Ann Friedman - New tubes

"40 Acres and a Mule remains the nation’s most famous attempt to provide some form of reparations for American slavery. Today, it is largely remembered as a broken promise." But 1,250 Black men and women did earn land as reparations after the Civil War, only to have it returned to their enslavers. A team of reporters found their descendants.

If you're a white American who took the day off for Juneteenth this week, you might consider taking the time to read this series from the Center for Public Integrity and Mother Jones about this country's attempt at reparations in the wake of the Civil War. I know "The Center for Public Integrity" makes it sound like a boring think-tank report, but there are juicy stories here, and high-stakes generational drama, and honestly it's the sort of stuff I really wish I'd been exposed to as a student.

There's an audio version, too, if that's more your speed.

From religious calls to "be fruitful and multiply" to tech billionaires' "pronatalism," Lyz Lenz considers the return of eugenics and who is—and who isn't—rewarded for having a lot of kids. [Men Yell at Me]

"To a degree never seen before, Israel is killing entire Palestinian families, a loss even more devastating than the physical destruction and the massive displacement," Sarah El Deeb reports. Every single branch of some family trees. [Associated Press]

<siren emoji> Translator Emily V. Wilson on the myths of poet Anne Carson!! What a crossover. [The Nation]

On hospice chefs, cooking shows, and recipes for the future: Robin Craig explores the role of food in his father’s final days. [Vittles]

Julia Devaan considers the legacies of modern dance pioneers George Balanchine and Martha Graham, which "are just as much the products of money and institutional support as of artistic talent." [The Drift]

Meghna Rao on Ursula K. LeGuin's long-lost blog. Her website was coded by her friend Vonda N. McIntyre "with a hand so original that it has been impossible to maintain what she built." [Dirt]

I'm not a daily listener of The Daily, but I really appreciated these two episodes about new approaches to countering gun violence in the courts: Part 1, Part 2. They made me feel... almost hopeful?

Members, give me a ring on the Hotline! I leave you a short, spontaneous message, and you can choose to leave one in return. Or just listen and hang up. +1 (323) 909-XXXX

Pneumatic tubes are back, baby! [That link is to the MIT Technology Review, which is alas paywalled. But really it was just an excuse for me to comb YouTube—cough, PneuTube—for awhile.] Or rather, they never went away. See: South Dakota children's museum, University of Maryland Medical Center blood samples, New York City mail.

We are in the waning days of the Longform podcast, which has managed, somehow, to remain a delight and become an institution and in its 12 years of existence. I routinely recommend this show to people who are beginning their work as nonfiction writers. I often go back and listen to old episodes when I read a new book or feature by a journalist who's been on it. 

It's been a real gift to both writers and readers—a document of this strange era in media—and I will cherish the archive.