Top 5: The census and identity
Plus: (Not) Honey Boo Boo
ICYMI: Michael wrote about the National Religious Broadcaster Association’s firing of Dan Darling, and President Biden’s invocation of Isaiah 6:8 in a subscriber-only post yesterday, and we’ve been hearing great feedback about it.
Now for your Top 5…
The Top 5 articles for your week:
“Demography Is Not Destiny” (The Atlantic)
Because any kind of deterministic thinking when it comes to the latest census numbers is bound to mislead and disempower.
Political parties and identities are not static, and few concepts are as elastic as the invention of race, in particular the category of “white,” which is defined not just by looks and ancestry, but also by ideology and class. The fact that fewer Americans identify as white in the 2020 census than did 10 years before does not spell doom for the Republican Party, nor does it herald an era of political dominance for the Democrats, despite the forlorn cries of those who are committed less to conservatism as an ideology than the political and cultural hegemony of those they consider white.
“What Will Become of Afghanistan’s Post-9/11 Generation?” (New York Times Magazine)
Because this photo essay documents a generation of Afghans whose lives have been deeply impacted by American power.
“I miss Afghanistan,” he said. “I pity Afghanistan. I know the Taliban has taken Kabul. I think the country will be filled with war and kidnapping.” Asked what he wants to be one day, he laughed.
“The Incoherence of American History” (The New Republic)
Because Osita Nwanevu reviews Alan Taylor’s trilogy on American history, especially Taylor’s latest book on the history of the American Revolution, and finds that the stories told about American history aren’t as neat and tidy as many would like it to be.
The popular narratives we construct, to noble and ignoble ends, do not and cannot do justice to the interplay of agents, institutions, systems, and ideologies that actually shape history. We can find logic in the chaos. We might discern, in historical material, forces and circumstances that may have made, and may still make, certain outcomes likely or liable to recur. None of this amounts to spiritual predestination. You simply will not find, even in the best histories, binding instructions from the dead as to who or what the living ought to be.
“The Pandemic Is Making Dads Reevaluate Their Work-Life Balance” (The Atlantic)
Because here at the newsletter, we continue to pay attention to how the pandemic is reshaping major pillars in society — work, family life, religious practice, the economy, communities, etc.
But the pandemic, in an admittedly highly unpleasant way, gave dads more family time, yielding effects similar to those of paternity leave. I heard from dads who felt more bonded with their baby than they otherwise would have been, who triaged the onslaught of newborn caregiving and cleanup alongside their partner, and who felt equipped to soothe their child instead of turning to their wife. None of that should be remarkable, but it is.
“Her Name Is Not Honey Boo Boo” (Teen Vogue)
Because you may have watched TLC’s once-viral show, “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” and know who Honey Boo Boo is, and her real name is Alana Thompson. This Teen Vogue profile is refreshingly interesting and will provoke further conversation around reality TV, celebrity culture, and child stars.
Amid discourse on how we talk about teenage girls, particularly those who have a level of cultural presence and celebrity power that renders it too easy to think of them as icons or examples rather than human beings, is Alana.