Masha Gessen on the tragic loss of hope in Ukraine: "A willingness to die for freedom is now a part of not only Ukrainians' mythology but their lived history." A word from Spencer Ackerman: "You do not, in fact, have to choose between American and Russian imperial aggressions. Better to bear witness to what is being done in your name." I'm also spending time with the poems of Ilya Kaminsky. "Be courageous, we say / but no one is courageous / As a sound we do not hear lifts the birds off the water."

When did everyone start calling themselves a "content creator"? And what's the deal with blurbs—those quoted recommendations from other authors that appear on the cover of every book you buy?

Autumn Fourkiller on life and death in the Strawberry Capital of the World, Hoang Samuelson on the power of yams, and Doug Mack on what constitutes a "good food city."

Historian Jules Gill-Peterson on Texas's horrifying move to declare that any affirmation of trans children is statutory child abuse, and the history of planned genocides of non-normatively gendered people. And for your donation consideration, a list of grassroots organizations that support trans people in Texas.

Planet Money has a very good explainer on the end of the Child Tax Credit and the broader U.S. failure to spend money on children who need it. And speaking of kids (weak transition, I know!), I loved Aaron Edwards' eulogy for the PBS series Arthur.

Short fiction by Cord Jefferson: "In all, Garrett had to admit that it wasn’t a bad job. It was just profoundly different from what he’d once imagined the world would offer him. Something felt missing, and he couldn’t tell whether he’d given it away or if it was taken from him."

 

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Do you open this newsletter every Friday? If so, you might consider becoming a paying member for just $15/year. I use your dollars to cover my tech costs, license work from independent artists, pay Mercedes to help with classifieds admin, and offer a stipend to my writing fellows. 

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A photo-heavy dispatch from Kyiv's nightlife scene last fall. Your Mom Band, the Golden Girls of punk. Alejandro Cartagena's photos of Mexican commuter buses.

Best sheep content since Baarack.

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This is the 11th in a series of essays in which Nereya Otieno explores her experience with immigration. She's one of this newsletter's writing fellows, a program underwritten by paying members. I did not misspell her name above! All is explained if you read the full essay. -AF

By Nereya Otieno

I was in Istanbul getting into a cab when my phone buzzed. A new email from Danish immigration services announced a decision had been made on my case. My fingers typed in my password to the online portal with a quickness only awakened by desperation. Your request for a renewal of your green card has been denied. You must leave Denmark by 23:59 on 11 October 2017. It was September 11th. The cab I was in was already headed to the airport, but my ticket was for New Delhi not Copenhagen. I was supposed to go for 12 days.

I arrived at the airport in a complete daze. Was the letter even real? Did I read it correctly? Ambling to the ticket counter, I tried to weigh the financial and emotional costs of rerouting my trip. Should I forfeit seeing some beloved friends in a new country to return immediately and try to sort this all out? If I went to India, it would leave me a little over two weeks to tie up loose ends, explain the situation to everyone important in my life, say my goodbyes, try not to cry, contact lawyers, pack my things, try not to cry, retract an offer I had on buying an apartment, write letters of appeal, request letters speaking to my character and contributions, try not to cry, gather data for my case, decide where I would go while my case was pending. Plus all the other things I knew I didn’t know about yet. 

The airline attendants waved me up to the check-in desk and I went into autopilot. Handed over my passport. Gave my name. Lifted my luggage onto the scale. My body knew what to do but I could feel my eyes bulging, frenetic and teary with the absurd turn of my life’s stability in the last 40 minutes. It took a few seconds before I registered that the desk attendant was trying to interact with me.

Click here to read the rest.

Listen to Nereya read this essay, read the others in this series, and sign up for her newsletter. 

March 26 & April 2: The Midwives of Invention—aka me and my brilliant friend Jade Chang—are offering a workshop about how to develop your creative ideas and translate them into actionable projects. There are still a few spaces available! Details here.