I JUST READ THIS TWICE IN A FEW MONTHS. I read it on the subway only, on the way with my sign in the morning. I keep it in the old Patagonia bag I take with me. So it was slow going, a couple pages a day. The train trip is short and I usually stand on the more-crowded return train. ANYWAY, it’s quite a book. Won the Pulitzer Prize. I may read it again. A memoir. A Taiwanese-American student at Berkeley. Why would I read it twice and maybe/probably again? An honest-seeming voice, good details. Very good details. A real life. 

 

Nell Irvin Painter’s understanding of America is beautiful and bracing. 

We should listen.
“I Just Keep Talking” brings together wide-ranging and pointed essays by the author of “The History of White People.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2024/06/12/nell-irvin-painter-just-keep-talking-essays-review/

 

THE SIGN is by the door ready for 7:40 in the morning when I take it with me to the subway downtown. Many of the same people see me every weekday when I hold the sign on Chambers Street. Some give a thumbs-up every time. A bright-faced Latino young woman folds her hands prayerfully and moves her mouth shyly without making any sound and says, Thank You. Sometimes I say to her, sometimes I say it to others:  It Would Change the World.

 

9 LGBTQ+ Authors on the First Books They Saw Themselves In

https://apple.news/AK0TsQ9WMQA6KOUEy6JXwLw

 

States begin to push back on book bans – by banning them

2:14 PM EDT June 4, 2024

As a record number of school districts face bans on certain books and lawmakers enact measures that limit what can be taught about race and sexual identity in the classroom, some states are moving to counter the measures with laws that prohibit banning books.

https://apple.news/AdWbne4mTQ12nz6Jx5n5UFQ

Where to start with: Rachel Cusk

From a novel sequence that dispenses with much of what we expect from fiction to fearlessly honest memoirs of motherhood and divorce, Cusk is a challenging writer. But also a genius

https://www.theguardian.com/books/article/2024/jun/04/where-to-start-with-rachel-cusk

After Words (from C-SPAN, a video conversation)

Mike Hixenbaugh

NBC investigative reporter Mike Hixenbaugh looked at how issues around race and identity are playing out in school districts around the country. He was interviewed by Chalkbeat story editor and author Cara Fitzpatrick.

https://www.c-span.org/video/?534839-1/after-words-mike-hixenbaugh#