Ann Friedman - The worst kind of retro

Thanks to everyone who sent in tech notes, feedback, and words of encouragement about the new design. A few tweaks are forthcoming.
 

The cruel stunt of the Martha's Vineyard migrant flight has echoes of the Reverse Freedom Rides of 1962, in which segregationists "tricked about 200 people from the South into moving north," writes Gabrielle Emanuel. The worst kind of retro. This is your routine reminder that seeking asylum is a human right—and a legal form of entry to this country.

"He might be able to change the world, Sarah often says, if she can figure out how to raise him the right way. But she is also overwhelmed by the fear that her sweet boy could one day become a bad guy, like so many of the ones who have hurt her. Like the one they just escaped." Jose A. Del Real reports from rural Wyoming, where a single mom tries to raise her boy to be a good man.

What freight rail workers want you to know about their lives.

"Proximity to other people who were free made it seem more possible for me to free myself." Kyle Carrero Lopez on the joyful queer sensibility and history of Jacob Riis Beach. And Rasheed Newson on learning to "wave the Black-femme-boy flag," through on-screen characters and in off-screen life.

Leave Marilyn alone, begs Emily Kirkpatrick. "The very idea of Monroe has become little more than a lazy trope, a metaphor for a particular type of woman."

DARE—the proven-ineffective "anti-drug education program" of my youth—is back and worse than ever, reports Rebecca Kavanagh.

Ed Yong on the reality of post-COVID brain fog, which "involves real changes to the structure and chemistry of the brain" and is far more life-altering than many dismissive jokes would have you believe.

A very happy birthday to writing fellow Autumn Fourkiller, who recently interpreted a dream about following our beloved friends into the dark again, and again. Celia Mattison is still looking for your thoughts on in-flight movies. And 2021 writing fellow Shanti Escalante-De Mattei has a new column at ArtNews on collectibles, collections, and collectors outside of the fine arts. Her first installment is a dispatch from the world of antique firearms collectors.

P.S. For my truck spills fans.

Photos of a march by California farmworkers and their advocates, 335 miles in the blazing heat, to the state capitol in support of voting protections. Freddie Wong makes the case for only eating at Chinese restaurants with 3.5 stars on Yelp.

Mr. Ed could never!

"I am a silent clicker and committed (paying!) weekly reader! I have read through your newsletter basically within an hour of receiving it every Friday for the last five years or so." -Colleen. ::Tina Turner voice: I'm your silent clicker, a clicker for money, read what you want me to reeeead.