John Lewis
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Rest in power, John Lewis. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, ~60 min.)
Covid-19
Decades of underfunding for public health has local and state officials across the country at their wits’ end fighting the pandemic. But, as always, the problem is bigger in Texas. (New York Times Magazine, ~34 min.)
My high school friend Ben, now the National NBA Writer for The Washington Post, has spent the past seven days locked in a hotel room at Disney World, on strict quarantine so he can cover the season when it starts back up. (Washington Post, ~8 min.)
A doctor's letter to her patient on the day of her death: “I wish I could tell you how sorry I am, for my fear, for our nation, for what happens next.” (New England Journal of Medicine, ~6 min.)
Meet the college kids who went to Cabo during the early days of the pandemic, came home and spread coronavirus to friends and family, then erased their social media posts and tried to pretend it was all a bad dream. (Cosmopolitan, ~11 min.)
The best of the rest
Dave Killen, The Oregonian
Inside progressive Portland’s long history of racist policing. Or, why Portlanders have protested for 51 days straight, with no end in sight. (Rolling Stone, ~14 min.)
“Portland is being used as a bellwether to see what this administration can get away with.” (New York Times Opinion, ~8 min.)
The crazy story of the world’s biggest — and most mysterious — art heist, in 1990 at Boston’s Gardner Museum: “The deeper and deeper you dig, the more questions are raised.” (Bloomberg Businessweek, ~17 min.)
After George Floyd was murdered, white Oklahoma teacher Christine Tell took a good hard look in the mirror. She needed to be a better ally, and she needed to start now. But how? (Washington Post, ~13 min.)
At top social media-sharing destinations like the Grand Canyon and Horseshoe Bend, there’s no such thing as “Instagram and chill.” (Outside, ~19 min.)
As the federal government resumed capital punishment last week, even the victim’s mother didn’t want her daughter’s killer executed: “The government ain’t doing this for me, ’cause I would say no.” (Intelligencer, ~6 min.)
Why do so many women refuse to believe that they don’t need to get their period? (The Atlantic, ~8 min.)
Best friends Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman — one black, one white — talk through the divide in even the closest of interracial friendships. (The Cut, ~15 min.)
Corinna Olsen was a leader in the white supremacist movement. Then she walked away. (New York Times Opinion, ~18 min.)
If you read one thing this week
“No mask, no entry. Is that clear enough? That seems pretty clear, right?” (Washington Post, ~7 min.)
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Thanks for reading.
Kirsten