the author

Mike Hixenbaugh is a senior investigative reporter for NBC News, co-creator of the Southlake and Grapevine podcasts, and author of They Came for the Schools: One Town’s Fight Over Race and Identity, and the New War for America’s Classrooms.

Mr. Hixenbaugh’s reporting in recent years on the battles over race, gender, and sexuality in public schools won a Peabody Award and was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

While working as a newspaper reporter in Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia, and Texas, Hixenbaugh uncovered deadly failures in the U.S. military, abuses in the child welfare system, and safety lapses at major hospitals, winning numerous national awards and triggering reforms aimed at saving lives and keeping families together.

Mr. Hixenbaugh lives in Maryland with his wife and four children.

⭐️ About the interview

I got a chance to interview Mike last week, and it was an honor. Our conversation was one of my favorites ever at Article Club. In addition to talking about Southlake, we really went deep into his book (which I highly recommend).

We discussed a number of topics, including:

* how he got interested in the story in the first place

* how his identity as a white man influenced his reporting

* how he tried to take in the viewpoints of conservative Southlake residents

* how listening to young people was paramount

Most of all, I appreciated Mike’s generosity and thoughtfulness. It was abundantly clear from the interview how deeply Mike has gotten to know this community and how thoroughly he has reported this story. He is not afraid of nuance — and he is not afraid to tell the truth. As an educator and a journalism fan, I could have talked to Mike for much longer. Our conversation made me very excited to discuss Southlake with you.

🙋🏽‍♀️ Come Join Our Discussion on July 20

I urge you to join us on Saturday, July 20 as we discuss Southlake. We’ll be focusing on Episodes 2 and 3, “Just a Word” and “The Not-So-Silent Majority.” It’ll take a little over an hour to listen to the two episodes.

If you’re interested, I’ll be sure to get you all the info you need, including the Zoom link and what you can expect from the discussion.

If this will be your first time participating in Article Club, I’m 100% sure you’ll find that you’ll feel welcome. We’re a kind, thoughtful reading community.

What do you think? Interested? All you need to do is sign up below. Or reach out with all of your questions.

Thank you for reading and listening to this week’s issue. Hope you liked it. 😀

To all of our 12 new subscribers — including Dave, Emily, Roni, Hadiya, Laura, Juho, Aida, Yvonne, Adonis, and Morgan — I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. To our long-time subscribers (Ben! Benji! Benjamin!), you’re pretty great, too. Loyal reader Tyren, thank you for sharing the newsletter and getting the word out.

If you appreciate these interviews, value our discussions, and in general have come to trust that Article Club will have better things for you to read than your current habit of incessantly scrolling the Internet for hours on end, please consider a paid subscription. (Big thanks to Cruise, Article Club’s latest paid subscriber.)

If subscribing is not your thing, don’t despair: There are other ways you can support this newsletter. Recommend the newsletter to a friend (thanks Kate!), leave a comment, send me an email, or send me a voicemail. I’d like to hear from you.

On the other hand, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please feel free to unsubscribe below. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT.

Today’s issue is dedicated to an interview with Amanda E. Machado, the author of “The Abstract Rage To Protect,” June’s article of the month.

First published in The Adroit Journal, “The Abstract Rage To Protect” is about masculinity, the need for men to protect women, the violence that follows, and what we can do about it.

I highly encourage you to read the piece (if you haven’t already), then listen to the interview, then sign up for our discussion on Sunday, June 30, 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT. I’d be very happy to connect with you in conversation.

⭐️ About the article

“There is a difference between a man’s sense of protection and a man’s sense of violence,” a male friend once reassured me. But I never could tell the difference.

When Amanda E. Machado tells men that she was once sexually assaulted at a festival, with her ex-boyfriend nearby but lost in the crowd, they instantly become ashamed of him. “How could he let this happen?” they ask. “He was supposed to protect you.”

In this enlightening essay, Amanda explores notions of masculinity, weaving personal experiences with the work of Phil Christman, a lecturer at the University of Michigan. Christman writes, “When I try to nail down what masculinity is — what imperative gives rise to all this pain seeking and stoicism, this showboating asceticism and loud silence — I come back to this: Masculinity is an abstract rage to protect.”

The biggest problem with this “abstract rage to protect,” Amanda argues, is that there is a fine line between a desire to protect and a desire to inflict violence. “The aggression men learn to protect the women they love, becomes exactly how they hurt the women they love.”

⭐️ About the author

Amanda E. Machado (she/they) is a writer, public speaker and facilitator with ancestry from Mexico and Ecuador. Their work has been published in The Atlantic, Guernica, The Washington Post, Adroit Journal, Slate, The Guardian, Sierra Magazine, among many other outlets. In addition to their essay writing, Amanda is also a public speaker and workshop facilitator on issues of justice and anti-oppression for organizations around the world. They are also the founder of Reclaiming Nature Writing, a multi-week online workshop that centers the experiences of people of color in how we tell stories about the outdoors.

Amanda currently lives on unceded Ohlone land in Oakland, California.

⭐️ About the interview

Alongside fellow Article Clubber Sarai Bordeaux, I got a chance to interview Amanda a few weeks ago. It was an honor. We discussed a number of topics, including:

* that we all have a desire to be protected

* that we’re socialized that protection must be physical and therefore may involve violence

* that we have a collective responsibility to find ways to redefine protection

Most of all, I appreciated Amanda’s generosity. It was clear that their thinking is expansive and non-judgmental. Listening to Amanda got me to want to be more imaginative in how I support others and how I show up for other people when they seek emotional protection. And it made me excited to discuss their piece with you.

🙋🏽‍♀️ Come Join Our Discussion on June 30

I urge you to join us on June 30 as we discuss our article of the month.

If you’re interested, I’ll be sure to get you all the info you need, including the Zoom link and this version of the article, where you can annotate and share your thoughts with other Article Clubbers.

If this will be your first time participating in Article Club, I’m 100% sure you’ll find that you’ll feel welcome. We’re a kind, thoughtful reading community.

What do you think? Interested? All you need to do is sign up below. Or reach out with all of your questions.

Thank you for reading and listening to this week’s issue. Hope you liked it. 😀

To our 13 new subscribers — including Lex, Charlotte, Aoife, Martin, Susan, Ana, Alla, Rosie, Simone, Sham, Riccardo and Maarten — I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. To our long-time subscribers (Alison! Allison! Allyson!), you’re pretty great, too. Loyal reader Salvador, thank you for sharing the newsletter and getting the word out.

If you appreciate the articles, like the gift links, value our discussions, and in general have come to trust that Article Club will have better things for you to read than your current habit of incessantly scrolling the Internet for hours on end, please consider a paid subscription. (Big thanks to Boris, Article Club’s latest paid subscriber.)

If subscribing is not your thing, don’t despair: There are other ways you can support this newsletter. Recommend the newsletter to a friend (thanks Juan!), leave a comment, send me an email, or send me a voicemail. I’d like hearing from you.

On the other hand, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please feel free to unsubscribe below. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT.

Today’s issue is dedicated to an interview with Jonathan Escoffery, the author of “In Flux,” March’s article of the month.

First published in Passages North, “In Flux” is a short story about race, identity, and the dreaded question, “What are you?” It’s about Blackness, belonging, and the main character Trelawny’s struggle to figure out where he fits in.

Mr. Escoffery writes:

I was interested in what complications an American-born boy of Jamaican parentage, and of African and European descent, presenting, to some degree, as racially ambiguous, might find in claiming a neat, pre-packaged identity, and how the competing attitudes—the contradictory denials and affirmations—held by those within his various communities might further complicate this, and how shifting geographic and class locations would complicate this even further.

🎙️ I warmly invite you to join our discussion of “In Flux” on Sunday, March 24, 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT. We’ll meet on Zoom. It’d be wonderful to have you there.

Alongside fellow Article Clubber Sarai Bordeaux, I got a chance to interview Mr. Escoffery last week. It was an honor. We discussed a number of topics, including:

* the shame the main character feels as a result of having his identity questioned

* the use of the second person point of view and its impact on the reader

* the messiness of identity and our society’s disdain for nuance and complexity

Most of all, I appreciated Mr. Escoffery’s thoughtfulness and introspection. It was clear that he does not settle for simple answers, especially when it comes to issues of race. Listening to Mr. Escoffery got me to want to re-read his piece. It encouraged me to share his piece with my colleagues at school. (Our students would appreciate it, I’m certain.) And it made me excited to discuss his piece with you.

🙋🏽 Before you go: It’s time for a poll!

I’m thinking about making some changes to this newsletter, based on what you’re appreciating and finding valuable. I’d love to hear from you.

Thank you for reading and listening to this week’s issue. Hope you liked it. 😀

To our 6 new subscribers — including Jiaway, Amit, Ryan, Teghan, and Maria — I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. To our long-time subscribers (Zaretta! Zachary! Zaden!), you’re pretty great, too. Loyal reader Gregg, thank you for sharing the newsletter and getting the word out.

If you like Article Club, please help it grow. I really appreciate your support. Here are two ways you can help out:

❤️ Become a paid subscriber, like Vanessa (thank you). If you’ve subscribed for free for a long time, and you appreciate the articles and author interviews, or if you’ve joined one or more discussions, I encourage you to take the leap. You’ll join an esteemed group of readers who value the mission of Article Club. Plus you’ll receive surprise perks and prizes. It’s $5 a month or $36 a year.

📬 Invite your friends to subscribe. Know someone who’s kind, thoughtful, and loves to read? I’d love it if you encouraged them to subscribe. Word of mouth is by far the best way to strengthen our reading community. Thank you for spreading the word.

On the other hand, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please feel free to unsubscribe below. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT.

Today’s issue is dedicated to an interview with Paul Tough, the author of “Saying No to College,” January’s article of the month.

Published in The New York Times Magazine last September, the piece explains the significant shift in Americans’ views on the value of college over the past decade. Whereas in 2010, when nearly all families wanted their children to attend college, now only half do. And 45 percent of Gen Z says a high school diploma is sufficient to “ensure financial security.”

What explains this trend — this darkening mood about college? Two things, Mr. Tough explains:

* There’s a difference between the college wage premium and the college wealth premium. In other words, you’ll make more money if you graduate from college. But that doesn’t mean you’ll become more well-off.

* Going to college is a little like going to a casino. If you graduate, you’re largely good (unless you pay full price at NYU and get a Humanities degree). But if you drop out, and you’ve got debt — that’s another story.

There’s much more in the article, but I don’t want to give away too many spoilers. If you haven’t read it yet, I urge you to do so — and to join our discussion if you’re intrigued. We’re meeting on January 28 from 2:00 to 3:30 pm PT.

I got a chance to interview Mr. Tough (again!) last week, and it was an honor. If you’re a long-time subscriber, you know that Mr. Tough helped get Article Club off the ground. Back in February 2020, he shared his thoughts on “Getting an A,” a chapter from his book, The Inequality Machine. He was generous and thoughtful then. Nothing has changed.

About our conversation: I won’t give everything away, because it’s better to listen, but we discussed a number of topics, including:

* how there’s a major disconnect between “college experts” and regular American families on the value of higher education

* how this piece required a different kind of reporting and approach to writing

* how giving college advice to young people is way more complicated than it used to be

* how even though there’s “something really wrong in higher education,” our country is doomed if this current trend continues

Most of all, it became abundantly clear in our conversation that Mr. Tough knows what he’s talking about and knows how to write. Most of all, I appreciate his clarity and compassion. Especially if you’re a student, parent, or educator, this is an article that is worth your time and attention.

Thank you for reading this week’s issue. Hope you liked it. 😀

To our 6 new subscribers — including Scott, Hoa, Sammy, Amimul, and Kevin — I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. To our long-time subscribers (Quincy! Quinn! Quince!), you’re pretty great, too. Loyal reader Wayne, thank you for sharing the newsletter and getting the word out.

If you like Article Club, please help it grow. I really appreciate your support. Here are two ways you can help out:

❤️ Become a paid subscriber, like Molly (thank you). If you’ve subscribed for free for a long time, and you appreciate the articles and author interviews, or if you’ve joined one or more discussions, I encourage you to take the leap. You’ll join an esteemed group of readers who value the mission of Article Club. Plus you’ll receive surprise perks and prizes. It’s $5 a month or $36 a year.

📬 Invite your friends to subscribe. Know someone who’s kind, thoughtful, and loves to read? I’d love it if you encouraged them to subscribe. Word of mouth is by far the best way to strengthen our reading community. Thank you for spreading the word.

On the other hand, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please feel free to unsubscribe. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT.

Hope you’re having a relaxing (and reading-heavy) end of the year.

I’ll be back next Thursday to reveal our January article of the month. It’s going to be a good one, and I urge you to join our discussion.

Until then, I welcome you to listen to Article Club’s first-ever end-of-year podcast reflection episode, in which Melinda and I discuss some highlights from 2023 and what’s coming up in the new year.

Among other things, we chat about:

* our favorite articles of the year (can you guess?)

* our favorite moments from our monthly discussions

* what we’re looking forward to in 2024 (will Roxane Gay be joining us?)

* how Melinda is going to read Middlemarch

To listen: Hit the play button up top or add Article Club to your favorite podcast player.

In the episode, Melinda and I also share our deep appreciation of our reading community here at Article Club. In other words: This means you.

Thank you for subscribing, reading the articles, listening to author interviews, joining the discussions, and sharing your perspectives.

Thank you for being thoughtful and kind.

As we head into 2024 — which will no doubt be a roller coaster — I’m reminded that authentic connection does not come easily. True empathy does not come easily. What we continue to build here is special. In fact, in this clip, Melinda calls it magical.

Thank you again, and see you in the New Year!

Mark

⭐️ Before we get started: If you live near Oakland, join me and fellow Article Clubbers at an in-person gathering on Thursday, Nov. 30, at Room 389, beginning at 5:30 pm. It’s a great way to connect with other thoughtful readers and chat about the articles. It’d be wonderful to see you. Here’s more info and where you can get your free ticket.

Today’s issue is dedicated to an interview with Larissa MacFarquhar, the author of “The Fog: Living in Adoption’s Emotional Aftermath,” November’s article of the month.

Originally published in The New Yorker in April, the piece profiles three adoptees who have come out of “the fog,” or the denial of the trauma of being adopted. Not all adoptees have mixed or negative emotions, but many do.

They seek their birth parents but are lied to; they can’t obtain their original birth certificates; they’re told they should be happy they’re adopted when their feelings are complicated; they find the adoption system corrupt; they feel like they’re living a double life, estranged from the person they really are.

By focusing on the lives of Deanna, Joy, and Angela, the article also discusses the history and problems of three categories of adoption: invisible (or closed) adoptions, transracial adoptions, and international adoptions.

If you haven’t read it yet, I urge you to do so — and to join our discussion on December 3, if you’re moved.

I got a chance to interview Ms. MacFarquhar last Friday, and it was an honor. I won’t give everything away, because it’s better to listen, but we discussed a number of topics, including:

* how Ms. MacFarquhar became interested in adoption after exploring the problems of the foster care system

* how being adopted is a profoundly different way of being human than growing up with one’s biological family

* how many adoptees feel they’re not real, that their stories are scrambled, that their identities are disorientating, and that they learn about themselves bit by bit

* how although adoption is sometimes the best outcome for a child, our society should be more supportive of birth parents who love and want to keep their kids

Most of all, it became abundantly clear in our conversation that Ms. MacFarquhar is a thoughtful reporter and writer. Her approach to profiling is exquisite; she tells her subjects’ stories directly and with compassion. And no matter your background knowledge on adoption, and no matter your lived experience, this is an article that is worth your time and attention.

Thank you for listening to this week’s episode. Hope you liked it. 😀

To our 3 new subscribers — including Jennifer and Bernice — I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. To our long-time subscribers (Hunter! Hudson! Hakeem!), you’re pretty great, too. Loyal reader Naya, thank you for sharing the newsletter and getting the word out.

If you like Article Club, please help it grow. I really appreciate your support. Here are two ways you can help out:

❤️ Become a paid subscriber, like Christopher (thank you). If you’ve subscribed for free for a long time, and you appreciate the articles and author interviews, or if you’ve joined one or more discussions, I encourage you to take the leap. You’ll join an esteemed group of readers who value the mission of Article Club. Plus you’ll receive surprise perks and prizes. It’s $5 a month or $36 a year.

📬 Invite your friends to subscribe. Know someone who’s kind, thoughtful, and loves to read? I’d love it if you encouraged them to subscribe. Word of mouth is by far the best way to strengthen our reading community. Thank you for spreading the word.

On the other hand, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please feel free to unsubscribe. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT.

Today’s issue is dedicated to an interview with Dashka Slater, the author of “The Instagram Account that Shattered a California High School,” October’s article of the month.

Originally published in The New York Times Magazine in August, the piece explores a racist social media account created at a Bay Area high school in 2017 and its repercussions on young people and their community. The piece also raises the question: What does accountability really mean?

If you haven’t read it yet, I urge you to do so — and to join our discussion on October 29, if you’re moved.

I got a chance to interview Ms. Slater a few weeks back with fellow Article Clubber Melinda. It was an honor. I won’t give everything away, because it’s better to listen, but we discussed a number of topics, including:

* how edgy humor is a premium in boy culture, how it causes harm, and how masculinity is contested terrority right now

* how even in progressive places like the Bay Area, we think of accountability as punishment — that justice is balancing out the pain someone else has caused

* how kids have a strong sense of justice, and how they want to do the right thing, but that they need guidance from their teachers and parents

* how we as adults often don’t know what we’re doing, and how our own emotions get in the way of supporting our children

Most of all, it became abundantly clear in our conversation that Ms. Slater is a thoughtful and compassionate reporter and writer. She sees nuance and complexity. She doesn’t throw anyone under the bus. She gets to know people and writes with a ton of empathy. But this is not to say that Ms. Slater is wishy-washy or doesn’t have strong feelings about what happened at Albany High School. She does. She just understands that healing does not come via punishment.

One of the hardest things for anybody, any human, is to take a breath and say, I don’t know. And I think that was really lacking in Albany and in most places in a time of crisis, because everybody’s having emotions and they want immediate action. And as a result, there was a lot of action that wasn‘t very well informed with all the dynamics that it took me five years to reconstruct.

So I always say, the first thing is don‘t rush. Because there‘s a lot that you don‘t know. And the more you talk, the less you‘re listening in general. I think the other piece for adults is to not become the story. We often forget in our relationships with young people that we are not the story, and our job is to be teachers, coaches, mentors. We are supposed to assist.

Thank you for reading this week’s issue. Hope you liked it. 😀

To our 7 new subscribers — including Dave, Janina, Anna, Shoshana, and Kerry — I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. To our long-time subscribers (Lauri! Lori! Larry!), you’re pretty great, too. Loyal reader Quan, thank you for sharing the newsletter and getting the word out.

❤️ If you like Article Club, I encourage you to become a paid subscriber. If you’ve subscribed for free for a long time, and you appreciate the articles and author interviews, and if you’ve joined one or more discussions, I encourage you to take the plunge. You’ll join an esteemed group of readers who value the mission of Article Club. Plus you’ll receive personal audio letters, invites to events, and other perks and prizes. It costs $5 a month or $36 a year.

On the other hand, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please feel free to unsubscribe. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT.

Today’s issue is dedicated to an interview with Daniel Duane, the author of “A Tale of Paradise, Parking Lots, and My Mother's Berkeley Backyard,” September’s article of the month.

Originally published in The New York Times Magazine in May, the piece explores the housing crisis in the Bay Area and the fears that emerge alongside the inevitability of change. If you haven’t read it yet, I urge you to do so — and join our discussion on September 24, if you’re moved.

I got a chance to interview Mr. Duane a few weeks back, and it was an honor. I won’t give everything away, because it’s better to listen, but we discussed a number of topics, including:

* his fond memories of growing up in Berkeley

* his relationship with his mom, who was a radical activist in the 1960s, but who now feels scared about the changes coming to her neighborhood

* how the NIMBY / YIMBY debate could benefit from some compassion and nuance

Most of all, it became abundantly clear in our conversation that Mr. Duane is nostalgic but also does not find nostalgia useful. After all, we need more housing, he argues, even if that means having to make sacrifices for the common good. Sometimes, that sacrifice means realizing our time has come, that the world belongs to the young, that it’s time to let go.

At one point, when I was asking myself, Well, what is this story really about for me? I had sort of a moment of thinking about it as like, It‘s about the fact that the world belongs to the young, and it hurts when you find out that you’re no longer one of them. And that moment comes for everyone.

Thank you for reading this week’s issue. Hope you liked it. 😀

To our 10 new subscribers — including Sonia, Abigail, and Charles — I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. To our long-time subscribers (Kristen! Kristin! Krystyn!), you’re pretty great, too. Loyal reader Paul, thank you for sharing the newsletter and getting the word out.

If you like Article Club, please help it grow. I really appreciate your support. Here are two ways you can help out:

❤️ Become a paid subscriber, like Opal (thank you). If you’ve subscribed for free for a long time, and you appreciate the articles and author interviews, and if you’ve joined one or more discussions, I encourage you to take the leap. You’ll join an esteemed group of readers who value the mission of Article Club. Plus you’ll receive surprise perks and prizes. It’s $5 a month or $36 a year.

📬 Invite your friends to subscribe. Know someone who’s kind, thoughtful, and loves to read? I’d love it if you encouraged them to subscribe. Word of mouth is by far the best way to strengthen our reading community. Thank you for spreading the word.

On the other hand, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please feel free to unsubscribe. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT.

Today’s issue is dedicated to an interview with Matthew Desmond, the author of “Why Poverty Persists in America,” August’s article of the month.

Originally published in The New York Times Magazine in April, the piece is an excerpt from Prof. Desmond’s bestselling book, Poverty, by America. If you haven’t read it yet, I urge you to do so — and join our discussion on August 27, if you’re moved.

Fellow Article Clubber Melinda and I got a chance to interview Prof. Desmond a few weeks back, and it was an honor. I won’t give everything away, because it’s better to listen, but we discussed a number of topics, including:

* how poverty is about having a lack of choice, not just money

* how exploitation is at the center of poverty

* what it means to be a poverty abolitionist

Most of all, it became abundantly clear in our conversation that Prof. Desmond doesn’t find despair useful. Even though poverty is a result of harmful policies, shame won’t solve the problem. Rather, Prof. Desmond wants us to do something about the issue — not just talk about it. There’s too much “informed sophisticated passivity,” he said.

For the past half-century, we’ve approached the poverty question by pointing to poor people themselves — posing questions about their work ethic, say, or their welfare benefits — when we should have been focusing on the fire. The question that should serve as a looping incantation, the one we should ask every time we drive past a tent encampment, those tarped American slums smelling of asphalt and bodies, or every time we see someone asleep on the bus, slumped over in work clothes, is simply: Who benefits? Not: Why don’t you find a better job? Or: Why don’t you move? Or: Why don’t you stop taking out payday loans? But: Who is feeding off this?

As someone who sometimes likes to read and think and discuss, yet remain on the sidelines, I appreciated Prof. Desmond’s call to action. In the interview, he offers five ways we can be poverty abolitionists. Let’s stop debating people and sighing about how bad things are, he says. Let’s stop trying to change other people’s beliefs. Calling himself a “pragmatic writer,” he said, “I want my work to do things.”

Thank you for listening to this week’s episode. Hope you liked it. 😀

To our 16 new subscribers — including Joe, Kent, Emily, Rachael, Dhaka, Jordan, McKenzie, and Robert — I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. To our long-time subscribers (Rose! Rosie! Rosaline!), you’re pretty great, too. Loyal reader Ivy, thank you for sharing the newsletter and getting the word out.

If you like Article Club, please help it grow. I really appreciate your support. Here are two ways you can help out:

📬 Invite your friends to subscribe. Know someone who’s kind, thoughtful, and loves to read? I’d love it if you encouraged them to subscribe. Word of mouth is by far the best way to strengthen our reading community. Thank you for spreading the word.

❤️ Become a paid subscriber, like Nellie and Tanya (thank you!). You’ll join an esteemed group of readers who value Article Club. Plus you’ll gain access to our monthly discussions, our monthly quiet reading hours, and my personal audio letters from me to you. It’s $5 a month or $36 a year.

On the other hand, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please feel free to unsubscribe. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT.

Thank you for being paid subscribers and for supporting me and Article Club.

This weekend, I have for you an audio letter, where I share some of my thoughts on deeper reading — and whether it’s possible to read deeply with so many online distractions swirling around, competing for our attention.

I’ve been thinking about this topic for a while, but Meta’s launch of Threads really got me wondering if there’s any way for us to escape the endless bombardment, besides of course destroying all our tech and moving to a mountain in Montana.

I do think there’s hope, and in this audio letter, I talk about four things we can do to promote and preserve deeper online reading. They are:

* Limiting our reading sources

* Choosing a dedicated reading device

* Consciously compiling our reading collection

* Scheduling a regular time and place to read

These steps sound commonsensical, but at least for me, they’re easier said than done. I hope you’ll listen to my musings, and I’d love to hear what you think!

Do you do any of these four things? Do you have an online reading system that works for you — or any secret tips to share? You can leave a comment, email me, or record a voice message.

Also, if this deeper reading thing interests you, I warmly invite you to Quiet Reading Hour next Sunday, July 16, 9-10 am PT. Let me know if you’re in!

Have a great weekend, and happy reading,

Mark

PS - Want to listen to these audio letters (and all other AC-related audio) on your phone? Click “listen on” to the right of the player above, then click “email link” to receive the private, subscriber-only RSS feed. Go to your phone, find the email from Substack, and click “add to podcast app.” Voila!

Thank you for being here! I have three things for you this week, so let’s get right to it.

1️⃣ Article Club

This month we’ve been focusing on “How Much Would You Pay to Save Your Cat’s Life?” by Sarah Zhang. Originally published in The Atlantic last December, it’s a piece I highly urge that you read. Here’s why:

* It explores the rising trend of cat kidney transplants (expensive! controversial!)

* Ms. Zhang asks a provocative question and examines it from all sides

* Even though the article is about pets, it’s really about human relationships

Where’s the line between being a caring pet owner and doing too much? If you consider your pet a part of the family — or if you judge people who consider their pet part of the family — you’ll love this article.

I hope you’ll sign up to discuss the piece on Sunday, June 25, 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT on Zoom. Article Clubbers are kind and thoughtful and welcoming. Our conversations are always in small, intimate, facilitated groups. Reach out if you have questions or if you want to participate in the conversation but are secretly shy or nervous.

2️⃣ My interview with Sarah Zhang

One of the best parts of Article Club (in addition to our monthly discussions) is the generosity of journalists and how they share their insights on the outstanding articles they write. Ms. Zhang (who has two cats herself!) was kind and thoughtful, and it was a delight to chat with her. We talked about a number of topics, including:

* why this topic — how much we are willing to spend on our pets — is fraught with judgment (what’s too much? too little?)

* how cat kidney transplants raise major ethical questions (namely: the kidney comes from another cat, who can’t consent)

* how pets serve an “in-between” role in our lives — how they’re not exactly our children, but they’re not exactly our property (and how that’s confusing)

I hope you take a listen! (You can click the player at the top or subscribe to The Highlighter Article Club on your favorite podcast player.)

3️⃣ Issue #400 is coming! What do you think about all this?

We’re coming up on eight years and 400 issues of this newsletter, which is a mild marvel, and to celebrate the occasion, I’d love to hear from you. What has been your experience of reading The Highlighter Article Club or participating in the discussions? Do you have any kind words, or words or wisdom, or requests for the next eight years? Feel free to leave a comment or reply privately. Thank you!

Thank you for reading this week’s issue. Hope you liked it. 😀

To our new subscriber Susan – I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. To our long-time subscribers (July! Julio! Julia!), you’re pretty great, too. Loyal reader Brett, thank you for sharing the newsletter and getting the word out.

If you like The Highlighter Article Club, please help it grow. I really appreciate your support. Here are two ways you can help out:

📬 Invite your friends to subscribe. Know someone who’s kind, thoughtful, and loves to read? I’d love it if you encouraged them to subscribe. Word of mouth is by far the best way to strengthen our reading community. Thank you for spreading the word.

❤️ Become a paid subscriber, like Susan, Courtney, and Sara (thank you!). You’ll join an esteemed group of readers who value the mission of The Highlighter Article Club. Plus you’ll receive surprise perks and prizes. It’s $5 a month or $36 a year.

On the other hand, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please feel free to unsubscribe. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT.

Thank you for being here! I have four things for you this week, so let’s get right to it.

1️⃣ Article Club

This month we’ve been focusing on “Why is Affirmative Action in Peril?” by Emily Bazelon. It’s a piece I highly recommend that you read. Here’s why:

* The Supreme Court will likely strike down affirmative action next month

* This article expertly explains why

* Ms. Bazelon — staff writer for The New York Times Magazine, senior research fellow at Yale Law School, and co-host of Slate’s Political Gabfest — knows how to write and knows what she’s talking about

Instead of focusing on the current politics of the Court, Ms. Bazelon takes us back in time, helping us understand the history of affirmative action through a close study of the Bakke decision and the legal strategy of attorney Archibald Cox — which won the case but ultimately left affirmative action vulnerable.

I hope you’ll sign up to discuss the article on Sunday, May 21, 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT on Zoom. Article Clubbers are kind and thoughtful and welcoming. Our conversations are always in small, intimate, facilitated groups. Reach out if you have questions or if you want to participate in the conversation but are secretly shy or nervous.

2️⃣ My interview with Ms. Bazelon

I can’t stop thinking about how much fun it was to chat with Ms. Bazelon. She was a total pro: generous, thoughtful, and deeply knowledgeable. (My friends have told me to stop gushing.) We talked about a number of topics, including:

* how Mr. Cox cobbled together a victory by wooing a segregationist justice

* how the justices have wildly different interpretations of the 14th Amendment

* how white people have a very short amount of patience for thinking about the harms of race discrimination

There is a fundamental American tension between prizing individual achievement and promoting the collective spirit of the nation’s egalitarian promise, between the call to be colorblind and the call not to be blind to racism.

I hope you take a listen! (You can click the player at the top or subscribe to The Highlighter Article Club on your favorite podcast player.)

3️⃣ Article Club author Eli Saslow wins another Pulitzer Prize

When I spoke with Eli Saslow last November about “An American Education,” I asked him how it felt to win a Pulitzer Prize. He shared his complex feelings: both that he was “hugely gratified” for the acknowledgment but also “a little conflicted” given that he writes about people’s worst moments and our country’s deepest problems.

I appreciated the thoughtfulness of that answer, and I have continued recommending Mr. Saslow’s work to my colleagues. For those reasons and more, I was delighted to hear that he won yet another Pulitzer Prize this week. Here’s a clip:

Congratulations, Mr. Saslow! You are further evidence proving my bold claim — that writers who participate in Article Club go on to win Pulitzers. My other evidence? Mitchell S. Jackson. (Sadly, I can’t take credit for Kathryn Schulz or Stephanie McCrummen; they won their Pulitzers beforehand.)

4️⃣ Meet other thoughtful readers at HHH on June 1

Highlighter Happy Hour has been one of the most joyful ways for us to gather, connect, and celebrate our reading community. We’re heading into the 20th HHH! Can you believe it?

We’ll be meeting up at Room 389 in Oakland on June 1 beginning at 5:30.

If you live or work not too far from Oakland, it’d be great to see you there. If you get a free ticket, you’ll get a prize at the door. And just in case you’re nervous: Yes, we do chat about the articles — but only sometimes, and usually just tangentially.

Thank you for reading this week’s issue and for listening to the interview. Hope you liked it. 😀

If you like The Highlighter Article Club, please help it grow. I really appreciate your support. Here are two ways you can help out:

📬 Invite your friends to subscribe. Know someone who’s kind, thoughtful, and loves to read? I’d love it if you encouraged them to subscribe. Word of mouth is by far the best way to strengthen our reading community. Thank you for spreading the word.

❤️ Become a paid subscriber, like Brad (thank you!). You’ll join an esteemed group of readers who value the mission of The Highlighter Article Club. Plus you’ll receive surprise perks and prizes. It’s $5 a month or $36 a year.

On the other hand, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please feel free to unsubscribe. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT!

You may know that the Supreme Court will be ruling on two affirmative action cases in June. It’s a big deal, given the current composition of the Court. Unless one of the conservative justices changes their mind, affirmative action might be dead.

I deeply appreciated Ms. Bazelon’s article because she offers context for the upcoming decisions. Instead of discussing the current cases in detail, Ms. Bazelon explains the history of affirmative action and tells the story of Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, the 1978 landmark decision that still serves as legal precedent.

Today’s issue is a three-parter. You get:

* an introduction to this month’s article

* a podcast episode with me and fellow Article Clubber Melinda, where we share why we liked the article so much

* an invitation to join this month’s discussion on May 21

Before that, though — a little bit about the author: Ms. Bazelon is a staff writer at The New York Times Magazine and is the Truman Capote Fellow for Creative Writing and Law at Yale Law School. She is also the author of Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration, which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in the current-interest category, and of the national best-seller Sticks and Stones: Defeating the Culture of Bullying and Rediscovering the Power of Character and Empathy. She is a co-host of Slate’s Political Gabfest, a weekly podcast. Ms. Bazelon has generously agreed to record a podcast interview.

I hope you’ll read the article and join our discussion on Sunday, May 21, at 2 pm PT. You can find out more information about the article and discussion below.

Why Is Affirmative Action In Peril?

The Supreme Court most likely will strike down affirmative action in June. This article explains why. According to journalist and law lecturer Emily Bazelon, it all comes down to understanding Regents v. Bakke, the 1978 decision that banned racial quotas but preserved affirmative action. In order to lure enough justices, lawyer Archibald Cox devised a strategy that centered the benefits of diversity, rather than the responsibility of reparations, as the reason affirmative action should continue. In other words: Let’s forget that the 14th Amendment’s purpose was to give equal rights to Black Americans. In the short term, the tactic worked. The Court sided with Mr. Cox 5-4, and affirmative action has endured despite many challenges, including in Grutter v. Bollinger (2003) and Fisher v. Texas (2016). But now with a much more conservative court, Ms. Bazelon suggests that affirmative action’s “diversity” rationale may be similar to abortion’s “privacy” rationale — way too flimsy to survive. (35 min)

This month, I warmly invite you to read, annotate, and discuss “Why Is Affirmative Action in Peril?” as part of Article Club.

If you’re interested, this how things will go:

* This week, we’ll read the article

* Next week, we’ll annotate the article as a group

* The following week, we’ll hear from Ms. Bazelon in a podcast interview

* On Sunday, May 21, 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT, we’ll discuss the article on Zoom.

If this will be your first time participating in Article Club, I’m 100% sure you’ll find that you’ll feel welcome. We’re a kind, thoughtful reading community. Feel free to reach out with all of your questions.

Thank you for reading this week’s issue. Hope you liked it. 😀

To our 6 new subscribers – including Montessa, Eric, Cory, Lisa, and Josette — I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. To our long-time subscribers (Fern! Fred! Faith!), you’re pretty great, too. Loyal reader Kathy, thank you for sharing the newsletter and getting the word out.

If you like The Highlighter Article Club, please help it grow. I really appreciate your support. Here are two ways you can help out:

❤️ Become a paid subscriber, like Xavier (thank you!). You’ll join an esteemed group of readers who value the mission of The Highlighter Article Club. Plus you’ll receive surprise perks and prizes. It’s $5 a month or $36 a year.

📬 Invite your friends to subscribe. Know someone who’s kind, thoughtful, and loves to read? I’d love it if you encouraged them to subscribe. Word of mouth is by far the best way to strengthen our reading community. Thank you for spreading the word.

☕️ Buy me a coffee. If subscriptions (or commitments in general) stress you out, you can share your gratitude by making a one-time donation. Coffee helps me find the best articles and supports my overall reading stamina.

On the other hand, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please feel free to unsubscribe. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT!

I’m coming to you on a Monday with a bonus episode of the podcast. This is because many of you said “we want more!” after listening to a conversation I had with fellow Article Clubber Melinda last month.

So I asked Melinda, “Want to do it again?” And she generously said yes! ⭐️

Melinda’s an activist, lawyer, and cat mom living in Washington, D.C. A lover of many genres, from memoir to fantasy novels, she’s normally reading several things at once and hunting for her next read at her favorite local bookstore, Solid State Books.

This time, we’re talking about this month’s selection, “The Sunset,” by Lisa Bubert. It’s a personal essay about Ms. Bubert’s time working in a nursing home when she was a college student. If you haven’t read it yet, I recommend that you do.

Here are some topics we talked about:

* how Melinda experienced her first AC discussion last month

* how impressed we were with Ms. Bubert’s writing and structure

* what we got out of the essay and what we most valued

* what questions we want to ask Ms. Bubert at our discussion (she’s joining us!)

Hope you appreciate this conversation with me and Melinda. I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Also, last thing: There’s still room if you want to join our discussion of “The Sunset” on April 30. We’re meeting up 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT via Zoom. All you need to do is sign up below, and once you do, I’ll send you more details. Have a great week, and see you this Thursday for Issue #390 of The Highlighter Article Club.

Also: I hope you’ll join us to discuss the article on Sunday, April 30, 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT on Zoom. There’s still time to sign up. Article Clubbers are kind and thoughtful and welcoming. Our conversations are always in small, intimate, facilitated groups. Plus there’s a bonus: Ms. Bubert will be joining us!

I’m excited to share that I had the opportunity to interview Ms. Bubert a couple days ago about her brilliant essay. We talked about a number of topics, including:

* how we care about our grandparents but not our elderly

* how we don’t care about the people who care for the elderly (i.e., Black women)

* how death is the most vulnerable act

* how “there is no act of love greater than to sit with someone as they face their deepest moment of vulnerability”

* how the elderly deserve our dignity, and how “dignity requires witness”

I hope you take a listen and share your thoughts in the comments.

Thank you for listening to the interview. Hope you liked it. 😀

To our 8 new subscribers – including Pamela, Jessica, John, Abbie, Madison, Bianca, and Albert – I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. To our long-time subscribers (Dave! Danny! Derek!), you’re pretty great. Loyal reader Nancy, thank you for sharing the newsletter and getting the word out.

If you like The Highlighter Article Club, please help it grow. I really appreciate your support. Here are two ways you can help out:

❤️ Become a paid subscriber, like Venus and Yolanda (thank you!). You’ll join an esteemed group of readers who value the mission of The Highlighter Article Club. Plus you’ll receive surprise perks and prizes.

📬 Invite your friends. Know someone who’s kind, thoughtful, and loves to read? Share with them today’s issue and urge them to subscribe. Word of mouth is by far the best way to strengthen our reading community. Thank you very much for spreading the word.

On the other hand, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please feel free to unsubscribe. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT!

This month at Article Club, we’ve been focusing on “Saying Goodbye to my Chest,” by Naomi Gordon-Loebl. If you haven’t read the article yet, I encourage you to do so. In the essay, Gordon-Loebl poignantly and vulnerably discusses her upcoming top surgery. It’s outstanding.

Also: I hope you’ll join us to discuss the article on Sunday, February 26, 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT on Zoom. There’s still time to sign up! Article Clubbers are kind and thoughtful and welcoming. Our conversations are always in small, intimate, facilitated groups.

I’m excited to share that I had the opportunity to interview Naomi a couple days ago about her brilliant essay. We talked about a number of topics, including:

* how it feels to be on the other side of her top surgery

* how there’s no one monolithic experience of being trans

* how trans people deserve stories of nuance and complexity

* how writing is like going down to the bottom of the ocean and noticing what you’re seeing along the way

* how educators should treat trans kids (and all kids) in the classroom

I hope you take a listen and let me know what you think.

Thank you for reading this week’s issue. Hope you liked it. 😀

To our 65 new subscribers – including Faith, Francis, Jessica, Sarah, Mary Lou, Adrienne, Hilary, Jenn, Maria, Kate, Tracy, Marilyn, Paula, Kellie, Abby, Laura, Tim, Dakota, Lauren, Shannon, Erin, Dolores, Colleen, Carly, Nicole, Lorna, Heidi, Paula, Kat, Emma, Kelsey, Kim, Alex, Terri, Hallie, Jodie, Carolyn, Tiffany, Marian, Melinda, and Jillian – I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. To our long-time subscribers (Venus! Vard! Violet!), you’re pretty great. Loyal reader Mike, thank you for sharing the newsletter and getting the word out.

If you like The Highlighter Article Club, please help it grow. I really appreciate your support. Here are two ways you can help out:

❤️ Become a paid subscriber, like Lorna and Jack (thank you!). You’ll join an esteemed group of readers who value the mission of The Highlighter Article Club. Plus you’ll receive surprise perks and prizes. (The hoodie is next!)

📬 Invite your friends. Know someone who’s kind, thoughtful, and loves to read? Share with them today’s issue and urge them to subscribe. Word of mouth is by far the best way to strengthen our reading community. Thank you very much for spreading the word.

On the other hand, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please feel free to unsubscribe. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT!

If you haven’t read the article yet, I urge you to do so. It’s excellent. Even if you are a newbie to Ms. Butler’s work, you’ll appreciate how Mr. Jung honors her and her impact. There aren’t many great profiles out there about Ms. Butler. Now, thanks to Mr. Jung, we have one.

Also: I hope you’ll join us to discuss the article on January 29, 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT on Zoom. There’s still time to sign up! Article Clubbers are kind and thoughtful and welcoming. Our conversations are always in small, intimate, facilitated groups.

I’m excited to share that Sarai and I had the opportunity to interview Mr. Jung a couple weeks ago about his brilliant article. Sarai took the lead this time – which I was very happy about, given that she’s an expert of Ms. Butler’s work. We talked about a number of topics, including:

* why Mr. Jung decided to focus on Ms. Butler as a subject

* how reading her personal journals influenced Mr. Jung’s approach to the piece

* why contracts (professional and personal) were so important to Ms. Butler

* manifesting (of course)

* how Ms. Butler pushes us to imagine a better world

I hope you take a listen and let me know what you think.

Thank you for listening to this week’s issue. Hope you liked it. 😀

To our 3 new subscribers — James, Rachel, and Bria – I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. To our long-time subscribers (Ronald! Reginald! Ryan!), you’re pretty great. VIP Camille, thank you for sharing the newsletter and getting the word out.

If you like The Highlighter Article Club, please help it grow. I really appreciate your support. Here are two ways you can help out:

❤️ Become a paid subscriber, like Rachel and Helene (thank you!). You’ll join an esteemed group of readers who value the mission of The Highlighter Article Club. Plus you’ll receive surprise perks and prizes. (The hoodie is next!)

📬 Invite your friends. Know someone who’s kind, thoughtful, and loves to read? Share with them today’s issue and urge them to subscribe. Word of mouth is by far the best way to strengthen our reading community. Thank you very much for spreading the word.

On the other hand, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please feel free to unsubscribe. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT!

If you haven’t read the article yet, I highly encourage you to do so. It’s outstanding. It’s about how the superintendent of a school district in Bullhead City, Arizona, tries to deal with its severe teacher shortage by attracting top-notch educators from the Philippines. It’s also about one of those top-notch educators – Rose Jean Obreque – whose skills and optimism and high expectations and growth mindset unfortunately are no match for American middle school students and their shenanigans.

It’s a depressing story, no doubt, but it nonetheless tells the truth of what teachers and students are currently experiencing in schools across the country. I hope you’ll join us to discuss the article on November 20, 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT on Zoom.

I’m also very happy to share that I had the opportunity to interview Mr. Saslow yesterday about his brilliant article. We talked about a number of topics, including:

* how writing the piece reaffirmed his deep respect and appreciation for teachers

* how it felt to be in a chaotic classroom, especially as a parent

* how of course it’s hard to recruit teachers when you’re paying them $38,000

* how he approaches writing about what it’s like for people who are “in the swirl of our country’s biggest problems”

* and yes, spoiler alert, that ending (wow)

I hope you take a listen and let me know what you think.

Thank you for reading this week’s issue of The Highlighter Article Club. Hope you liked it. Feel free to share your thoughts and feedback. I’d love to hear from you.

To our five new subscribers – including Chris, Daniel, and Rebecca – I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. To our long-time subscribers (Irene! Izzy! Isis!), you’re pretty great, too. Loyal reader Janet, thank you for sharing the newsletter and getting the word out.

If you like The Highlighter Article Club, please help it grow. I really appreciate your support. Here are some ways you can help out:

📬 Invite your friends. Know someone who’s kind, thoughtful, and loves to read? Share with them today’s issue and urge them to subscribe. Word of mouth is by far the best way to strengthen our reading community. Thank you very much for spreading the word.

❤️ Become a paid subscriber for $3 a month, like Chris and Cal (thank you!). You’ll join an esteemed group of readers who value the mission of The Highlighter Article Club. Plus you’ll receive surprise perks and prizes. (A new T-shirt is coming at HHH.)

☕️ Buy me a coffee to express your appreciation of the newsletter

On the other hand, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please feel free to unsubscribe. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT!

Like, the most talented authors out there.

This month is no exception. Some of you might say, It’s the pinnacle, actually.

That’s because Mitchell S. Jackson — the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “Twelve Minutes and a Life” (please read it if you haven’t) — generously said yes to participating in an interview about his masterful recent article, “Looking for Clarence Thomas.” We’re discussing it on Sunday, Oct. 23, 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT. Join us!

What do you do when you get to talk to someone whose work you deeply admire?

In my case, I get nervous. And prepare. And re-read. And annotate. And reach out to my friend and colleague Sarai Bordeaux and ask her to join. (She said yes, too.)

But it turns out, I didn’t need to be afraid at all. Mr. Jackson was kind and gracious from the start. He laughed that I insisted on calling him Mr. Jackson. And right from the first question, everything felt natural, like we were talking to a friend rather than to a famous writer whose prose is changing the canon (Sarai’s words) of longform nonfiction.

We talked about a number of topics, including:

* how he didn’t want to write about Clarence Thomas

* how his editor persuaded him

* how his trip to Pin Point inspired the piece’s opening

* how James Baldwin’s writing helped him understand Mr. Thomas, and

* how Mr. Thomas is a man of deep contradictions, whose time on the Supreme Court has caused “dramatically malevolent things to wide swaths of Americans”

Most of all, though, Mr. Jackson talked about the craft of writing, how if he’s going to spend months on a feature story, he wants to push himself, he wants to break convention, he wants to do something new with form.

He said, “I’m very much concerned with the sentence. I’m almost concerned with the sentence over the story. And so the benefit of writing nonfiction is, You don’t have to invent the scenes, but the kind of ethos of wanting to make beautiful sentences, that’s really what I want to do.”

I hope you take a listen, whether or not you’ve already read “Looking for Clarence Thomas.” I’d love to hear what you think of the conversation! Feel free to leave a comment here. What was thought provoking? What surprised you?

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to interview Mr. Prager. It was an honor. Thanks to his generosity and thoughtfulness, it was a great conversation. We spoke about a number of topics, including how he got interested in Roe v. Wade, how he found Shelley Thornton, how being a man affected his writing, how the politics of abortion are much more extreme now than they were 50 years ago, and how Norma McCorvey cared deeply about her legacy.

I hope you take a listen!

After listening to the interview, feel free to add your thoughts in the comments. What’s one insight that resonated with you? What’s a question you were left with?

I look forward to our discussion on Sunday. See you then! If you have any questions, hit reply or click here.

A few weeks ago, Sarai and I had the opportunity to interview Prof. McLarin. It was an honor. Thanks to her generosity and thoughtfulness, it was a great conversation. We spoke about a number of topics, including how she approached writing the article, the importance of the role of positionality, what it means to be a Black woman in a nation of white violence, and what is worthy of being defended.

I hope you take a listen!

After listening to the interview, feel free to add your thoughts in the comments. What’s one insight that resonated with you? What’s a question you were left with?

I look forward to our discussion next Sunday. See you then!

A few weeks ago, I got the opportunity to interview Ms. Schulz. It was an honor. Thanks to her generosity and thoughtfulness, it was a great conversation. We talked about a range of topics, including: how it feels to have a new book out, how she organized the piece, how she thinks about a concept she calls “and-ness,” what her dad meant to her, why she included certain details and not others, and why she ended an article on loss with the phenomenon of finding.

I hope you take a listen!

Also, I encourage you to buy and read Lost & Found, her memoir, published in January, that grew out of this essay. (You can’t have my copy.)

After listening to the interview, feel free to add your thoughts in the comments. What’s one insight that resonated with you? What’s a question you were left with?

I look forward to our discussion on Feb. 27. See you then!

If you’re interested (especially if this will be your first discussion!), there’s still time to sign up (until Saturday, February 12). Here’s more information about the article. Then click the big button below.

This week, we’re doing two things: (1) annotating the article together (2) listening to the beginning of the article and sharing our first impressions.

#1: Let’s annotate

Here’s the copy of the article we can annotate together. Annotating is a great way to connect with other Article Clubbers and share your thoughts about the piece, right inside the text. You can build on others’ comments or add your own. Try it, you’ll like it! (Remember, we don’t have to perform at AC.) Thanks for getting us started, Sara!

#2: Let’s listen to the beginning and share what we think

Back in 2017 when I first featured “When Things Go Missing” in The Highlighter, loyal reader Shyanna generously agreed to record the introduction. (Thank you, Shyanna!) To spark interest and to get conversation going, let’s listen to it (hit the play button at the top). Then, I encourage you to leave a comment.

How did you experience reading the introduction? How did it make you feel?

Coming up this month

* This week: We’ll annotate the article with fellow Article Clubbers.

* Next week: We’ll listen to Ms. Schulz’ thoughts about the article.

* The week of February 21: There will be a surprise.

* Sunday, February 27: We’ll discuss the article with fellow Article Clubbers. Plus, I’ll raffle off a copy of Lost & Found.

Are you new to Article Club? If so, welcome! We look forward to meeting you and having your voice in the conversation. Feel free to reach out with questions: mark@highlighter.cc.

Before revealing this month’s article, I would like to express my gratitude to Sara, Abde, Jennifer, Bonnie, Elise, Marcus, Summer, Toronzo, and Peter for our discussion last Sunday of “Good Mother.” Special thanks go to Sara — for joining Article Club for the very first time! — and to Sierra Crane Murdoch, for your beautiful article.

I’m pleased to announce that this month, we’ll be reading “When Things Go Missing,” by Kathryn Schulz. Originally published in The New Yorker in 2017, and featured in The Highlighter as the best article of the year, the piece inspired me to make Article Club a reality. In fact, back in January 2018, eight of you joined me in Oakland to discuss the article at “Choc Talk,” the very-first rendition of AC. (We’ve come a long way!)

Here’s the blurb I wrote about the piece for The Highlighter:

Kathryn Schulz begins this astounding piece with anecdotes about losing things – her keys, her wallet, her car. Then Ms. Schulz turns to the loss of her father, who died last year. Her writing is exquisite, and her thesis – that living is losing – will bring you pause, even if reading about death is something you’d rather not do.

Since then: The essay became a book! Lost & Found, published last month by Random House, is a beautifully written memoir that expands on themes from the original essay – for example: that losing is inevitable, while finding is truly astonishing.

Ms. Schulz joined The New Yorker as a staff writer in 2015. In 2016, she won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing and a National Magazine Award for “The Really Big One,” her story on seismic risk in the Pacific Northwest. Previously, she was the book critic for New York, the editor of the environmental magazine Grist, and a reporter and editor at the Santiago Times. She is the author of “Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error” and “Lost & Found.”

I hope you’ll join me and fellow Article Clubbers in discussing the piece on Sunday, February 27, 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT! This event will be on Zoom and will be limited to 24 participants.

Are you IN?

I hope so! If so, here’s what to do:

* Announce the good news by leaving a comment below.In a sentence or two, say hi and share why you’re interested.

* Sign up for the discussion by clicking here.This will save your spot and tell me you’re committed to joining.

* Start reading the article.Here’s the original, and here’s a shared version we can annotate together.

Coming up this month at Article Club

* This week: We’ll sign up for the discussion and start reading the article.

* Next week: We’ll annotate the article and share our first impressions.

* The week of February 14: We’ll listen to an interview with Ms. Schulz.

* The week of February 21: There will be a surprise.

* Sunday, February 27: We’ll discuss the article with fellow Article Clubbers. Plus, I’ll raffle off a copy of Lost & Found.

Are you new to Article Club? If so, welcome! We look forward to meeting you and having your voice in the conversation. Feel free to reach out with questions: mark@highlighter.cc.

A few weeks ago, Sarai and I got the chance to interview Ms. Murdoch. It was a great conversation. We talked about a range of topics: how it felt to be a Pulitzer Prize finalist, how this article came to be, how she felt to receive the questionnaire, how she approached this piece as a white writer, and of course, what it means to be a good mother.

Even if you’re not joining our discussion this Sunday, I recommend reading the article (one of my favorites of 2021) and listening to Ms. Murdoch speak intimately and transparently about her process.

I want to appreciate Ms. Murdoch for generously sharing her time and thoughtfulness with us. Thank you!

After listening to the interview, feel free to add your thoughts in the comments. What’s one insight that resonated with you? What’s a question you were left with?

And if you’re joining the discussion this Sunday, I look forward to seeing you there. In addition to participating in the conversation, you’ll have a chance to win Ms. Murdoch’s book!

That’s because this month’s article is awesome. I’m pleased to announce that we’ll be reading “Good Mother,” by Sierra Crane Murdoch. It was one of my favorite articles last year.

Here’s the blurb I wrote about it for The Highlighter:

Lissa Yellow Bird wants to become a foster parent. But the county social services department in North Dakota isn’t so sure. So they send a questionnaire to journalist Sierra Crane Murdoch, asking for her thoughts.

In this touching, beautifully written essay, Ms. Murdoch reflects on what it means to be a good mother in the shadow of colonization. She traces how the United States government decimated American Indian motherhood by separating families, forcing children to attend boarding schools, and sterilizing women – all the way until the mid-1970s.

And here’s an excerpt from the piece:

Mothering was the only conceivable role in society for a Native woman, and yet motherhood was at odds with indigeneity. To become a citizen, a woman had to become a mother; to become a mother, she had to become less Indian. In the Yellow Bird family, the antidote to intergenerational trauma is intergenerational love, the piling on of relatives. When a mother falls short, the solution is not to take the child away from the mother, but to give the child more mothers and fathers.

Sierra Crane Murdoch is a journalist and essayist whose work concerns, primarily, communities in the American West. Her book, Yellow Bird: Oil, Murder, and a Woman's Search for Justice in Indian Country, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Named one of the best books of 2020 by The New York Times, NPR, and Publisher’s Weekly, it was also nominated for the Edgar Award, won an Oregon Book Award, and is being developed as a TV series for Paramount+. Ms. Murdoch’s writing has appeared on This American Life and in Harper’s, VQR, The New Yorker online, Orion, The Atlantic, and High Country News.

Whether or not you’re a mother, whether or not you’re a parent, I encourage you to read this article, even if you’re not able to participate in the discussion. It’s brilliantly structured, sensitively written, and deeply thought-provoking.

I hope you’ll join me and fellow Article Clubbers in discussing the piece on Sunday, January 30, 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT! This event will be on Zoom and be limited to 24 participants.

Are you IN?

I hope so! If so, here’s what to do:

* Announce the good news by leaving a comment below. Click on the green button. In a sentence or two, say hi and share why you’re interested.

* Sign up for the discussion by clicking here.This will save your spot and tell me you’re committed to joining.

* Start reading the article.Here’s the original, and here’s a shared version we can annotate together.

Coming up this month at Article Club

* This week: We’ll sign up for the discussion and start reading the article.

* Next week: We’ll go deeper, annotating the article, sharing our first impressions, and “meeting” Ms. Murdoch.

* The week of January 24: We’ll listen to an interview with Ms. Murdoch.

* Sunday, January 30: We’ll discuss the article with fellow Article Clubbers.

Are you new to Article Club? If so, welcome! We look forward to meeting you and having your voice in the conversation. Feel free to reach out with questions: mark@highlighter.cc.

Thank you for reading Article Club. This post is public so feel free to share it.

A few weeks ago, I got to interview Mr. Casey with fellow Article Clubber Lauri. It was a great conversation. He talked about how he came to write this piece and about how writing his own story was different from his regular work as a journalist. Mr. Casey also talked about his father, the concepts of melancholy and wanderlust, and the age-old nature vs. nurture question.

Most of all, I want to appreciate Mr. Casey for generously sharing his time and thoughtfulness with us. Also, to Lauri: Thank you for nominating this article for Readers’ Choice Month and for collaborating closely on this podcast episode.

After listening to the interview, feel free to add your thoughts in the comments. And if you’re participating in the discussion, see you this Sunday!

Originally published in The New York Times Magazine in June, the piece chronicles Mr. Casey’s long search for his father and explores issues of identity and connection. Where do we come from? What makes us the way we are?

Here’s an excerpt from the piece:

I spent much of my life imagining who I was — and then becoming that person — through vague clues about who my father was. Part of me still likes to believe we each determine who we are by the decisions we make and the lives we choose to live. But what if we don’t? Now I often wonder whether this long journey that has led me to so many corners of the world wasn’t because I was searching for him, but because I am him.

Nicholas Casey is the Madrid bureau chief at The New York Times, covering Spain, Portugal and Morocco. Over the last decade he was stationed in Colombia, Venezuela, Israel, Mexico, and the United States, where he covered the 2020 election. In 2016, he won the George Polk for his work in Venezuela. Mr. Casey’s reporting has also won the New York Press Club Award, the Clarion Award, and honorable mention from the Society of Publishers in Asia.

I hope you’ll join me and fellow Article Clubbers in discussing this article on Sunday, November 21, 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT! This event will be on Zoom and be limited to 24 participants.

Are you IN? I hope so. If so, here’s what to do:

* Sign up for the discussion.

* Leave a comment below. Say hi and share why you’re interested in this month’s article.

* Start reading the article. Here’s the original, and here’s a shared version we can annotate together.

Coming up this month at Article Club

* This week: We’ll sign up for the discussion and start reading the article.

* Next week: We’ll annotate the article with fellow Article Clubbers.

* The week of November 15: We’ll listen to an interview with Mr. Casey.

* Sunday, November 21: We’ll discuss the article with fellow Article Clubbers.

Are you new to Article Club? If so, welcome! We look forward to meeting you and having your voice in the conversation. Feel free to reach out with questions: mark@highlighter.cc.

Article Club is a community of thoughtful people who read, annotate, and discuss one great article every month on race, education, or culture. Everyone is welcome. The author participates, too. Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

Mr. Broome is one of my favorite writers. We last spoke more than two years ago, after he published “79,” one of the best pieces in Highlighter history. It was an honor to interview him again. He’s the first returning guest to the podcast!

I hope you’ll listen to the interview. It’s a good one – because Mr. Broome is thoughtful and doesn’t hold back. We talk about sexuality, racism, “good white people,” Bertrand’s ridiculousness, sports and locker rooms, the gaze of Black boys, inner hatred and inner acceptance, coming out, and how white supremacy limits possible constructions of masculinity.

Most of all, I want to appreciate Mr. Broome for generously sharing his time and thoughtfulness with us. Also, I highly recommend Punch Me Up to the Gods. I’ll be raffling off a copy this Sunday, so good luck!

After listening to the interview, please share your thoughts in the comments. What resonated with you?

Article Club is a thoughtful reading community and an experiment in community reading. Every month, we read, annotate, and discuss one great article, and the author participates, too! If you’re interested, sign up and check us out. Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

Thank you to Summer, Peter, Jennifer, Elise, Molly, Lauri, Shreya, Wes, Sarai, Telannia, Daniel, Philippe, Tamyra, Susan, Abde, and David for joining the discussion. I’m very grateful.

Also, I deeply appreciate Summer, Elise, and Sarai for facilitating groups. Also, a big welcome to Susan, David, and Abde. Hope you felt comfortable and had a good time!

Reflections and celebrations are open:What did you take away from the discussion?What did you appreciate?How can we make things even better next time?

Here are a few of my reflections and questions. (Feel free to share your thoughts!)

* Every discussion is unique. But should there be some commonalities in flow? What makes an Article Club discussion special?

* Discussion groups matter, too. Should groupings be random, or should you get to choose them? What are the benefits of affinity spaces vs. mixed groups?

* Article Club is better when everyone who signs up shows up. What are ways that I can encourage new and existing participants to the conversation?

See you next week! That’s when I’ll reveal October’s article. If you want to plan ahead, our discussion will be on Sunday, October 24, 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT. The author plans to join us, too.

And if you like Article Club, please share it with a friend!

Article Club is a thoughtful reading community and an experiment in community reading. Every month, we read, annotate, and discuss one great article, and the author participates, too! If you’re interested, sign up and check us out. Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

A couple weeks ago, Article Clubber Sarai and I got the chance to talk with Mr. Fleurizard and ask him some of our questions. It was a fun, deep conversation. We talked about a range of topics, including why he writes and how Jerald Walker’s “How to Make a Slave” inspired the piece. In addition, Mr. Fleurizard shares his thoughts about naming, religion, his relationship with his father, and the immigration industrial complex.

I hope you will take a listen.

Most of all, I want to appreciate Mr. Fleurizard for generously sharing his time and thoughtfulness with us.

After listening to the interview, please share your thoughts in the comments. What resonated with you? What surprised you?

Article Club is a thoughtful reading community and an experiment in community reading. Every month, we read, annotate, and discuss one great article, and the author participates, too! If you’re interested, sign up and check us out. Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

Our 19th Article Club discussion is in the books! We read and annotated Jamie Figueroa’s “The Stories I Haven’t Been Told” and participated in a deep, thoughtful conversation.

But that’s not all. A few weeks ago, Ms. Figueroa generously agreed to answer our questions in a podcast interview. I let a few of you know about this, and the response was electric! Several of you wanted in. So for the first time ever, it’s not just me and Sarai asking the questions. Please welcome Article Clubbers Elizabeth and Jessica to the show; their contributions made the discussion even better.

I hope you will take a listen. Ms. Figueroa spoke deeply on a range of topics, including the writing process, the power of our voice, our relationship with family and culture, and the longing to connect and belong in community.

Most of all: I want to appreciate Ms. Figueroa for sharing her time with us.

After listening to the interview, please share your thoughts in the comments. What resonated with you? What surprised you?

Thank you again — I’ll be back very soon to reveal September’s article, so be on the lookout for an email in your inbox in the next few days. Have a great week.

Here’s my blurb of the piece, which I featured in Issue #286 of The Highlighter:

Jamie Figueroa fills up cheap spiral-bound notebooks with words to explore where she comes from, who she is, and why she’s here. In this complex, powerful essay, Ms. Figueroa organizes those thoughts into a gripping narrative that reveals what she knows (and doesn’t know) about her Puerto Rican family’s history. Her process reveals deep truths about generational trauma, the effects of assimilation, the legacy of family, the shape-shifting of memory, and the power of writing.

Ms. Figueroa writes, “I come from women who were held down. Women who left their children and took in others. I come from women who fought back, who wielded knives, who shot guns. Wounded, wounding. Healed, healing. I come from Taíno women and Yoruba women. Black-skinned and brown-skinned women. I come from women who can lie so good, they can convince even themselves. Women who were remade, unrecognizable. Women who have started over too many times to count. I come from women who were deterred from their own wild knowing. Women who survived.” (27 min)

Ms. Figueroa is Boricua (Afro-Taíno) by way of Ohio and long-time resident of northern New Mexico. Her writing has appeared in McSweeney’s, American Short Fiction, Agni and Emergence Magazine among other journals. Jamie received her MFA in Creative Writing from The Institute of American Indian Arts where she is now an assistant professor. Recipient of the Truman Capote award, and the Jack Kent Cooke Graduate Arts award, she was also chosen as a Bread Loaf, Rona Jaffe Scholar, and is a VONA alum. Brother, Sister, Mother, Explorer (Catapult) is her debut novel. 

I hope you’ll join me and fellow Article Clubbers in discussing this article on Sunday, August 22, 2:00 - 3:15 pm PT! This event will be on Zoom, open to the public, and limited to 28 participants.

Are you IN? I hope so. If so, here’s what to do:

* Sign up for the discussion.

* Leave a comment here. Click the button below, say hi, and share what drew you in.

* Start reading! Highly encouraged: Let’s annotate this copy of the article together.

Coming up this month at Article Club

* This week: We’ll sign up for the discussion and start reading the article.

* Next week: We’ll annotate the article with fellow Article Clubbers.

* The week of August 16 : We’ll listen to an interview with Ms. Figueroa.

* Sunday, August 22: We’ll discuss the article with fellow Article Clubbers.

Are you new to Article Club? If so, welcome! We look forward to meeting you and having your voice in the conversation. Feel free to reach out with questions: mark@highlighter.cc.

Article Club is a community of thoughtful people who read, annotate, and discuss one great article every month on race, education, or culture. Everyone is welcome. The author participates, too. Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

This month, we’re discussing “Private Schools Are Indefensible,” by Caitlin Flanagan. It’s about the excesses of fancy independent schools.

I hope you’ll join our discussion on Sunday, July 25, 2:00 - 3:15 pm PT. You can sign up here or find out more here.

Today I have a bonus for you: a recording of the piece, thanks to loyal reader Nancy. Even if you prefer reading in print, you’ll enjoy this audio version. I found that I got deeper into the article. Hope you enjoy it. If you do, please leave a comment to thank Nancy (and Jennifer, who has read articles in previous months).

Coming up this month at Article Club

* Next week: We’ll annotate the article with fellow Article Clubbers.

* The week of July 19: We’ll share our first impressions about the article.

* Sunday, July 25: We’ll discuss the article with fellow Article Clubbers.

Are you new to Article Club? If so, welcome! We look forward to meeting you and having your voice in the conversation. Feel free to reach out with questions: mark@highlighter.cc.

Article Club is an experiment in community reading. We read, annotate, and discuss one outstanding article or book chapter a month. We invite the author to join our conversation, too. If you’re interested, sign up and check us out! Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

Here’s my blurb of the piece, which I featured in Issue #285 of The Highlighter:

Caitlin Flanagan taught at a fancy private school. She even sent her kids to one. But enough is enough. In this tart, snarky takedown of elite private schools like Dalton and Sidwell Friends, Ms. Flanagan takes no prisoners and bars no holds. It’s one thing to hoard resources, breed entitlement, and exacerbate inequality. But to do all that and then to spout progressive values and pretend you’re engines of social change? No way, no how. Ms. Flanagan is having none of that. (30 min)

Nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in commentary, Ms. Flanagan is a writer and social critic who challenges the social narratives of the powerful and the prominent. Born and raised in Berkeley, she now lives in Los Angeles. The author of To Hell With All That, Ms. Flanagan is a contributor to The Atlantic and former staff writer at The New Yorker. She has also appeared on The Colbert Robert and Real Time with Bill Maher.

I hope you’ll join me and fellow Article Clubbers in discussing this article on Sunday, July 25, 2:00 - 3:15 pm PT! This event will be on Zoom, be open to the public, and be limited to 30 participants.

Are you IN? I hope so. If so, here’s what to do this week:

* Sign up for the discussion.

* Leave a comment here. Say hi and share what drew you to this month’s discussion.

* Start reading! Highly encouraged: Let’s annotate this copy of the article together.

Coming up this month at Article Club

* This week: We’ll sign up for the discussion and start reading the article.

* Next week: We’ll annotate the article with fellow Article Clubbers.

* The week of July 19: We’ll share our first impressions about the article.

* Sunday, July 25: We’ll discuss the article with fellow Article Clubbers.

Are you new to Article Club? If so, welcome! We look forward to meeting you and having your voice in the conversation. Feel free to reach out with questions: mark@highlighter.cc.

Article Club is a community of thoughtful people who read, annotate, and discuss one great article every month on race, education, or culture. Everyone is welcome. The author participates, too. Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

Thank you to Summer, Sarai, Shelley, Lorie, Bonnie, Elise, Jennifer, Kati, Lauri, Tamyra, Mahogney, and Amirah for joining the discussion. I’m very grateful. Also, I deeply appreciate Amirah for participating in the conversation and for sharing your brilliant piece with us.

But, Article Clubbers, the magic doesn’t end there!

Earlier this week, Article Clubber Sarai and I got the chance to talk with Ms. Mercer. It was a deep, thoughtful conversation. We talked about a range of topics, including how her vegan journey has led to empowerment and liberation.

I hope you will take a listen.

Most of all, I want to appreciate Ms. Mercer for generously sharing her time with us.

After listening to the interview, please share your thoughts in the comments. What resonated with you? What surprised you?

Note: Sorry about the sound quality at the beginning. (I’m in between computers.)

Here’s a quote from the article, which I featured in Issue #277 of The Highlighter:

“Plant-based eating has a long, radical history in Black American culture, preserved by institutions and individuals who have understood the power of food and nutrition in the fight against oppression. In an ideal world, our food would simply be a source of nutrition and fuel for the body, not a political statement. But four years into my plant-based eating journey, I now happily embrace the label of ‘vegan’ because I understand its legacy within Black culture. I also understand that, as a Black woman, any personal choice I make to celebrate my identity is inevitably political, and for that reason, plant-based eating is probably one of the Blackest things I could do. As a Black woman in America, my veganism is, in fact, a homecoming.”

Based in New York, Ms. Mercer is a writer, editor, and healer. Centering the beauty and depth of Black American culture, Ms. Mercer writes on a variety of topics, including spirituality, fashion, Black culture, creativity, wellness, self-empowerment, femininity, popular culture, film, and Black womanhood. She is the author of Other Suns, a wellness guide for Black women. Her work has appeared in Eater, Vogue, Vanity Fair, and Vice.

I hope you’ll join me and fellow Article Clubbers in discussing this article! We will have two conversations on Sunday, June 27.

* Online via Zoom, 2:00 - 3:15 pm PT. Ms. Mercer will be joining us!

* In person in Oakland, 3:30 - 5:30 pm PT. Limited to 6 people. Snacks provided.

Are you IN? I hope so. If so, here’s what to do this week:

* Sign up for the discussion.

* Leave a comment. Say hi and share what drew you to this month’s discussion.

* Start reading! Highly encouraged: Let’s annotate this copy of the article together.

Coming up this month at Article Club

* This week: We’ll read the article and sign up for the discussion.

* Next week: We’ll annotate the article.

* Sunday 6/20: We’ll share our first impressions about the article.

* Sunday 6/27: We’ll discuss the article with fellow Article Clubbers.

Are you new to Article Club? If so, welcome! We look forward to meeting you and having your voice in the conversation. Feel free to reach out with questions: mark@highlighter.cc.

Article Club is a community of thoughtful people who read, annotate, and discuss one great article every month on race, education, or culture. Everyone is welcome. The author participates, too. Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

A couple weeks ago, Article Clubber Sarai and I got the chance to talk with Ms. Markham and ask her some of our questions. It was a fun conversation filled with joy. We talked about a range of topics, including animal-human communication, the importance of changing registers in writing, the choices she made in the piece, and (of course) Carl the Crow and Gerald the Turkey.

I hope you will take a listen.

Most of all, I want to appreciate Ms. Markham for generously sharing her time and thoughtfulness with us.

After listening to the interview, please share your thoughts in the comments. What resonated with you? What surprised you?

Article Club is a thoughtful reading community and an experiment in community reading. Every month, we read, annotate, and discuss one great article, and the author participates, too! If you’re interested, sign up and check us out. Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

Still want in on the discussion? Great! You can sign up here until May 18.

Coming up on Monday, we’ll get to listen to Ms. Markham talk about her article. This is thanks to her generosity and Article Clubber Sarai’s interviewing skills.

As a bonus, today I have the distinct pleasure of introducing you to Article Clubber Molly, an outstanding reader, high school counselor, and mom. We go way back as friends and colleagues, and I’m extremely grateful that she’s part of our reading community.

In our conversation, Molly talks about her kids, the pandemic, her job, and her first impressions of the article. She also shares why she keeps coming back to Article Club. Please take a listen and say hi to Molly in the comments!

Coming up this month at Article Club

* Monday 5/17: We’ll listen to Ms. Markham’s thoughts on her piece.

* Sunday 5/23: We’ll discuss the article with fellow Article Clubbers.

Questions? Share them in the comments or email me at mark@highlighter.cc.

Article Club is an experiment in community reading in its second year. We read, annotate, and discuss one outstanding article or book chapter a month. We invite the author to join our conversation, too. If you’re interested, sign up and check us out! Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

This month, we’re discussing “The Crow Whisperer,” by Lauren Markham. It’s a delightful article about crows, crow whisperers, the intelligence of animals, and our connection with the natural world.

This week is all about going deeper. Here are some things you can try:

* Annotate the article. It’s a shared Google Doc, so feel free to highlight, share your thoughts, and respond to members of our reading community.

* Listen to the article (above). Article Clubber Jennifer has once again recorded an audio version for our listening pleasure. Thank you!

* Share your first impressions of the article by leaving a comment below.

Just hearing about Article Club? If so, welcome! Also, it’s not too late to sign up for this month’s discussion. We’re meeting on Sunday, May 23, 2:00 - 3:15 pm PT, via Zoom. Sign up here! We look forward to seeing you there.

Coming up this month at Article Club

* Monday 5/17: We’ll listen to Ms. Markham’s thoughts on her piece.

* Sunday 5/23: We’ll discuss the article with fellow Article Clubbers.

Questions? Share them in the comments or email me at mark@highlighter.cc.

Article Club is an experiment in community reading in its second year. We read, annotate, and discuss one outstanding article or book chapter a month. We invite the author to join our conversation, too. If you’re interested, sign up and check us out! Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

Here’s my original blurb from Issue #285 of The Highlighter:

After crows attacked their dog, harassed their baby, and followed them around their neighborhood in Oakland, Dani Fisher and Adam Florin knew they had to call the local crow whisperer in order to avoid a murder. In this delightful piece, Lauren Markham follows Yvette Buigues as she mediates conflicts between humans and animals and performs energy healing on people’s pets, like Ernie the bull terrier and Bodie the cat. “Animals store pain and memories just like we do,” she says. (22 min)

Based in the East Bay, Ms. Markham is one of my favorite writers. She focuses on issues related to youth, migration, and the environment. Her article, “Our School,” was one of my favorites of 2017. She also joined the podcast to discuss her outstanding piece, “The Girl Gangs of El Salvador.” Ms. Markham is the author of the acclaimed book, The Far Away Brothers, about twins who escape from El Salvador and build new lives in California. She gets bonus points because she’s an educator, too.

I hope you’ll join me and fellow Article Clubbers in discussing this article! Our discussion will be on Sunday, May 23, 2:00 - 3:15 pm PT, via Zoom.

Are you IN? I hope so. If so, here’s what to do this week:

* Sign up for the discussion.

* Leave a comment. Say hi and share what drew you to this month’s discussion.

* Start reading! Highly encouraged: Let’s annotate this copy of the article together.

Coming up this month at Article Club

* Monday 5/10: We’ll share our first impressions of the article.

* Monday 5/17: We’ll listen to Ms. Markham’s thoughts on the article.

* Sunday 5/23: We’ll discuss the article with fellow Article Clubbers.

Are you new to Article Club? If so, welcome! We look forward to meeting you and having your voice in the conversation. Feel free to reach out with questions: mark@highlighter.cc.

Article Club is a community of thoughtful people who read, annotate, and discuss one great article every month on race, education, or culture. Everyone is welcome. The author participates, too. Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

To get ready for the discussion, I encourage you to…

* Annotate the article with fellow Article Clubbers.

* Come with a topic you’d like to explore, a question you’d like to ask Mr. Buford, or a favorite quotation from the article you’d like to share.

* Remember that Article Club is all about connection and community, not about appearing smart. (We’re already smart!)

After a brief introduction, we’ll get into small groups to discuss the article. Then at the end of the hour, we’ll come back together to raffle off a copy of Dirt.

Bonus: Meet Lisa!

The best thing about Article Club is the quality of its members. You are kind, thoughtful people who should all be friends. To make that happen even faster than normal, I’ll be inviting each of you to record a quick interview with me so that the Article Club community (and the entire world!) may benefit.

This month, I got to chat with Lisa, a wonderful teacher, chef, baker, food-lover, performer, writer, reader, singer, and mom. When she heard that we’d be discussing “Baking Bread in Lyon,” Lisa was on it.

I hope you listen to the interview — because Lisa is great and will inspire you. Then this weekend when you see her on Zoom, please say hi!

Article Club is a community of thoughtful people who read, annotate, and discuss one outstanding article every month. We invite the author to join our conversation, too. If you’re interested, sign up and check us out! Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

This month, we’re discussing “Baking Bread in Lyon,” by Bill Buford. It’s the story of following through on a dream: living in France and becoming a French-trained chef. (It’s about a bunch more, too, and very well-written, and a tear-jerker.)

This week is all about going deeper. Here are some things you can try:

* Annotate the article. It’s a shared Google Doc, so feel free to highlight, share your thoughts, and respond to members of our reading community.

* Listen to the article. On The New Yorker page, there’s an Audm audio player right underneath the title image.

* Share your first impressions of the article by leaving a comment below.

Just hearing about Article Club? If so, welcome! Also, it’s not too late to sign up for this month’s discussion. We’re meeting on Sunday, April 25, 2:00 - 3:00 pm PT, via Zoom. Sign up here! We look forward to seeing you there.

Coming up this month at Article Club

* Monday 4/19: We’ll share topics and questions we’d like to explore.

* Sunday 4/25: We’ll discuss the article with fellow Article Clubbers.

Questions? Share them in the comments or email me at mark@highlighter.cc.

Article Club is an experiment in community reading in its second year. We read, annotate, and discuss one outstanding article or book chapter a month. We invite the author to join our conversation, too. If you’re interested, sign up and check us out! Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

Our conversation last Sunday was perhaps our deepest yet, thanks to everyone’s thoughtful contributions and Elise’s expert facilitation.

A couple weeks ago, Article Clubber and facilitator Sarai and I got the chance to talk with Ms. Mari and ask her some of our questions. It was a thought-provoking conversation, except when I went to edit it, I discovered major audio problems, making the recording extremely challenging to resuscitate.

But I am persistent! And after many attempts and many hours, I was able to salvage the interview and make it listenable for you all.

I hope you will take a listen. Most of all, I want to appreciate Ms. Mari for generously sharing her time and thoughtfulness with us.

After listening to the interview, please share your thoughts in the comments. What resonated with you? What surprised you?

Article Club is an experiment in community reading in its second year. Every month, we read, annotate, and discuss one great article, and the author participates, too! If you’re interested, sign up and check us out. Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

This month, we’re discussing “A Lonely Occupation,” by Francesca Mari. (Here’s the original version.) It explores the effects of gentrification, including how real estate developers hire homeless people to house-sit empty homes undergoing renovation.

This week is all about reading and annotating the article. Plus, for the second month in a row, I have a surprise — an audio recording of the article, thanks to the generosity and talent of fellow Article Clubber Jennifer. If you’re as grateful as I am, please share your appreciation in the comments!

Just hearing about Article Club? It’s not too late to sign up for this month’s discussion. We’re meeting on Sunday, March 28, 2:00 - 3:15 pm PT, via Zoom. Sign up here!

Are you new to Article Club? If so, welcome! We look forward to meeting you and having your voice in the conversation.

Coming up this month at Article Club

* Monday 3/22: We’ll hear Ms. Mari’s thoughts about the article.

* Sunday 3/28: We’ll discuss the article with fellow Article Clubbers.

Questions? Share them in the comments or email me at mark@highlighter.cc.

Article Club is an experiment in community reading in its second year. We read, annotate, and discuss one outstanding article or book chapter a month. We invite the author to join our conversation, too. If you’re interested, sign up and check us out! Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

Black people vote overwhelmingly for Democrats, but that doesn’t mean they’re all liberal (far from) or that trends can’t change (they have before). In this well-written article, Theodore R. Johnson explains how Reconstruction, the Great Migration, the Voting Rights Act, and the Southern strategy contributed to what appears to be Black people’s monolithic voting patterns. “Why do a vast majority of Black Americans, despite our diverse politics, vote the same?” Dr. Johnson asks. “Because our rights are always on the ballot.”

Last week, Article Clubber and co-facilitator Sarai and I got the chance to talk with Dr. Johnson and ask him some of our questions. I hope you will take a listen! Most of all, I want to appreciate Dr. Johnson for generously sharing his time and thoughtfulness with us.

After listening to the interview, please share your thoughts in the comments. What resonated with you? What surprised you?

Want to join this month’s discussion? We’re meeting Sunday, Feb. 28, 2-3:15 pm PT via Zoom. Read this for more information, then feel free to sign up by saying “I’m in!” in the comments.

Article Club is an experiment in community reading in its second year. Every month, we read, annotate, and discuss one great article, and the author participates, too! If you’re interested, sign up and check us out. Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

Published in The New York Times Magazine last September, the article explores the history of the Black electorate in the United States and challenges simplistic conclusions about prevailing voting patterns. Here’s my original blurb:

Black people vote overwhelmingly for Democrats, but that doesn’t mean they’re all liberal (far from) or that trends can’t change (they have before). In this well-written article, Theodore R. Johnson explains how Reconstruction, the Great Migration, the Voting Rights Act, and the Southern strategy contributed to what appears to be Black people’s monolithic voting patterns. “Why do a vast majority of Black Americans, despite our diverse politics, vote the same?” Dr. Johnson asks. ”Because our rights are always on the ballot.” (21 min)

Dr. Johnson is senior fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice. He investigates how race influences electoral politics and has written articles for The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times Magazine. His most recent piece was “Raphael Warnock and the Solitude of the Black Senator,” published last month.

I hope you’ll join me and fellow Article Clubbers in discussing this article! Our discussion will be on Sunday, Feb. 28, 2:00 - 3:15 pm PT, via Zoom.

Are you IN? I hope so. If so, here’s what to do:

* Sign up by leaving a comment. Say hi, announce that you’re IN, and share with other Article Clubbers what drew you to join this month’s discussion.

* Read and annotate the article. (Here’s the original if you prefer it.)

* Optional: Listen to the article! (This is a new feature! More details below.)

One more (very important) thing: I have a surprise for you! For the first time ever, you can also listen to the article. My friend and fellow Article Clubber Jennifer has generously read this month’s article for your listening pleasure. (She could make it big in the voice over industry.) It’s available in today’s podcast episode. You can click the play button above or click the link “listen in podcast app.” Hope you like it!

Coming up this month at Article Club

* Monday 2/15: We’ll listen to Dr. Johnson talk about his article.

* Monday 2/22: We’ll share questions and topics we want to explore.

* Sunday 2/28: We’ll discuss the article with fellow Article Clubbers.

Questions? Share them in the comments or email me at mark@highlighter.cc.

Article Club is an experiment in community reading in its second year. We read, annotate, and discuss one outstanding article or book chapter a month. We invite the author to join our conversation, too. If you’re interested, sign up and check us out! Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

The article explores the relationship between Ms. Fan and her mother, who lives with ALS in a long-term acute-care facility in Harlem, with the support of two around-the-clock aides. When COVID-19 hits and New York closes down in early April, the aides are told they must leave the nursing home immediately, which prompts Ms. Fan, in an act of desperation, to seek help on Twitter. In trying to save her mother’s life, Ms. Fan faces an intense backlash from Chinese nationalists, calling her mother’s fate an appropriate comeuppance for Ms. Fan’s traitorous reporting of the Chinese government.

Last week, I got the chance to talk with Ms. Fan and ask her some of our questions. I hope you will take a listen! Most of all, I want to appreciate Ms. Fan for generously sharing her time and thoughtfulness with us.

After listening to the interview, please share your thoughts in the comments. What resonated with you? What surprised you?

Want to join this month’s discussion? We’re meeting Sunday, Jan. 24, 2-3:15 pm PT via Zoom. Read this for more information, then feel free to sign up!

Article Club is an experiment in community reading in its second year. Every month, we read, annotate, and discuss one great article, and the author participates, too! If you’re interested, sign up and check us out. Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

Published in The New Yorker in September, the article explores the relationship between Ms. Fan and her mother, who lives with ALS in a long-term acute-care facility in Harlem, with the support of two around-the-clock aides. When COVID-19 hits and New York closes down in early April, the aides are told they must leave the nursing home immediately, which prompts Ms. Fan, in an act of desperation, to seek help on Twitter. In trying to save her mother’s life, Ms. Fan faces an intense backlash from Chinese nationalists, calling her mother’s fate an appropriate comeuppance for Ms. Fan’s traitorous reporting of the Chinese government.

“Motherland” was voted best article of 2020 by Longform. It’s gripping, personal, and beautifully written. I hope you’ll join fellow Article Clubbers in discussing it.

Ms. Fan is a staff writer at The New Yorker and reports on a range of topics, including China, American politics, and culture. She has covered the democracy movement in Hong Kong, elite high schools in New York, and the film, “Crazy Rich Asians.”

Are you IN? If so, here’s what to do:

* Leave a comment. Say hi, announce that you’re IN, and share with other Article Clubbers what drew you to join this month’s discussion.

* Sign up for the discussion on Sunday, January 24, 2-3:15 pm PT (via Zoom).

* Read and annotate the article. (Here’s the original if you prefer it.)

Coming up this month at Article Club

* Monday 1/11: We’ll listen to Ms. Fan talk about her article.

* Monday 1/18: We’ll share questions and topics we want to explore.

* Sunday 1/24: We’ll discuss the article with fellow Article Clubbers.

Questions? Share them in the comments or email me at mark@highlighter.cc.

Article Club is an experiment in community reading in its second year. We read, annotate, and discuss one outstanding article or book chapter a month. We invite the author to join our conversation, too. If you’re interested, sign up and check us out! Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

Last week, my friend and colleague Sarai Bordeaux and I got the chance to talk with Ms. Geter and ask her some of our questions. I hope you will take a listen!

Most of all, I want to appreciate Ms. Geter for generously sharing her time and thoughtfulness with us. Also, thank you, Sarai, for facilitating the conversation.

Here are just a few of my favorite moments:

“I’m writing about and for Black and African people. How do we understand the narrative of ourselves in this place, when the narrative that has been written in the mass culture is one that is so dangerous, so toxic, and so deeply untrue?”

“To be Black, you’re constantly on the stage, constantly having to perform a certain type of acceptability to be safe, and even then, you can’t even bird watch. How do you find your life again when you’ve lived in the performance the entire time?”

“I would argue that Black happiness is what makes us so dangerous.”

“Reading is the most important thing. People always say, Reading is a solitary activity, which I don’t understand. The first time you experience a book, someone is reading to you, so you can never ever be alone again. I think it’s so deeply important that people are reading the work of Black scholars, but especially Black trans activists, and disability justice activists, because the work has been done, and so much of what we do has just been reinventing the wheel. The more activists that I have read, it helps me remember my own life from outside of a white gaze.”

After listening to the interview, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. Did anything surprise you or change your ideas about the article?

Want to join next week’s discussion? We’re meeting Sunday, Nov. 22, 2-3 pm PT via Zoom. Read this for more information, then feel free to sign up!

Article Club is a newish experiment in community reading. We read and discuss one outstanding article or book chapter every month. We invite the author to join our conversation, too. If you’re interested, sign up and check us out! Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

Sound interesting? Read this to catch up and join this month’s discussion on Nov. 22.

Also, I am very excited to announce that longtime loyal Highlighter reader Sarai Bordeaux will co-facilitate this month’s discussion. Two years ago, when this article first appeared in The Highlighter, Sarai was the first person to reach out and want to engage in conversation. She’s wonderful, and in this week’s podcast episode, you get to meet her. Please enjoy!

This week is all about how we’re experiencing the article so far. Don’t be shy. Share your first impressions by leaving a comment. Also, feel free to include questions you’d like us to ask Ms. Geter when Sarai and I interview her later this week. Thank you!

Coming up at Article Club

* Sunday 11/15: We’ll listen to Ms. Geter talk about her article.

* Sunday 11/22: We’ll discuss the article with fellow Article Clubbers. Please sign up for a discussion if you haven’t yet: 2-3 pm or 4-5 PT.

Article Club is a newish experiment in community reading. We read and discuss one outstanding article or book chapter a month. We invite the author to join our conversation, too. If you’re interested, sign up and check us out! Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

Last week, I got the chance to talk with Ms. McCrummen and ask her some of our questions. She was generous and thoughtful. In our discussion, you’ll be able to tell how dedicated she is to reporting and to the craft of journalism. I hope you will take a listen!

After listening to the interview, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. Did anything surprise you or change your ideas about the article?

Article Club is a newish experiment in community reading. We read and discuss one outstanding article or book chapter every month. We invite the author to join our conversation, too. If you’re interested, sign up and check us out! Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

Featured back in March in Issue #233, “Miranda’s Rebellion” explores the political transformation of a white suburban woman in Georgia and her reticence to share her new beliefs with her conservative friends and family. Here’s my original blurb:

The perfect Southern belle, Miranda Murphey grew up outside Augusta, Georgia, in a wealthy, religious, and conservative military family. She married her college sweetheart, who called her “Bombshell,” and has voted Republican all her life. But since the last election, Miranda has found herself making new friends, including Liz, who brandishes an RBG sticker on her cellphone. “Are you changing?” her friends and husband ask. Miranda doesn’t like making people feel uncomfortable, and she loves her husband, but she feels at odds with a world she once knew. At a dinner out, Miranda has a fight with Liz, and when she gets home, she sees her husband’s truck outside, and says, “I struggle with this.” It’s not clear which struggle she’s talking about. (22 min)

A national reporter at The Washington Post, Ms. McCrummen won the Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for investigative reporting. Along with Beth Reinhard and Alice Crites, Ms. McCrummen revealed Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore’s past sexual harassment of teenage girls and his attempts to cover up the scandal. She will be answering our questions in a podcast episode later this month.

Are you IN? If so, here’s what to do:

* Leave a comment. Say hi, announce that you’re IN, and share with other Article Clubbers what drew you to join this month’s discussion.

* Read and annotate the article. (Here’s the original if you prefer it.)

* Sign up for a discussion on Sunday, October 25 — 2-3 pm or 4-5 pm PT (via Zoom).

Coming up this month at Article Club

* Sunday 9/11: We’ll share our first impressions of the article.

* Sunday 9/18: We’ll listen to Ms. McCrummen talk about the article.

* Sunday 9/25: We’ll discuss the article with fellow Article Clubbers.

Questions? Share them in the comments or email me at mark@highlighter.cc.

Article Club is an experiment in community reading. We read and discuss one outstanding article or book chapter a month. We invite the author to join our conversation, too. If you’re interested, sign up and check us out! Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

Last week, I got the chance to talk with Mr. Wood and ask him some of our questions. He was generous and thoughtful — and shared some extra details about his Disney visit. Please take a listen! Here’s an excerpt:

“I really believe that you cannot write about things that are serious without a sense of humor as well — and not just because it’s psychologically necessary, that is, it’s not just because you need to have a little happiness in your life to get by. No, I think because if you have nothing but solemnity in a piece, then no one believes in the solemnity. The solemnity actually doesn’t come through. It seems instead to be unreal. What you need is some relief, almost in the geographic sense, of high and low. The deeper the dark portions — that depth is revealed by the happiness in the higher portions. And you have to be honest about when that humor or that irony exists; otherwise, people will not understand how bad the darkness can be. You have to have both. If you don’t have one, then the other one will not actually land in the correct way. And also, you’re not going to be honest.”

After listening to the interview, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. Did anything surprise you or change your ideas about the article?

There’s still time to join this month’s discussion. Read this first, then sign up!

Coming up at Article Club

* Sunday 9/27: We’ll discuss the article via Zoom. There’s still time to sign up for the 4-5 PT session!

Article Club is a newish experiment in community reading. We read and discuss one outstanding article or book chapter every month. We invite the author to join our conversation, too. If you’re interested, sign up and check us out! Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

Sound interesting? Read this to catch up and join this month’s discussion.

This week is all about how we’re experiencing the article so far. Don’t be shy. Share your first impressions by leaving a comment. Also, feel free to include questions you’d like me to ask Mr. Wood when I interview him later this week. Thank you!

One last thing: In this week’s podcast episode, I talk about how Article Club has grown to more than 150 subscribers (great news!) and how most of you haven’t taken the leap yet to join a discussion. If this is you, are you feeling shy? waiting for the right article? not interested in the discussion aspect? I’d love to hear from you!

Coming up at Article Club

* Sunday 9/20: We’ll listen to Mr. Wood talk about the article.

* Sunday 9/27: We’ll discuss the article with fellow Article Clubbers. Please sign up for a discussion if you haven’t yet: 2-3 pm or 4-5 PT.

Article Club is a newish experiment in community reading. We read and discuss one outstanding article or book chapter a month. We invite the author to join our conversation, too. If you’re interested, sign up and check us out! Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

Last week, I got the chance to talk with Mr. Megroz and ask him some of our questions. He was generous and thoughtful — and shared some extra details about Derek Murphy and Frank Meza not included in his piece. Please take a listen!

Note: There are spoilers, so you may want to read the article first before listening.

After listening to the interview, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. Did anything surprise you or change your ideas about the article?

There’s still time to join this month’s discussion. Read this first, then sign up!

Coming up at Article Club

* Sunday 8/30: We’ll discuss the article via Zoom — 2-3 pm or 4-5 pm PT. There’s still time to sign up!

Article Club is a newish experiment in community reading. We read and discuss one outstanding article or book chapter every month. We invite the author to join our conversation, too. If you’re interested, sign up and check us out! Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

Last week, I got the chance to talk with Mr. Fagone and ask him some of our questions. He was generous and thoughtful — and shared some extra details about Jerry and Marge that are delightful. Please take a listen!

Also, there’s good news: If you liked the article as much as I did, it’s now out in hardcover, as a physical book. I got my signed copy — it’s well made and beautifully designed — and you can get yours here.

After listening to the interview, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. Did anything surprise you or change your ideas about the article?

First time here, or catching up? Read this first, then read and annotate the article!

Coming up at Article Club

* Sunday 7/26: We’ll discuss the article via Zoom — 2-3 pm or 4-5 pm PT. There’s still time to sign up!

Article Club is a newish experiment in community reading. We read and discuss one outstanding article or book chapter every month. We invite the author to join our conversation, too. If you’re interested, sign up and check us out! Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

New to Article Club and want to join this month’s discussion? Read this to get caught up!

To get us started, Article Clubber Jennifer generously agreed to share her thoughts on the article in today’s podcast episode. Jennifer is great — and not just because she’s my friend and former colleague! In our conversation, Jennifer explains what drew her to Article Club and offers her appreciation for the article so far. Feel free to say hi to Jennifer in the comments!

Coming up at Article Club

* Sunday 7/19: We’ll listen to Mr. Fagone talk about his article.

* Sunday 7/26: We’ll discuss the article with fellow Article Clubbers. Please sign up for a discussion if you haven’t yet: 2-3 pm or 4-5 PT.

Article Club is a newish experiment in community reading. We read and discuss one outstanding article or book chapter a month. We invite the author to join our conversation, too. If you’re interested, sign up and check us out! Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

Featured in March 2018 in Issue #133, “Jerry and Marge Go Large” is an outstanding, rollicking article about a savvy retired couple who legally exploit loopholes in the lottery and go on to win millions of dollars. Here’s my blurb:

Jerry and Marge Selbee are delightful retirees from down-home Michigan who have worked hard every day their whole lives to put their six kids through college. Now they’re ready to game the lottery and win millions of dollars. If you’ve ever dreamed up money-making schemes, or if you like mathematical thrillers pitting grandparents against MIT students, this one’s for you. (48 min)

“Jerry and Marge Go Large” went on to be selected as one of the best articles of 2018. Today on the podcast, you’ll hear from Article Clubber Jessica, who first shared the piece with me. Thank you, Jessica!

Mr. Fagone writes for the San Francisco Chronicle and is now reporting on the coronavirus outbreak at San Quentin State Prison. He’s the author of The Woman Who Smashed Codes and Horsemen of the Esophagus. He’ll be answering our questions in a podcast episode later this month.

Are you IN? If so, here’s what to do:

* Say hi, share your feelings about lotteries, and announce that you’re IN in the comments.

* Read and annotate the article. (Here’s the original if you prefer it.)

* Sign up for a discussion on Sunday, July 26 — 2-3 pm or 4-5 pm PT (via Zoom).

Coming up this month at Article Club

* Sunday 7/12: We’ll share our first impressions of the article.

* Sunday 7/19: We’ll listen to Mr. Fagone talk about the article.

* Sunday 7/26: We’ll discuss the article with fellow Article Clubbers.

Questions? Share them in the comments or email me at mark@highlighter.cc.

Article Club is a newish experiment in community reading. We read and discuss one outstanding article or book chapter a month. We invite the author to join our conversation, too. If you’re interested, sign up and check us out! Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

Last week, I got the chance to talk with Mr. Marantz and ask him some of our questions. He was generous and thoughtful. Please listen to the conversation by pressing the play button above or by subscribing to The Highlighter Article Club podcast on your phone.

After listening, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. Did anything surprise you or change your ideas about the article?

First time here, or catching up? Read this first, then read and annotate the article!

Coming up at Article Club

* Sunday 6/28: We’ll discuss the article via Zoom — 2-3 pm or 4-5 pm PT. There’s still time to sign up!

Article Club is a new experiment in community reading. We read and discuss one outstanding article or book chapter a month. We invite the author to join our conversation, too. If you’re interested, sign up and check us out! Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

To get us started, Article Clubber Kati generously agreed to share her thoughts in today’s podcast episode. Kati is great — and not just because she was once my student! In our conversation, Kati explains what drew her to Article Club and offers her appreciation for the article so far. Feel free to say hi to Kati in the comments!

Want to join this month’s discussion? Read this first, then read and annotate the article.

Coming up at Article Club

* Sunday 6/21: We’ll listen to Mr. Marantz talk about his article.

* Sunday 6/28: We’ll discuss the article with fellow Article Clubbers. Please sign up for a discussion if you haven’t yet: 2-3 pm or 4-5 PT.

Article Club is a new experiment in community reading. We read and discuss one outstanding article or book chapter a month. We invite the author to join our conversation, too. If you’re interested, sign up and check us out! Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

Featured last November in Issue #217, “The Mountain” is a chapter from Mr. Marantz’s excellent book, Antisocial: Online Extremists, Techno-Utopians, and the Hijacking of the American Conversation (2019). Here’s my original blurb:

Before Samantha joined the alt-right and became a white nationalist, she grew up in New Jersey and Florida, worked at Chipotle, and volunteered for the Obama campaign. Then Samantha met Richie, who cooked and danced and played the guitar. She fell in love. At first it didn’t matter that Richie quoted 4chan and made anti-Semitic remarks. But when he began arguing for racial purification and announced, “I’m a fascist,” that was too much. Samantha left Richie — that is, until she decided to look into some of his beliefs, to find out where he had gone wrong. Five days later, after watching YouTube videos and reading articles online, Samantha changed her mind: She wanted to become an advocate for the white race, too.

In this excellent chapter from Antisocial, Andrew Marantz (#115, #134) emphasizes that “there is no formula that can predict exactly who will succumb to fascism and who will not.” He adds: “We would like to imagine that, in the current year, the United States has developed a moral vocabulary that is robust and widespread enough to inoculate almost all of us against raw bigotry and malign propaganda. We would like to imagine that, but it would be wishful thinking.”

Mr. Marantz writes for The New Yorker and has appeared in Harper’s, The New York Times, and many other publications. He has appeared on Radiolab and The New Yorker Radio Hour. Here’s his TED talk “inside the bizarre world of internet trolls.”

Are you IN? If so, here’s what to do:

* Say hi, introduce yourself, and announce that you’re IN in the comments. (I’ll send you a password-protected, non-shareable, non-downloadable version of the article.)

* Read and annotate the article.

* Sign up for a discussion on Sunday, June 28 — 2-3 pm or 4-5 pm PT (via Zoom).

Coming up this month at Article Club

* Sunday 6/14: We’ll listen to an Article Clubber’s first impressions.

* Sunday 6/21: We’ll listen to Mr. Marantz talk about the article.

* Sunday 6/28: We’ll discuss the article with fellow Article Clubbers.

Questions? Share them in the comments or email me at mark@highlighter.cc.

Article Club is a new experiment in community reading. We read and discuss one outstanding article or book chapter a month. We invite the author to join our conversation, too. If you’re interested, sign up and check us out! Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

To get us started, Article Clubber Summer generously agreed to share her thoughts in today’s podcast episode. Summer is great, describing herself as a proud Gemini of color who challenges capitalism and seeks a diversity of experiences. In our conversation, Summer explains what drew her to Article Club and offers her appreciation for the article so far. Feel free to say hi to Summer in the comments!

Want to join this month’s discussion? Read this first, then read and annotate the article.

Coming up at Article Club

* Sunday 5/17: We’ll brainstorm topics we’d like to explore in the discussion.

* Sunday 5/24: We’ll discuss the article with fellow Article Clubbers. Please sign up for a discussion if you haven’t yet: 2-3 pm or 4-5 PT (with the author).

Article Club is a new experiment in community reading. We read and discuss one outstanding article or book chapter a month. We invite the author to join our conversation, too. If you’re interested, sign up and check us out! Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

Appearing first in The Atavist Magazine, the article was featured in Issue #225 of The Highlighter. Here’s my blurb:

After recovering from a traumatic brain injury when he was 22, Andy Swanson started hearing things at home: creaky footsteps in the hallway, stray voices in the closet. When his dad showed up, concerned, Andy’s first words were, “There’s someone in the room with us.” The chandelier in the room flickered on its own.

This article, told from the point of view of his little brother, Barrett, explores Andy’s developing identity as a psychic and a medium. Most of all, though, this is a story of two brothers, their relationship, and their trip one summer to Lily Dale, New York, where every year, 20,000 Spiritualists gather to perform readings, conduct seances, and build community.

At the retreat, Barrett notices his brother’s calm and rising confidence. But he’s also aware of his own uneasiness, acknowledges his history of depression, and recounts an incident from his past, when his big brother’s powers may have saved his life. 

Are you IN? If so, here’s what to do:

* Read and annotate the article.

* Sign up for a discussion on Sunday, May 24 — 2-3 pm or 4-5 pm PT (with the author).

* Say hi, introduce yourself, and announce that you’re IN in the comments.

Coming up this month at Article Club

* Sunday 5/10: We’ll listen to an Article Clubber’s first impressions.

* Sunday 5/17: We’ll share topics we’d like to explore in the discussion.

* Sunday 5/24: We’ll discuss the article with fellow Article Clubbers.

Questions? Share them in the comments or email me at mark@highlighter.cc.

Art by Emmanuel Polanco

Article Club is a new experiment in community reading. We read and discuss one outstanding article or book chapter a month. We invite the author to join our conversation, too. If you’re interested, sign up and check us out! Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

Thank you!

Thank you to Kibos, Peter, David, Jonathan, Philippe, Nida, Erik, Steven, Ram, Camille, Hannah, Carina, Summer, Michele, Phillip, Jennifer, Tim, Jeannette, Shelley, Tyler, Erin, Caitlin, and Kati for joining the discussions. I’m very grateful. Also I appreciate all 110+ of you for being part of Article Club. We’re building a strong community of thoughtful readers who want to engage with each other.

One of those thoughtful readers is Carina, who has been an Article Clubber since the beginning and who has participated in all four discussions so far. If you don’t know her yet, you should! Carina is featured in this week’s podcast episode. Take a listen!

I can’t wait to do Article Club again. This Sunday 5/3, I’ll unveil the May article. You’re going to want to read it and discuss it. See you soon!

OK, celebrations and props are open: What did you appreciate about this month’s Article Club? Go ahead, shout out your fellow Article Clubbers, and say hi to Carina! Also, if you have ideas to make May even better, feel free to share.

Article Club is a new experiment in community reading. We read and discuss one outstanding article or book chapter a month. We invite the author to join our conversation, too. If you’re interested, sign up and check us out! Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

Last Tuesday, I got the chance to talk with Ms. Orenstein and ask her some of our questions. She was wonderful and thoughtful. Please listen to the conversation by pressing the play button above or by subscribing to The Highlighter Article Club podcast on your phone.

After listening, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. Did anything that Ms. Orenstein said surprise you or change your ideas about the article?

First time here, or catching up? Read this first, then read and annotate the article!

Coming up at Article Club

* Sunday 4/26: We’ll discuss the article via Zoom — 2-3 pm or 4-5 pm PT. Update: Both discussions are now full, but sign up here in case someone can’t make it.

Article Club is a new experiment in community reading. We read and discuss one outstanding article or book chapter a month. We invite the author to join our conversation, too. If you’re interested, sign up and check us out! Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

In the article, which appeared as the cover story in The Atlantic’s January/February issue, Ms. Orenstein argues that we’re teaching young men a toxic, outdated ideal of masculinity, hearkening back to the 1950s, that emphasizes aggression, conquest, and emotional detachment. Here’s my blurb for the piece when it appeared in The Highlighter #224:

“Today many parents are unsure of how to raise a boy, what sort of masculinity to encourage in their sons,” writes Peggy Orenstein, author of the forthcoming Boys & Sex. Meanwhile, boys are growing up largely on their own, learning to “man up,” rejecting their emotions, emasculating their friends, glorifying sexual violence, and finding misogyny “hilarious.” As 16-year-old Nate said, “If you hook up with a girl below your status, it’s an ‘L.’ ” And the point, of course, is to win.

The essay is deserving of our deep read and discussion — particularly if you teach adolescent boys or are a parent of one. I look forward to re-reading it and talking about it with you. Are you in? Hope so!

If you’re in, here’s what’s next:

* Announce that you’re in. To do so: Click on the title above or the play button, which will lead you to an online version of this post. Then head down to the comments. In the comments, say hi, who you are, and why you’re interested in this article. Feel free to banter. Then write, “I’m in!”

* Then read the article — if possible, by next Sunday. (It’ll take 25-35 minutes.) Go ahead and annotate it, too, if you like. Many of you have said that the group annotation is your favorite part of Article Club.

* Get your questions and first impressions ready for next Sunday. That’s when we’ll share our first thoughts about the article.

* Optional: Watch Ms. Orenstein on Amanpour and Company (3 min).

I can’t wait to see who’s in!

Coming up this month at Article Club:

* Next Sunday, 4/12: We share our first thoughts, impressions, and questions

* Sunday, 4/19: Ms. Orenstein answers our questions in a podcast episode

* Sunday, 4/26: We discuss the article via Zoom (two choices: 2-3 pm & 4-5 pm PT). Please feel free to sign up for a discussion now!

Article Club is a new experiment in community reading. We read and discuss one outstanding article a month, both online and in person. We invite the author to join our conversation, too. Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

Next Saturday, March 21, we’ll gather together to discuss the article. There are two choices: 1:00 - 2:30 PT, without Ms. Hauser; 4-5 PT, with Ms. Hauser. Click the button!

Note: The in-person meeting at 1 pm might move to online. I’ll keep you updated.

I encourage you to take a listen and share your thoughts! Does listening to Ms. Hauser clarify any of your questions? Get you thinking in a different way, or strengthen your views?

All right, let’s discuss more in the comments! To do so, click on the play button or the title, which will let you listen to the podcast episode and write your comments on the bottom of the post. If you get stuck, hit reply, and we’ll get things sorted out.

Thank you for participating in this week’s conversation. And if you’re free and interested, sign up for next Saturday’s Article Club discussion below. See you soon!

Article Club is a new experiment in community reading. We read and discuss one outstanding article or book chapter a month, both online and in person. We invite the author to join our conversation, too. If you’re interested, sign up and check us out! Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

“The Crane Wife” came out last summer and immediately went viral. My friend and Article Clubber Anne texted me and wrote, “This is perfect for The Highlighter.” And it was. Tons of loyal readers loved the piece, and it was selected as one of the best articles of 2019.

Here’s my blurb for “The Crane Wife” when it appeared in The Highlighter:

Ten days after calling off her wedding, author CJ Hauser travels to the gulf coast of Texas to study whooping cranes for an upcoming novel. On the trip, Ms. Hauser reflects on her failed relationship, realizes painful personal truths, and begins the healing process. Ms. Hauser writes, “It’s easy to say that I left my fiancé because he cheated on me. It’s harder to explain the truth.” This is a beautiful, raw, heart-wrenching essay.

The essay is very worthy of our deep read and discussion. I look forward to re-reading it and talking about it with you. Are you in? Hope so!

If you’re in, here’s what’s next:

* Announce that you’re in. To do so: Click on the title above or the play button, which will lead you to an online version of this post. Then head down to the comments. In the comments, say hi, who you are, and why you’re interested in this article. Feel free to banter. Then write, “I’m in!”

* Then read the article — if possible, by next Sunday. (It’ll take 15-20 minutes.) Go ahead and annotate it, too, if you like. Last month we found that our group annotation was very helpful.

* Get your questions and first impressions ready for next Sunday. That’s when we’ll share our first thoughts about the article.

* Optional: Watch Ms. Hauser on Late Night with Seth Meyers.

I can’t wait to see who’s in!

Coming up this month at Article Club:

* Next Sunday, 3/8: We share our first thoughts, impressions, and questions

* Sunday, 3/15: Ms. Hauser answers our questions!

* Saturday, 3/21: We discuss the article in person (1-2:30 pm in Oakland) or online (4-5 pm PT anywhere in the world)

Article Club is a new experiment in community reading. We read and discuss one outstanding article a month, both online and in person. We invite the author to join our conversation, too. If you’re interested, please sign up and check us out! Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

Thank you to Michele, Jessica, Peter, Summer, Dan, Jim, Kati, Barbara, Janine, Ram, and Carina for joining the discussions today. I’m very grateful. Also I appreciate all 80+ of you for being part of Article Club. We’re building something here!

I’m also grateful to Mr. Tough, who generously said yes to our interview request and helped us deepen our understanding of “Getting an A.” Thank you!

Today was great. We convened two discussions, the first one in person at my home in Oakland, and the second one online via Zoom. Both were very successful. Thoughtful readers came prepared, got to know each other, shared their questions and thoughts about the article, and pushed one another’s thinking.

I can’t wait to do this again. Next Sunday, I’ll unveil March’s article. You’re going to want to read it and discuss it with others. See you soon!

How was this month of Article Club for you? What was great, and what are your ideas to make it even better? If you like, please share your highlights and suggestions in the comments. (Email folks: Click the title to access the online version of this post, and then scroll to the bottom.)

Article Club is a new experiment in community reading. We read and discuss one outstanding article or book chapter a month. We invite the author to join our conversation, too. If you’re interested, please sign up and check us out! Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

Last Tuesday, I got to talk with Mr. Tough, and in this 30-minute podcast episode, he generously answers our questions and speaks about some of the themes we’ve been exploring. You’ll learn about how he began writing about education, how he met Ivonne and Prof. Uri Treisman, why he wrote the chapter, how it felt to sit in lecture classes and discussion sections, and why he still believes in college as a path toward social mobility in the United States.

I encourage you to take a listen and share your thoughts!

Does listening to Mr. Tough clarify any of your questions? Get you thinking in a different way, or strengthen your views?

All right, let’s discuss! To do so, click on the play button or the title, which will let you listen to the podcast episode and write your comments on the bottom of the post. If you get stuck, hit reply, and we’ll get things sorted out.

Thank you for participating in this week’s conversation. And if you’re free and interested, sign up for this Sunday’s Article Club discussion below. See you soon!

Article Club is a new experiment in community reading. We read and discuss one outstanding article or book chapter a month, both online and in person. We invite the author to join our conversation, too. If you’re interested, please sign up and check us out! Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

Last week, we read (and some of us vigorously annotated) the chapter. This week, we’ll begin our discussion by sharing our first impressions, questions, and topics we want to explore. If we have questions for Mr. Tough, we’ll include those, too.

If you’re new to Article Club: I’m happy you’re here! In the comments, say hi and introduce yourself. Then I’ll email you the chapter so you can join the discussion.

OK, it’s time to discuss!

* What were your first impressions of “Getting an A”?

* What questions do you have — for the group or for Mr. Tough?

* What topics do you want us to explore more?

In the comments, say hi and share your thoughts. Remember, there’s no need to be smart here: Just go for it. Enjoy getting to know your fellow Article Club friends, reply to one another’s ideas, and build off one another. Most of all, have fun!

Coming up this month

* Next Sunday, Feb. 16: Mr. Tough will answer our questions as part of a podcast episode. We’ll reflect on what he says and deepen our conversation.

* Sunday, Feb. 23: We’ll convene in person (1-2:30 pm in Oakland) or online (4-5 pm PT via Zoom) to discuss “Getting an A” in depth.

One last thing: I want to thank Mr. Tough for getting the word out and encouraging his followers to join Article Club. I look forward to asking you our questions soon!

Article Club is a new experiment in community reading. We read and discuss one outstanding article or book chapter a month, both online and in person. We invite the author to join our conversation, too. If you’re interested, please sign up and check us out! Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.

“Getting an A” is a chapter from Mr. Tough’s new book, “The Years That Matter Most: How College Makes Or Breaks Us.” It’s a great book that I highly recommend, especially if you’re an educator or parent. “Getting an A” tells the story of Ivonne, a Latina first generation college student, who is struggling through introductory Calculus at the University of Texas at Austin. It’s also about Uri Treisman, Ivonne’s 71-year-old professor, who is struggling to teach Math in a way that disrupts inequitable achievement and increases access to STEM careers.

The chapter is very worthy of our deep read and discussion. I look forward to re-reading it and talking about it with you. Are you in? Hope so!

If you’re in, here’s what’s next:

* In the comments below, say hi. Who are you? Why are you interested in this article? Feel free to banter. Then write, “I’m in!”

* Once you’ve signed up, I’ll send you the article via email. This will be a shared Google doc that only we will be able to access. Try to read it before next Sunday. (It’ll take 45-60 minutes.) Go ahead and annotate it, too, if you like. Last month we found that our group annotation was very helpful.

* Get your questions and first impressions ready for next Sunday. That’s when we’ll share our first thoughts about the article.

I can’t wait to see who’s in!

If you’re new to Article Club, sign up below, refresh this page, and then you’ll be able to write in the comments that you’re in. Welcome!

This is big! Thank you to Carina, Anne, Hannah, Katie, Peter, David, Tony, Vanessa, Ram, Sonya, Kati, Jennifer, Michele, Jim, Summer, Marni, and Vanessa for being the founders of Article Club. I’m very grateful.

I’m also appreciative of Ms. Tolentino, who generously said yes to our interview request and helped us deepen our understanding of the article. Given this precedent, now there’s an expectation that authors will join us in conversation.

Sunday was great. We convened two discussions, the first one in person at my home in Oakland, and the second one online via Zoom. Both were extremely successful. Thoughtful readers came prepared, got to know each other, shared their questions and thoughts about the article, and pushed one another’s thinking.

It got me thinking: This Article Club thing is going to grow and get even better.

To that end, please share your highlights and suggestions in the comments. How was this first month of Article Club for you? What was great, and what should be changed?

I can’t wait to do this again. Be on the lookout this Sunday, when I’ll unveil February’s article. You’re going to want to read it and discuss it with others. See you soon!

Quick note about the audio quality: There are some distracting sounds; they’re not horrible, but they might be annoying. I didn’t have my regular mic, sorry!

New to Article Club? Sign up here!

This week, I got to talk with Jia, and in this 17-minute podcast episode (2-min intro, 15-min interview), she spoke about some of the themes we’ve been exploring. For instance: Who is this ideal woman, and who defines her? What if I identify as a woman and don’t relate? Is it possible to resist the forces of patriarchy and capitalism?

I encourage you to take a listen and share your thoughts!

Does listening to Jia clarify any of your questions? Get you thinking in a different way, or strengthen your views? Like (or dislike) her more? Help with your existential crisis of how to live in our current society?

All right, let’s discuss! To get started, click on the play button or the title, which will let you listen to the podcast episode and write your comments on the bottom of the post. If you get stuck, hit reply, and we’ll get things sorted out.

Thank you for participating in this week’s conversation. And if you’re free and interested, sign up for next Sunday’s Article Club discussion below. See you soon!

This article, which appeared in Issue #204 in August, was the most-read piece in The Highlighter last year. It’s very worthy of our deep read and discussion. I look forward to re-reading it and talking about it with you. Are you in? Hope so!

If you’re in, here’s what’s next:

* Say hi in the comments. Who are you? Why are you interested in this article and/or Article Club? Are you enjoying your 2020 so far?

* Read the article sometime this week. (It’ll take 20-30 minutes.) Or, if you’re feeling advanced, annotate it using this Google Docs version.

* Get your questions and first impressions ready for next Sunday. That’s when we’ll share our first thoughts about the article.

And away we go!

* Let’s talk about the articles

* There’s no need to be performative

* Let’s look for connections

What are your ideas? How do you want our article club to be? Don’t be shy: Say hi and share your thoughts!

OK, if the goal of Article Club is to read more, read more closely, reflect deeply on the articles, and connect with other readers, here are my initial thoughts:

* Week 1: Introduce the article of the month, share why I (or we) chose it, and invite everyone to read (and maybe annotate) it! Then, if you’re interested, you would opt in to participate in that month’s activities.

* Week 2: Share our first thoughts about the article, get to know each other and build our reading community, participate in an online written discussion thread, and gather a list of questions for deeper reflection.

* Week 3: Podcast episode — either discuss the article with the author (if they say yes), have them answer our questions; or discuss the article with 1-2 article club members, who really want to go deeper and share their thoughts.

* Week 4: Connect with other article club members and discuss the article live — whether in person in Oakland and/or online via Zoom. We would find a time that works for as many of us as possible.

OK, those are my ideas. What are yours? How should we do this Article Club? What are you looking to get out of this? Also, do you have articles or authors you want to nominate? Thank you very much for your interest!

Good news: It’s here! (Well, sort of: It’s going to start in January.)

Article Club is for people who want to…

* read more (busy lives, be gone!)

* read more closely and reflect on great articles

* connect with other thoughtful readers

We’ll focus our attention on one great article each month. Every Sunday, I’ll send out a post geared to spark thought and conversation. Here are some of my ideas so far:

* A chance for us to annotate the article together

* Discussion threads where we can share our thoughts

* Podcast episodes featuring fellow club members (and maybe the author)

* Online conversations via Zoom (and maybe in person, if you live near Oakland)

We’ll try this out for three months, beginning in January, and see how it goes.

Interested? Sign up now for free at articleclub.substack.com.

Want to try it out? If so, click on the fancy button below.

The article is a Google Docs version of “How Millennials Became The Burnout Generation,” by Helen Anne Petersen, featured in The Highlighter #175, and one of this year’s 10 most popular articles so far.

Once you’re there, go ahead and introduce yourself up top — then start highlighting, annotating, and responding respectfully to my and other VIPs’ comments.

If this goes well, then we’ll try some other ideas with the same article, like:

* bringing back the podcast! (with one of you as the guest)

* responding to a provocative question that an esteemed VIP poses

* talking it out in person locally or online nationally

* whatever other great ideas we come up with

As always, thank you for all your support — and please let me know your honest thoughts about my latest crazy idea.