Good Monday morning. I hope you find the rhythm you need today. Thanks for making our last edition the second most-viewed yet. Our syllabus this week:
Conversation Starters
The DEI-alogue
Future of Higher Education
Best of the Rest
Conversation Starters
START YOUR WEEK HERE: BOWEN YANG
TRAUMA AFTER TRAUMA
For three weeks, we have relived the murder of George Floyd. Now, a verdict could come within days, as closing arguments begin today.
Since the trial began on March 29, more than THREE PEOPLE A DAY have died at the hands of law enforcement, The Times found.
Among them: Adam Toledo, a 13-year-old boy who a Chicago officer chased down an alley and fatally shot, and Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man who was pulled over for an expired registration. Officers noted an air freshener dangling from his mirror, an apparent violation often used as a pretext for traffic stops that selectively target people of color.
States have passed over 140 police oversight bills since the murder of George Floyd, increasing accountability and overhauling rules on the use of force. But Activists Question Whether Police Reform Bills Are Enough (NYT)
My brother Tom is a teacher in Brooklyn Center. Here’s a powerful story on how their community is responding after this trying week: ‘We’re going for broke': How the Brooklyn Center school district changed everything in a difficult week (MPR)
A PICTURE IS WORTH...
PANDEMIC SENIORITIS
Appropriately subtitled "being so close (and yet so far) is a stress all its own." Mull describes the in-between of feeling "so excited for what’s to come" but knowing that "the horror of what we have been expected to live through, and what we are now expected to leave behind, seems too enormous to conceptualize. Between those two poles, my brain is stuck in neutral, unable to wait for the future or trudge through what’s left of the present. Senior skip day never sounded so good." America Has Pandemic Senioritis (Atlantic) (h/t Leah Tobin)
HOW DO WE NAVIGATE THIS PHASE OF THE PANDEMIC?
Thoughtful guidance to many FAQs about this new in-between time: Vaccine etiquette: Manners for this phase of the pandemic (Post)
“Until recently, I’ve told almost no one that I got the shots last month. How could it be that now, with my escape route in sight, I shrink from the exit?” I’m vaccinated, but I’m really not ready to leave my pandemic cocoon (WaPo)
“Most introverts are not interested in facing the forced small talk, the big parties, the noisy open offices and all the demands of extroverts who think more is more.” Introverts are dreading the return to 'normal' life after the pandemic (WaPo)
Argument that briefly passing someone on the sidewalk isn’t risky. Do we really still need to wear masks outside? (Slate)
“The instant, mundane moment you get vaccinated is actually one of the key moments of the century so far, and the celebration of this massive, intersecting community effort." Let's Celebrate The Moment You Get Vaccinated (Buzzfeed)
BUILDING BETTER FRIENDSHIPS
LOVE these! “Dispense advice if it’s asked for. Otherwise, dispense love.” More: 8 Simple Habits For Building Better Friendships (Buzzfeed)
Related: Special issue from NYT celebrates friendship in all its many forms. A Celebration of Friendship in All Its Many Forms (NYT)
The DEI-alogue
DECOLONIZATION IS NOT A METAPHOR
Tour de force, highly recommend: "The national parks are the closest thing America has to sacred lands… more than just America’s “best idea,” the parks are the best of America, the jewels of its landscape. It’s time they were returned to America’s original peoples." National Parks Should Belong to Native Americans (Atlantic)
Related: This land is sacred to the Apache, and they are fighting to save it (WaPo)
STAYING VIGILANT
Domestic terrorism incidents have soared to new highs in the United States, driven chiefly by white-supremacist, anti-Muslim and anti-government extremists on the far right. Domestic terrorism data shows right-wing violence on the rise (WaPo)
HIGHLY RECOMMEND
Two brilliant thinkers in conversation: Tressie McMillan Cottom on the Moral Panics of Our Moment (Ezra Klein podcast)
BLACK LIVES MATTER
How Amanda Gorman Became So Much More Than a Literary Star (Vogue)
Damon Young: Racism Makes Me Question Everything. I Got the Vaccine Anyway. (NYT)
Charles Blow:Rage Is the Only Language I Have Left (NYT)
AMPLIFYING VOICES
My brilliant cohort mate Pearl Lo: There Is No Such Thing as Asian Privilege (Diverse Education)
Asian American Life and Death (with Viet Thanh Nguyen and Janelle Wong (h/t Carlton Green)
Asian and Asian-American Photographers Show What Love Looks Like (NYT)
GOP's new 'America First Caucus' follows in some blatantly white nationalist footsteps (MSNBC)
Future of Higher Education
BIG QUESTION ON CAMPUS: VACCINE REQUIREMENTS?
USM Board of Regents gives chancellor authority to determine mandatory vaccine policy (DBK)
Survey finds most prospective students are open to vaccine requirements (IHE)
BLACK STUDENT ACTIVISM AT UMD
This special report from the Diamondback exploring the backstory to each of the demands is worth your time: Black student leaders are pushing for change at UMD. Here are their 31 demands. (DBK)
Focuses on campuses like UMD where enrollment of Black students lags state populations: Flagship universities say diversity is a priority. But Black enrollment in many states continues to lag. (WaPo)
ADMISSIONS
"Canada's three most prominent universities — University of Toronto, McGill, and University of British Columbia — enroll more than 150,000 undergraduates. That’s more students than attend the top 18 institutions in the U.S. News rankings taken together." Harvard and its peers should be embarrassed about how few students they educate (WaPo)
The Abiding Scandal of College Admissions (Chronicle)
STUDENT DEBT
Who owes student debt? Older people and black students among fastest-growing groups of borrowers. (WaPo)
FUTURE OF ATHLETICS
Sally Jenkins: The athletes are the only thing saving college sports from the NCAA (WaPo)
TEACHING AND LEARNING
Should We Stop Grading Class Participation? (Chronicle)
Best of the Rest
WELLNESS
UNDER THE RADAR
100 Days Without Trump on Twitter: A Nation Scrolls More Calmly (NYT)
A New ‘Denim Cycle’? After a Decade, Jeans Move From Skinny to Loose (NYT)
The Global Trends Report predicts a chaotic and fragmented future in 2040 (Axios)
FUN
20 Best Books of Spring 2021 (Esquire)
Gymnast Evan Manivong shows off coronavirus vaccine card after vault routine (WaPo)
I am trying to report gender infractions in my kindergarten but don’t know what counts! (WaPo) (h/t David Tomblin)
Why Am I Sp Bad At Typign? (Buzzfeed)
Team Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson? Vaccine rivalries are taking over TikTok (NBCNews)
Until next time (May 3), be strong and be well.