Article Club

Hi Loyal Readers. Thank you for opening this week’s issue of Article Club. Today’s issue is dedicated to a great conversation I had with Piers Gelly, author of this month’s featured article, “What Happened When I Tried to Replace Myself with ChatGPT in My English Classroom.” The conversation was triply great because Prof. Gelly, who teaches at the University of Virginia, invited two of his students featured in the essay — Camille Villalobos and Max Goldberg — to join us. The result is a thought-provoking discussion about college students’ perspectives on artificial intelligence, particularly when a curious professor engages them genuinely (rather than complaining, banning the use of AI, sticking their head in the sand, and secretly wishing we could turn back time to the Golden Age of Bluebooks). I hope that you’ll read the article, listen to the interview, and join our discussion on Sunday, Sept. 28, 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT. We’ll meet on Zoom, say hi, and then dive deep into the article. You can sign up below; it’d be great to have you there. I don’t want to give too much away, because I want you to listen to the conversation, but I must share what I appreciated most. It was how thoughtfully Cam and Max talked about their experiences taking Prof. Gelly’s class, as well as how their points of view on artificial intelligence changed along the way. Not only are Cam and Max brilliant, but what’s also abundantly clear is that Prof. Gelly cares deeply about his students. They’re at the center of his essay. You’ll get a similar sense when you listen to the interview. Rather than making grandiose philosophical conclusions about the state of artificial intelligence in education, Prof. Gelly is curious, vulnerable, and dedicated to listening to his students’ views, as well as pushing them. When you engage your students — as Prof. Gelly does — you gain nuance. For example, at the beginning of the class, Cam had been a liberal user of ChatGPT. By the end, she maligned AI as a “crutch” and vowed never to use it again. And her thinking has shifted even more, as you’ll hear in the interview. On the other hand, Max did not leave the class with the same perspective as Cam. He sees valid uses for ChatGPT. But his experience shifted his sentiments as well. Here he shares what worries him: I would say the thing that concerns me most is people who use [AI] for everything. And I don’t just mean like coursework, but things like planning their schedules and asking it questions and having it do, like, basic, basic problems. I think that people need to be able to do some of that on their own. I hope you enjoy the interview. Once again, huge appreciation to Prof. Gelly, Cam, and Max for generously saying yes to Article Club. An invitation to our discussion on September 28 I warmly invite you to participate in our discussion on Sunday, September 28, 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT. We’ll meet on Zoom. You can sign up below, it’s free. Thank you for reading and listening to this week’s issue. Hope you liked it. 😀 To our 24 new subscribers — including Ikechukwu, Amelia, Linda, Abigail, Matalyn, Anna, Inna, JB, Barry, Mohammed, Obaxbila, Damon, Janet, David, Shelly, Raj, Anna, Erfan, Belle, Samuel, and Sarah — I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. Welcome to Article Club. Make yourself at home. 🏠 If you appreciate the articles, value our discussions, and have come to trust that reading Article Club is better for your mind and soul than your current habit of scrolling the Internet for hours on end (or avoiding reading altogether, hoping the world will vanish), please consider a paid subscription. It’s $5 a month or $36 a year. Big thanks to Janet, our latest paid subscriber — huge appreciation! If you no longer want to receive this newsletter, please feel free to unsubscribe below. See you next Thursday at 9:10 am PT. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus...

Dear Article Clubbers, We had a great discussion last Sunday. Thank you to everyone who made it so! It’s September, which means two things: * The real school year has begun * I get to announce our article of the month I cannot adequately express how honored I am to share with you September’s article of the month. We are going to be reading and discussing “What Happened When I Tried to Replace Myself with ChatGPT in My English Classroom,” by Piers Gelly. If you’ve been following my article selections over the past year, you know that I’m fascinated with how artificial intelligence has transformed education — mostly for the worse — and how educators don’t know what to do about this sudden shift. (Besides complain a lot, and wishing we could go back in time, to the golden age of bluebooks, which is what many educators are doing.) These woe-is-me pieces by educators have gotten so ubiquitous, I’ve begun to skip them. I’ve been looking for something fresh. That’s why I was immediately hooked when I came upon Prof. Gelly’s piece. In his essay, published in July in Literary Hub, Prof. Gelly does not lament the rise of technology. Rather, in his English class, he engages his University of Virginia students in an authentic exploration of artificial intelligence and its effects. He’s curious. He is unafraid to experiment with his students. He remains vulnerable to the possibility that his role as professor may be in danger. Most importantly, Prof. Gelly takes us into his classroom, introduces us to his students, and tells us a story filled with humanity. My hope is that you will consider reading Prof. Gelly’s essay. I also hope that you will make space to reflect on his words. If you are moved — as I predict many of you will be — I encourage you to join our discussion so that we can all connect and have a conversation in community. ➡️ Inside today’s issue, you’ll find: * My conversation with Article Club co-host Melinda, in which we share our first impressions of the article (alongside our banter) * A quick blurb about the article, plus my handwritten annotations * A short biography of the author * More information about our discussion on September 28, plus an invite One more thing: My gut says, if you’re a high school or college educator, your students would appreciate reading this piece. What Happened When I Tried to Replace Myself with ChatGPT in My English Classroom The more I read this essay, the more I appreciate it. Part of the reason is that I am an educator, too, grappling with the same issues surrounding artificial intelligence that so many of us are — whether we are teachers or parents or students or generally concerned citizens who don’t want humanity to be vanquished. But most of the reason I love this piece is that Piers Gelly is an outstanding teacher. He begins his article with students, and his students are at the center throughout. You’ll meet Cam and Max and other students who take on Prof. Gelly’s writing assignments and in-class activities. You’ll read how they make meaning of artificial intelligence and its impact on education, how their views shift over the course of the semester. Is ChatGPT a “calculator for words,” as Sam Altman suggests? What’s the point of the painful process of writing when a computer can make things easier? You’ll gain insights on these and other important questions. But what delights me most about this piece is that we get to peer inside Prof. Gelly’s classroom. He doesn’t talk in generalities. He tells us exactly what he did and how his students reacted. Teaching, after all, is about what we do, day after day, with the people in the classroom. It’s about the relationships that are built, the learning community that emerges, and the collective understanding that develops over time. In this essay about artificial intelligence, Prof. Gelly reminds us of the humanity that is at the core of the endeavor of education. By Piers Gelly • Literary Hub • 23 min • Gift Link ➕...

Hi Loyal Readers. Thank you for opening this week’s issue of Article Club. Today’s issue is dedicated to a beautiful conversation with Saint Trey W, author of this month’s featured article, “They Burn Books to Burn Us Too.” He shares space with Sarai Bordeaux, Article Club contributor and Poet Laureate of Eureka, California. If you haven’t yet, I hope you read the article. Then if you appreciate it, which I predict you will, I invite you to listen to the conversation, then join our discussion next Sunday, August 24. Kind, thoughtful people (like you!) will engage deeply with Saint Trey’s piece on Zoom, beginning at 2:00 pm PT and ending at 3:30 pm PT. If you’re interested, you can learn more and sign up by clicking the button below. When I first read “They Burn Books to Burn Us Too,” I was deeply moved. I was moved by the power of Saint Trey W’s message. But I was equally moved by the beauty of his writing. Saint Trey is a poet. This essay is lyrical. “When a government begins to fear its own history,” Saint Trey writes, “it has already declared war on the people who survived it.” Yes, this is an essay about book banning. It is about erasure, the war on memory, and our government’s attempt to dominate and destroy Black people. But the piece is also about dreaming. No matter the government’s violence, Black people will not be silenced. They will not be unwritten. Saint Trey writes: What they do not know is that we were never written in the first place. We were sung. We were carved into tree trunks and kitchen counters and braided into our mother’s hair. We are older than their archives. And our stories do not end with silence. When I finished the piece, I had three immediate thoughts: * I must share this essay with Sarai right now * Hopefully they appreciate it as much as I do * Wouldn’t it be perfect if Sarai and Saint Trey got to talk to each other? If you’re newish to Article Club, you may not have met Sarai yet, so here are a few words of (re)introduction: Sarai is one of the most astute readers I have ever met. Whenever we talk, they make me smarter. More importantly, Sarai helps me connect the dots and act with more compassion. So it was an obvious next step — given my three thoughts above — that I should reach out to Sarai and gather their perspective. The rest is history. Sarai loved the essay, I contacted Saint Trey, he generously said yes to doing the interview, and they met up on Zoom to talk about his beautiful piece. The result is this wholehearted conversation. Sarai and Saint Trey cover a wide range of topics. I won’t try to list them all here. It was clear to me, as I listened to Sarai and Saint Trey — two poets thinking together and sharing their perspectives about a powerful essay — that I was struck by the mutual care they shared with one another. In their discussion of Saint Trey’s piece, they centered on imagination and possibility, as well as the power of language and lineage. Here’s an excerpt from the conversation that I especially appreciated. About ancestors, language, Blackness, libraries, and God, Saint Trey says: Our ancestors are not just bloodlines, right? They're also our bookshelves. People like Toni Morrison, you know — she taught me that language can be a spell. It can be a sword, but it also can be a sanctuary. Reading Beloved and The Bluest Eye — it was the first time I understood the sacredness of Blackness in a way, especially in its unspoken parts — her reminding us that, if you are free, then you must free somebody else. I think libraries are a portal to that. James Baldwin, giving permission to tell the truth, especially when it burns. This sort of clarity — this heat, this refusal to perform respectability — and his teaching that moral authority doesn't require approval. Audre Lorde, reminding us that silence is not going to protect us. She made queerness feel like gospel. So the reason I mentioned libraries is because they're all-encompassing of these stories....

Hi there, Loyal Readers. Before launching into today’s issue, I’ve got three updates: * A big welcome to all the new subscribers from The Electric Typewriter. Thank you for trying out Article Club! I’ve been following TEW for 10+ years. It’s a great curated resource of outstanding articles. * This week on the podcast, Melinda and I chat about her foster puppy, Melinda’s Grief Corner, and our first impressions of this month’s article of the month, “They Burn Books to Burn Us Too,” by Saint Trey W. Hope you take a listen. * Speaking of our article of the month, here’s more information about it. I warmly invite you to join our discussion on Sunday, August 24, at 2:00 pm PT. All you need to do is click the button below to sign up. All right, let’s get to today’s issue. One reason I do Article Club is to read and share articles that push my empathy. This week’s lead article, “Transitional Period,” did exactly that. Written by Kai Cheng Thom, the piece is about parents who say hateful things about their trans kids. As a trans person, Kai can’t accept their hostility. As a therapist, however, she responds with compassion, understanding that their sentiments, though hurtful and wrongheaded, are an expression of grief. “Their anger and bitterness are often a disguise for a deep wellspring of fear and shame around the parental terror of having failed your child,” she writes. If you feel safe to read the article, I encourage you to. I’d love to hear your thoughts about it. If reading about parents of trans kids is too much or doesn’t interest you, never fear. I have three other pieces ready for your attention. They are articles about: * a woman who works four jobs and still can’t make ends meet * a program that pays young people $50 a week, no strings attached * a policy that forever bans anyone 25 years old and under from buying vapes Hope you enjoy this week’s issue. As always, thank you for your readership and your support of Article Club. If you appreciate the newsletter, I’d be honored if you shared it with a friend or colleague. Have a great weekend ahead! 1️⃣ Transitional Period Kai Cheng Thom writes with a generosity of spirit in this thought-provoking piece. Between the ages of sixteen and thirty-one, I worked in the overlapping fields of grassroots queer community-building, social work and clinical child and family therapy. During that time, I worked with queer and trans youth and their families in a drop-in centre, a psychiatry department, a sexuality clinic, and a community-based therapy program. A core theme I encountered across all those contexts was the grief that many parents of trans youth experience. These parents could not find a way to love their kids as they were, instead mourning who they had thought their children would be. This grief was often paired with anger toward the LGBTQ2S+ community, which some parents framed as having “stolen their kids.” Like many millennial queer activists, I had been trained by my peers to react to such sentiments by dismissing them outright as wrongheaded and problematic. Contemporary psychological theory and research findings assert that parental expressions of grief and anger over children coming out and transitioning can be significantly harmful to queer and trans youth. Yet in the role of a practitioner, sitting across from adults caught in a sea of rage, pain, fear and sadness, it was clear that it would be neither kind, nor effective in supporting the wellness of trans youth, to tell these parents to just get over themselves. As I listened to them talk and looked into their eyes, I knew that their fears came from somewhere deep within. Those fears would not be assuaged through academic debate — they needed to be met with compassion in order to be transformed. By Kai Cheng Thom • Maisonneuve • 13 min • Gift Link 2️⃣ Confessions of the Working Poor Jeni Gunn works four jobs (security consulting, emergency management, private investigating, freelance writing) and...

Dear Article Clubbers, We had a great discussion last Sunday. Thank you to everyone who made it so! It’s almost August, which means two things: * It’s my birthday soon * I get to announce our article of the month I cannot adequately express how honored I am to share with you August’s article of the month. We are going to be reading and discussing “They Burn Books to Burn Us Too,” by Saint Trey W. Published in April in Notes From The Undrowned, the essay explores how regimes, most notably the United States government, have banned books in an attempt to dominate Black bodies and to erase Black memory. The goal, Saint Trey writes, is “not only control, but the elimination of imagination.” But no matter the government’s violence, Black people will not be silenced. They will not be unwritten. Saint Trey writes: What they do not know is that we were never written in the first place. We were sung. We were carved into tree trunks and kitchen counters and braided into our mother’s hair. We are older than their archives. And our stories do not end with silence. They begin in fire. My hope is that you will consider reading Saint Trey’s essay. I also hope that you will make space to reflect on his words. If you are moved — as I predict many of you will be — I encourage you to join our discussion so that we can all connect and have a conversation in community. ➡️ Inside today’s issue, you’ll find: * My conversation with Sarai Bordeaux, Poet Laureate of Eureka and Article Club correspondent, on what she appreciated about the essay and how it felt to interview the author * A few more excerpts from the article, plus my handwritten annotations * A short biography of the author * More information about our discussion on August 24, plus an invite One more thing: My gut says, if you’re a high school teacher (e.g., Ethnic Studies, World History, U.S. History), your students would appreciate reading this piece. They Burn Books to Burn Us Too I could quote the entire essay because Saint Trey’s writing is so beautiful. But here are a few excerpts that I’m still thinking about. On reading The Bluest Eye for the first time: I remember reading that first chapter and feeling the air change — like God had walked into the room, barefoot and breathless. I didn’t know then that some people wanted to bury what I had just touched. I didn’t know that entire states would one day strike Morrison from the classroom like a curse. I didn’t know that the truth could be illegal. On the government’s campaign to ban books: They said they wanted to protect the children. But it was only certain children they meant. Not mine. Not me. Not the children who walk into classrooms carrying the weight of a lineage they’re not allowed to name. What I know now is this: when a government begins to fear its own history, it has already declared war on the people who survived it. On resistance and the power of memory through human connection: Long before we were permitted to read, we were remembering. In hush harbors and under moonlight, memory traveled not through paper but through people. The griot, the elder, the preacher, the mama at the stove — all became librarians of the unwritten. The story didn’t need a school board’s approval to be gospel. It needed only breath. And breath, for us, has always been sacred. By Saint Trey W. • Notes From The Undrowned • 13 min • Gift Link ➕ Bonus: Here’s the essay with my handwritten highlights and annotations. About the author Saint Trey W. is a Black queer poet, essayist, and organizer from Brooklyn, New York. His voice carries the salt of survival, the smoke of protest, and the sacred ache of becoming. He writes from the ruins and the rivers, from pews and dancefloors, from the edge of the altar and the underside of America. His Substack publication, Notes from the Undrowned, is not simply a newsletter. It is also a vessel, it is a prayer, and a political reckoning. It is a place to tell the truth when the world...

Hi Loyal Readers. Thank you for opening this week’s issue of Article Club. Today’s issue is dedicated to my interview with Gideon Lewis-Kraus, author of this month’s featured article, “The End of Children.” I hope you read the article and take a listen to the interview. Yes: This article is about the imminent worldwide population implosion — in other words, how by the end of this century, we’re going to start losing people, and fast, and how the human race might inevitably go extinct sooner rather than later. And yes: I was surprised when I found myself interested in this topic. After all, before reading this piece, I would have said two things: (1) Um, isn’t climate change what we should be worrying about? and (2) Doesn’t this inexorably lead to “childless cat ladies” and The Handmaid’s Tale? But let me tell you: The magic of Mr. Lewis-Kraus’s writing and reporting, alongside the spirit of Article Club — which encourages us to build our empathy — got me to rethink my perspective on the plummeting human fertility rate. And this was all before getting to talk to the author himself. As you know, one of my favorite things about Article Club is that writers generously say yes to talking with us. The same was true with Mr. Lewis-Kraus. Here’s a photo of him, so you know what he looks like, and then I’ll write a bit about what I appreciated about our interview. It was wonderful to meet Mr. Lewis-Kraus. More than what’s typical in these Article Club interviews, we talked about writing and craft. A significant part of our conversation was about how he structured and organized the piece. His thoughtfulness was apparent right from the beginning of our conversation. I loved learning how he decided to write the story in the first place and why he chose South Korea as his case study of population collapse. Some people told Mr. Lewis-Kraus that South Korea and its 0.7 fertility rate was “played out” and “a cliché,” but nobody from a major magazine had spent time in the country, he said. I was personally grateful that Mr. Lewis-Kraus took significant space in his article reporting from South Korea. If you want to gain a better appreciation of how serious the problem is there, I encourage you to watch this 15-minute video, recommended by loyal reader Peter. I was also impressed with Mr. Lewis-Kraus’s awareness of his readers as he drafted the piece. He understood, for example, that his audience (aka subscribers of The New Yorker) are astute readers who mostly lean progressive and who may believe that population decline is a problem only in some countries, like Italy and Japan. Rather than skirting this issue, Mr. Lewis-Kraus decided to tackle it head on: What I realized was, Everyone is going to feel like they’ve read this story before — like, everyone is going to feel like they’ve heard this. And so the major thing that I need to do upfront is say to people, essentially directly address the reader, and say, like, You sophisticated reader might think that you know what’s going on here, but you don’t know what’s going on here. Later in our conversation, I asked Mr. Lewis-Kraus how he makes sure not to get ahead of his readers — on the one hand respecting their knowledge, but on the other hand acknowledging that they haven’t spent hundreds of hours reporting and thinking about this issue, as he has. I found his answer to be humble. Part of what, what doing this job is, is it’s starting knowing nothing about something and then very quickly learning as much as you can — without forgetting what it felt like to know nothing about it. More than anything else, I left this conversation with deep respect of Mr. Lewis-Kraus and his process as a writer. As I’ve said many times over the years, while I can recognize the highest-quality writing when I read it, I still don’t understand how writers are able to pull it off. That’s maybe one reason I keep doing this newsletter — so that I can continue to explore this question and share my findings...

Dear Article Clubbers, Thank you for the kind birthday wishes last week. It’s true that our reading community is 10 years old. And we’re just getting started! Just like that, we’re in July, which means this week’s issue is dedicated to featuring the article of the month and encouraging you to join our discussion. I’m happy to announce that this month, we’re going to be diving into “The End of Children,” by Gideon Lewis-Kraus. Published in February in The New Yorker, the article explores the imminent stark drop in population around the world, most notably in South Korea. Don’t worry: Even though the declining human fertility rate has become a political topic in the United States, this piece is nuanced and deeply reported. I’m certain you’ll appreciate it, even if you end up disagreeing with the writer’s stance. Inside today’s issue, you’ll find: * Melinda and my first impressions of the article (on the podcast) * My blurb about the article * A short bio of the author * A warm invite to join our discussion on July 27 If you can’t be bothered by all of that, and just want to sign up for the discussion right here and now, by all means, please do! The End of Children Growing up, I worried about many things. One source of worry was my family’s evacuation plan in case of fire; it wasn’t robust enough. Another source was the world’s exponential population increase, which would inevitably doom us. Turns out, at the time, my concern was not unfounded. In 1968, Paul Ehrlich wrote in The Population Bomb that millions of people would die of starvation unless governments aggressively curtailed the fertility rate. But instead of population rising without bound, the opposite has happened. In 2023, for the first time ever, because on average each woman had fewer than 2.1 children (the “replacement rate”), the world’s population shrank. All projections say this trend will continue, until one day, there won’t be enough people for us to sustain as a species. In Seoul, where writer Gideon Lewis-Kraus focuses this article, “children are largely phantom presences.” There are more dogs than children. Ask anyone on the street, a Korean demographer said, and they’ll know the country’s fertility rate. (It is 0.7, the lowest in the world.) Kids bring ick. Many businesses are “no-kids zones.” The United States (fertility rate: 1.6) is headed in a similar direction, Mr. Lewis-Kraus argues. The truth is, for whatever reason (and there are many), younger Americans no longer think having children is an inevitability. As immigration declines, and climate concerns rise, and structural inequities worsen, our country may face the same problem as Korea. And that could lead to catastrophe. Should we care about the declining fertility rate? Or is it just a misogynistic conservative ruse to distract our attention from the deleterious effects of climate change? In my opinion, this is the first article written by a progressive that has looked seriously at the issue and presented it to a mainstream audience. By Gideon Lewis-Kraus • The New Yorker • 42 min • Gift Link ➕ Bonus: Here’s the article with my handwritten highlights and annotations. About the author A staff writer at The New Yorker, Mr. Lewis-Kraus grew up in New Jersey and graduated from Stanford. He writes reportage and criticism and is the author of the digressive travel memoir A Sense of Direction as well as the Kindle Single No Exit. Previously, he was a writer-at-large at The New York Times Magazine, a contributing editor at Harper’s magazine, and a contributing writer at WIRED magazine. He has lived in San Francisco, Berlin, and Shanghai, and now lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two small children. Mr. Lewis-Kraus generously recorded an interview with Article Club, which will be published in two weeks. About the discussion My hope is that you’ll read “The End of Children” and want to talk about it! (Even though we don’t “debate” at Article Club discussions, I predict this topic...

Hi Loyal Readers. Thank you for opening this week’s issue of Article Club. In case you’re new here: Every month over the last five-plus years, we’ve done a deep dive on an outstanding article. This means reading, annotating, and discussing the piece on Zoom. It also means inviting the author to share their views in a podcast interview. They almost always say yes. Click here and scroll down to check out all the authors we’ve had. Today’s issue is dedicated to my interview with Brendan I. Koerner, author of this month’s featured article, “The Spectacular Burnout of a Solar Panel Salesman.” Scroll down for: * a quick review of the article (and why I liked it so much) * a short bio of the author (and why I appreciated our conversation) * an invite to our discussion on June 1 The Article (and why I liked it so much) “The Spectacular Burnout of a Solar Panel Salesman”Original Article • My Annotations • Gift Link • Wired (20 minutes) Eighteen-year-old Aaron Colvin lives in New York and attends college at Niagara University. But like many young men right now, Aaron is unsure that college is for him. He feels incomplete, lost somehow — and he’s yearning for a way to make it big. Then one day, while at the gym, Aaron meets a bodybuilder, an enormous man who says he’s made “crazy money” selling solar panels down in Florida. You should check it out, he says. After thinking about it, Aaron takes the plunge, leaving college to join a door-to-door solar panel sales crew named Seal Team Six. He spends his days “blitzing” neighborhoods with his colleagues — also young men wanting to strike it rich. In the evenings, Aaron records content for his fledgling YouTube channel and downs burritos with the bros, all the while seeking personal enlightenment (and paying for his lodging, and making very little money, and not receiving benefits). I’ve been telling people, this article is quintessential Article Club material. The writing is superb, the pace is quick, and most importantly, you’ll have empathy for Aaron, because Mr. Koerner writes with compassion. In addition, the piece explores many of the topics we care about: masculinity, capitalism, higher education, technology, and the American dream. If you haven’t read it yet, I hope you try it. The Author (and why I appreciated our conversation) Brendan I. Koerner is a contributing editor at Wired, where he writes in-depth stories about criminal justice, national security, biomedical research, and sundry other topics. Mr. Koerner is also the author of two books of narrative nonfiction: Now the Hell Will Start, the tale of an American G.I. who went native in the Indo-Burmese jungle, and The Skies Belong to Us, a history of the American hijacking epidemic of the late 1960s and early 1970s. I appreciated my conversation with Mr. Koerner for many reasons. We covered a wide range of topics, including how this article came about, how he found Aaron, and why he was interested in the topic. Mr. Koerner also spoke about how he reported and organized the piece, and most importantly, how he wanted the reader to feel about Aaron. He said, “ We have to come out of this admiring Aaron, because I admire Aaron. He made kind of a foolish choice, which he acknowledges, and he went through something kind of crazy, but I admire him. I admire his authenticity. I admire his earnestness. I admire his perspective and his intellect.” It was illuminating to hear Mr. Koerner share his thoughts on the challenges that young men face and the allure of get-rich-quick schemes, especially when they embrace notions of spirituality and self-help and cultiness. I liked the entire interview, but my favorite part was when Mr. Koerner talked about his teenage son, who is not much younger than Aaron. My hope is that you’ll take a listen. Note: If you prefer listening on Apple Podcasts, you can subscribe to Article Club there. It’s easy: Click here. An invitation to our discussion on June 1 I warmly invite you to participate...

Hi everyone! It’s Melinda. Welcome to Melinda’s Grief Corner! MGC comes out twice a month on Sundays. If this is your first time here, be sure to check out past posts to learn more about the inspiration behind this new Article Club feature and read about other grief-y topics I’ve covered with resources I’ve shared! Glad to have you here! I was told by some that the first year of grief was hard because getting through each milestone would be awful. And that was definitely true. There’s an unknown to the first year of loss. What will the first holidays feel like? What will the first birthdays feel like? And mostly - how are we going to get through those days. There’s a lot of anticipation and anxiety in the first year of grief. You have no idea what anything is going to look or feel like. You also have no idea how to cope or what coping even looks like. And so for me, I spent a lot of energy and time worrying about the days that led up to the big anniversaries and holidays. In reality, they weren’t actually that bad. And also the first year of grief I was actually able to function. More than function. I didn’t take a lot of time off. I moved out of DC and back to Virginia. I worked and was even more productive than pre-grief. I visited friends. I exercised. I laughed and I joked and I just kept moving. Then the second year hit. And, dear reader, this year is worse than year one. Now that is true for me, at least in this moment of time while I’m typing this. That may not be true for you and that is completely fine! There is no ‘normal’ in terms of a grief timeline. No schedule at all. Why is the second year worse for me? Because the shock is gone. I’ve realized that the shock lasted for months after my dad died. Maybe almost even a year after he died. And it had its purpose. It kept me going. It kept me surviving. It helped me get things done - planning the funeral, writing the eulogy, working at my job, taking care of my mom. The shock was like a security blanket. And then it was gone. And I really felt the loss. When I would say “he died.” I felt the weight of that. When I talked about losing him, I immediately started crying. I cried everyday for a week after the first year mark. And I’m still crying all of the time almost 2 months in. So what have I been doing to cope, dear reader? Well the people who have known and loved me longest are on high alert! They know the kind of support I need and how to hold me close during this time. I’ve been open about how hard this is to those closest to me and those who see me regularly, and just knowing that they know to check in has helped. And I’ve listened/watched this video from Megan Devine about a dozen times. How Megan talks about grief I have found to be so honest and supportive. Listening to her talk for a few minutes about how the second year of grief can feel so much bigger than the first made me feel less like I was losing my mind. It also breaks through the narrative that you just have to get through the first year and things will start to settle. There is no timeline in grief. The first year for me was awful in its own way. The second year has been the most difficult. I hope that this video helps you feel like your timeline is the right timeline for you because it is the one you are going through. Feel free to share in the comments how you feel about the video. And if you’ve gone through the second year of grief and beyond, I’d love for you to share one word that describes that experience. Mine is “raw.” Until next time, big hugs. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit articleclub.substack.com/subscribe

Hi everyone! It’s Melinda. Welcome to Melinda’s Grief Corner! If this is your first time here, be sure to check out past posts to learn more about the inspiration behind this new Article Club feature and read about other grief-y topics I’ve covered with resources I’ve shared! Glad to have you here! The emotional part of grief is something you can kind of understand before you’re ever on a grief journey. We see it in movies, read about it in books, we listen to grief-y lyrics in songs - longing, sadness, pain, heartache. What I didn’t realize were the physical parts of grief. Particularly, the complete exhaustion. When I tell you dear reader that I was completely wiped out the weeks and months immediately after my dad died, I mean it. Like going to bed at 6:00 pm tired. Like sleeping 12 hours and waking up still exhausted kind of tired. The kind of tired where I honestly thought I needed to go to the doctor to make sure nothing was actually wrong with me. Turns out nothing was actually wrong with me. Nothing medically anyway. It’s just that grief exists in our body just as much as it does in our emotions. And let’s be honest. Grieving is EXHAUSTING. What didn’t register for me at the time was that my body was in survival mode. I was in shock at the death of my dad. Anxious about how my mom was feeling over the death of her husband. Overwhelmed by ALL of the things you need to do when someone dies (the number of forms I had to fill out!) - updating friends and family about what happened, where the memorial would be, where they could send flowers etc. I mean no wonder I was exhausted. I was grieving the loss of the person I loved the most and the longest. And on top of that I was just trying to keep me and my mom afloat through the wreckage. It never occurred to me that other people have also experienced grief fatigue until I talked to other grief-y friends. It turns out, it is extremely common to feel completely wiped out in the early stages of grief. (I’ve also realized it can happen in the later stages of grief, but more on that in a future newsletter). During the early stages of my grief fatigue, I found this helpful article from What’s Your Grief that discusses why grief can leave us completely exhausted. What I learned is that 1) I am not weird for sleeping 12 hours a day for several months after my dad died and 2) that there are many reasons why I was exhausted. The article helpfully lays out 10 reasons why someone may be exhausted when in those early stages of grief (early is of course relative to you!). For me several of the reasons rang true, particularly the hyper-vigilance I felt after my dad died (I was constantly worried someone else I loved would die) and my mind being on overdrive (see above all of the tasks you have to do after someone dies, my to-do list kept my mind completely on all of the time). I hope dear reader that you find some solace in this article and that maybe you feel less alone in your grief fatigue! Feel free to share in the comments your thoughts and reactions to the article! Until next time, big hugs! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit articleclub.substack.com/subscribe

Hi Loyal Readers. I have two pieces of good news to begin this week’s newsletter: * Many of you reached out after last week’s issue to say kind things. Thank you. * Several of you signed up for our discussion of “The Egg” on April 27 That’s what Article Club is all about. We’re a kind, thoughtful community that likes to read and discuss the best articles on race, education, and culture. Whether you’re a new or not-so-new subscriber, thank you for being here. Over the last 5 ½ years, one consistent feature of this newsletter has been its monthly interviews with authors. We launched with Jia Tolentino back in January 2020 and have never looked back. This week, I’m excited to share a conversation that my co-host Melinda Lim had with Susan Berfield, who co-wrote “The Egg” with a team of investigative journalists at Bloomberg. My hope is that you’ll listen to the interview and then sign up for our discussion on April 27. If learning more about the human egg trade is not your thing, scroll down past the fold for two other pieces that I feel are worthy of your time and attention. They’re about: * A librarian in New York who reminds us there was a time before Google * A college student who wanted to fit in at his fraternity, no matter the cost As always, thank you for trusting me to supply you with things to read. My hope is that they spark new thinking, expand your empathy, and bring you joy. An interview with Susan Berfield, author of “The Egg” The more I re-read “The Egg,” the more I respect Susan Berfield and her colleagues at Bloomberg who brought us this robust report on the human egg trade. If you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, I highly recommend you do: Original Article • Gift Link • Google Docs version • Audio version Sadly, this kind of journalism — big investigative journalism — rarely exists anymore. That is why I am so grateful that Susan Berfield generously said yes to sharing her thoughts with us at Article Club. In her interview with Melinda, Ms. Berfield shares the impetus for the article, how she and her team went about reporting it, and the lessons she learned along the way. I appreciated how Ms. Berfield characterizes the tension between the opportunity and the exploitation that women experience in selling their eggs. It’s a thoughtful conversation on an important topic — one that seems to be receiving a lot of attention lately. I hope you take a listen and let me know your thoughts. Thanks again to Ms. Berfield. Here’s more on her work: Susan Berfield is an award-winning investigative reporter and editor for Bloomberg Businessweek and Bloomberg News where she’s exposed how Walmart spies on its workers and McDonald's made enemies of its Black franchisees. She uncovered a con man who talked a small Missouri town out of millions and revealed how Beverly Hills billionaires bought up an enormous water supply in the Central Valley. Her story about the biggest food fraud in U.S. history was the basis for an episode of the Netflix documentary series, Rotten. 2️⃣ The Department Of Everything Stephen Akey: “⁠How do you find the life expectancy of a California condor? Google it. Or the gross national product of Morocco? Google it. Or the final resting place of Tom Paine? Google it. There was a time, however — not all that long ago — when you couldn’t Google it or ask Siri or whatever cyber equivalent comes next. You had to do it the hard way—by consulting reference books, indexes, catalogs, almanacs, statistical abstracts, and myriad other printed sources. Or you could save yourself all that time and trouble by taking the easiest available shortcut: You could call me.” By Stephen Akey • The Hedgehog Review • 8 min • Gift Link 3️⃣ Greek Tragedy: A Drowning At Dartmouth Susan Zalkind: “Signs of Won Jang’s mounting distress appeared almost immediately after he pledged the Beta Alpha Omega fraternity in the fall of 2023. During calls and visits home, his parents noticed their once-confident son had...

Hi everyone! It’s Melinda. Welcome to Melinda’s Grief Corner! If this is your first time here, be sure to check out my intro post to learn more about the inspiration behind this new Article Club feature and what to expect from this series! Glad to have you here! Right after my dad died, I couldn’t stop talking about it. I’m a verbal processor (how predictable, I know!) and all I wanted to do was to work this out with the people in my life. I almost needed to talk about it, like if I didn’t talk about it I’d hold all of my feelings inside and then I’d explode. Or if I didn’t talk about it then he’d really stop existing. But I learned a very hard truth about grief. Not everyone can hold your grief. And not everyone, even those who love you, will show up for you. That’s not a judgment. It’s a fact. I learned this through a text message from a friend who I know wanted to say something comforting and supportive to me. They told me that my dad was in a better place and he wasn’t suffering anymore. Now sure, that doesn’t sound THAT bad. But dear reader here’s what went through my head when I read that - “HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY KNOW WHERE HE IS?! ALSO I RATHER HE WAS ALIVE AND HERE WITH ME!” Yes, in all rage-y caps. Immediately, my world got a lot smaller. I felt like I couldn’t share my pain with everyone because I couldn’t stand getting another text that sounded like an unhelpful Hallmark Card. And that felt scary and isolating. And also really weird - there were people I loved that I couldn’t lean on because they said something that I found painful. Or they told me they couldn’t listen to me talk about my dad’s death anymore because it was too much for them. Which was also painful. But then I found a YouTube video by Nora McInerney titled “Advice for the Newly Grieving.” Nora gives some excellent advice for those fresh in their grief, but one of the quotes that stuck out to me was about sharing your grief with others in those early days. When she’s explaining how it’s important to be honest with those around you about how you’re feeling she says “Not everybody. You can’t trust everybody. Not everybody even deserves your story.” Dear reader, that last sentence hit me like a ton of bricks. Not everybody deserves to hear the story of my loss. And the same goes for you and your loss. People don’t know what to say to the grieving. I don’t blame them. In my opinion, as a culture we don’t talk enough about death and loss and so it is completely unknown to us how to handle the big-ness of grief. So the grieving end up hearing awkward and unhelpful platitudes from people who are just trying to help. Or the folks who love them don’t know exactly how to support them. And the grieving feel unsupported. It’s messy. What I took from Nora is that it is not only totally fine to not share your grief, it is almost necessary. It is a way to honor your grief and your loss. Because your grief and loss are sacred, and personal, and feel-y, and it should be handled with care. For many months thereafter I only opened up to folks in my life who had also experienced significant loss. Most of the time that meant someone in my life who had also lost a parent and who was similar in age to me. And I made new grief-y friends too who had also lost a parent. These people spoke my grief language. I didn’t have to explain how I felt or what I thought or what I struggled with. They just got me. And so I share Nora’s words to help you give yourself grace when you’re feeling like you can’t go to certain people in your life. And for you to be open to giving grace to those in your life who may not be able to support you during whichever grief-y season you’re in. Your grief is sacred. It should be protected. It should be shared with those who can hold it fully and gently and can also hold you fully and gently. And that’s not everybody. Just like Nora says. I hope Nora’s video resonates with you as it did with me! And I’d love in the comments if...

Hi everyone! It’s Melinda. Welcome to Melinda’s Grief Corner! If this is your first time here, be sure to check out my intro post to learn more about the inspiration behind this new Article Club feature and what to expect from this series! Glad to have you here! In the early days (I guess it’s still early days? Time is stupid) after my dad’s death, I kept thinking that grief was the only thing I could feel. That my body had absolutely no capacity for anything that wasn’t the smorgasbord of grief-y feelings. And I kept asking myself “will my life just be this now, just BIG grief 24/7?” I did what people normally do in this situation. I asked Google for its opinion. Note - I do not recommend doing this. Now while I got a lot of weird stuff in the 24977897829789 search results that Google spat out at me, I did find an article that I found extremely helpful. Let me introduce “Growing Around Grief,” a 1996 article by Dr. Lois Tonkin (via whatsyourgrief.org). Dr. Tonkin describes being in a workshop with a mother whose child had died years prior. The mother drew a sketch of her grief and how she thought it would progress over time and then how it actually felt for her. The figures show that the mother’s grief always stayed the same size, but that her life grew around her grief. Put another way in the article, her life expanded around her loss. After reading through this article, I had an “Ah-ha” moment to quote Oprah. The loss I felt would always be big. It wouldn’t change in its big-ness. But my life could get bigger around it. My dad is foundational to who I am. He is everything I wanted to be in life. Losing him felt like losing the air in my lungs and also all of the oxygen had been sucked out of the room. It felt like the ground underneath me had cracked open and I’m just going to be free-falling until the world ends. The big-ness of losing him is terrifying. But I’ve realized shrinking my grief is not the point. And also not possible. He may no longer be alive, but he is just as important today as he was when he taught me how to make pancakes when I was 5 years old. He may even be more important. What I’ll try to do each day is to make my life bigger around the loss. And dear reader, I think I have in some ways! A few months after his death, I started working with a personal trainer and I can now deadlift 105 pounds (I know, unbelievable, but I would NEVER lie to you!). I made new friends. I finally made a mug in pottery class I am not ashamed of. I’ve gone out on dates (yes, I am single! I do come with a cat!). I have found ways to add to my life. To feel the bigness of my grief. And to feel the bigness of my life. So dear reader, I hope this resource resonates with you as much as it did with me. And that it gives you hope for a future where your life gets bigger around your grief. And I’d love it if, in the comments, you shared one way that you’ve made your life a bit bigger in your grief. Or one way you want to make your life bigger! I’m here to cheer you on! Big hugs! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit articleclub.substack.com/subscribe

Hi, Mark here! In case you missed Thursday’s issue, I’m very excited to announce a new feature at Article Club. It’s called Melinda’s Grief Corner. As some of you know, Melinda and I co-host a podcast in which we preview the article of the month. Now she will be sharing her reflections on grief, as well as a resource, for everyone who is interested. I’m looking forward to it, and I’m confident you’ll find the corner illuminating and supportive. The first installment is here below. Take it away, Melinda! One year ago, on March 9, 2024 at 4:37 pm, my dad died after complications from a stroke. And since then I’ve been learning how to live with what I’ve been calling my new life-long roommate - grief. I’m what you call an ‘over-intellectualizer.’ I’ve had several therapists (hello, out there if you’re reading!) tell me that I like to write dissertations about my emotions, but not necessarily always feel them. You know when someone says something about you and you feel both seen and attacked? That is how I felt, y’all! Guilty as charged! So in the early days of grief, I joked to my friends (and therapist!) that I was trying to get a Ph.D. in grief. I felt like if I could just really study grief, really get in there and stick grief under a microscope, that maybe I’d be able to get a handle on it. And by getting a handle on it, I mean feel like I’m not constantly drowning. I read every article on grief I could find, I listened to dozens of podcast episodes, I watched the interview between Stephen Colbert and Anderson Cooper about their shared father-loss at least 10 times. Just trying to tether myself to anything to help me make sense of this new world I was trying to live in. And trying to make sense of who I was without someone I have never had to live without. I’m no expert in grief despite me trying to desperately earn a Ph.D. in it. And I’m definitely not a mental health professional who is giving professional advice to the grieving. But one thing I know to be true is that grief is not something to be fixed. It is something to be witnessed. And that’s why I’m here. Welcome to Melinda’s Grief Corner. A place where your grief will be witnessed and held. And in the spirit of Article Club, this is a corner where I hope you find support through articles, podcasts, and grief resources that I will share. Every other week I’ll share a grief-y reflection in newsletter format right here in Article Club and I’ll also share a resource I’ve come across that has helped me. And folks will be able to comment on these reflections and resources to share their own thoughts and feelings. This is open to all folks on a grief journey (or not yet on a grief journey!). If you want to just read these reflections and other people’s comments that is completely fine! There is no pressure to comment or share. And if it’s too much for you to sit with that, then that’s ok too! The newsletters will always be open whenever you’re ready. And here’s the deal. Grief is big. Grief for me feels a bit like a suitcase. And inside of that suitcase are memories of my dad and also just dozens of emotions - sadness, pain, joy, love, longing, etc. etc. And you know sometimes that suitcase is super organized with my REI packing cubes bento box style. And other times that suitcase has lost a wheel, I’ve had to duct tape it shut, and TSA is like “ma’am no way can you bring that on this plane.” Each day the suitcase is different. But each day, the suitcase is still there and we have to carry it forward. And we do not have to do it alone. And that’s what I hope this grief corner is. A place for us to come together, to support each other, and hopefully for you to find something that helps you in your grief journey. Bring your suitcase of grief-y ness. Hopefully gain some insight on grief. Cry with me. Laugh with me. Honestly laugh and cry at the same time with me because the journey of grief is a weird road that is anything but linear or logical. Thank you...

Welcome back, loyal readers. First off, we had another strong week, with 18 new subscribers joining, thanks to Sunday, Sarah, Gotelé, Loque, Coree, Claire, Elizabeth, Lauren, Marina, Imma, Patricia, Beth, Mahesh, Olga, Heriberto, Leer, and Melissa. Thank you for trying Article Club, and I hope you like it here. This week’s issue is dedicated to our article of the month. For all of you who are interested, we’ll be reading, annotating, and discussing “Radicalized,” by Cory Doctorow. You’ll learn more about the piece below, but here are a few tidbits: * It’s a fictional novella written in 2019 about a man who becomes radicalized after his health insurance denies his claim. Sound familiar? * I read this piece in December, the week after all-things-Luigi Mangione * Mr. Doctorow‘s writing is fast-paced and his details eerily prescient Sound compelling? If so, you’re invited to join our deep dive on the article. We’re meeting up to discuss the piece on Sunday, March 23, 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT. All you need to do is click the button below to sign up. 📖 If you like what we’re doing here at Article Club, and want to support this venture with a paid subscription, I would be very grateful. It’s $5 a month or $36 a year. 1️⃣ Radicalized Originally published in 2019, this novella follows Joe Gorman, a regular guy with a wonderful wife. One day she calls him at work with horrific news: Stage 4 breast cancer. They find a treatment that offers hope, but their health insurance denies their request. Reeling, Joe goes online for comfort. He discovers a discussion forum of men facing similar challenges. He feels safe online; he feels a sense of community. Over time, Joe finds himself on his computer in the middle of the night, as men on the forum writhe in pain and discuss ways to achieve vengeance. What will it take, they ask, in order for things to change? What will it take to achieve justice? To say that the story is prescient would be an understatement. Don’t worry, Article Club is not going to rebrand as a Luigi Mangione fan newsletter. Nevertheless, Cory Doctorow’s writing is eerie, down to the details. + Content warning: violence By Cory Doctorow • The American Prospect • 65 min • Gift Link ⭐️ About the author Cory Doctorow (craphound.com) is a science fiction author, activist and journalist. He is the author of many books, most recently Picks and Shovels. His most recent nonfiction book is The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation. In 2020, he was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. Mr. Doctorow also coined the term “enshittification,” also known as platform decay, used to describe the pattern in which online products and services decline in quality over time. ⭐️ About the podcast This month’s podcast is a two-parter. You get: * An introduction to the story, brought to you by Article Club co-host Melinda and me. You’ll also hear our first impressions — and don’t worry, there are no spoilers! * An interivew of Mr. Doctorow, in which he shares his thoughts on his novella. I’m always deeply appreciative that authors agree to do an interview for Article Club. It’s a gift that they share with us their process, their craft, and their perspective. Thank you, Mr. Doctorow, for saying yes to participating in our reading community! In the interview, Mr. Doctorow and I talked about a number of topics, including: * how he reacted to the breaking news of Luigi Mangione’s actions * how he conceived of the piece — which emerged from his Canadian background, his understanding of America’s predilection toward gun violence, and his father’s health journey * how he can empathize with people who become radicalized online I encourage you to listen to the podcast if you have the time. Thank you! 🙋🏽‍♀️ Interested? I encourage you to sign up. You are certainly welcome to read the article, listen to the podcast, and call it a day. But if you’re intrigued, if you’re interested, you might want to...

Dear Readers, They say in schools, February’s no joke. Alongside my colleagues, I’ve certainly been putting in the hours in order to serve our students the best we can. But there’s always still reading to be done — not only for this newsletter and our reading community, but also for my own self-care. It makes me happy that I keep getting to do this, week after week. Thank you for reading and supporting Article Club. I have a feeling you’re going to like this week’s issue. Instead of the regular offering (i.e., four articles), I’m switching things up and sharing with you some great writing and thinking from a variety of genres. Scroll down and you’ll find: * an essay about racial appropriation and the end of an interracial friendship * an interview with Susan Dominus about IVF and her article, “Someone Else’s Daughter” * an article about the care a park ranger takes in order to support unhoused people in Golden Gate Park * a podcast episode about how young people definitely don’t think using generative AI is cheating Also, don’t miss our pet photo, as well as our poll toward the end. Hope you enjoy. If you like what we’re doing here at Article Club, and want to support this venture with a paid subscription, I would be very grateful. It’s $5 a month or $36 a year. 1️⃣ Dear White Sister I appreciate the work of Tressie McMillan Cottom, so when she recommended Don’t Let It Get You Down, a collection of essays by UC Berkeley Law professor Savala Nolan, I knew I needed to check it out. I was not disappointed. As the book’s subtitle makes clear, Prof. Nolan writes plainly and thoughtfully about race, gender, and the body. In the chapter, “Dear White Sister,” Prof. Nolan decides whether to approach a close and long-time white friend after an objectionable post on Instagram. In short, the friend quotes Beyoncé’s song “Freedom” to celebrate her love for roller skating and progress in roller derby. Prof. Nolan writes: “I feel a peculiar sensation when white people borrow — take — something Black: it’s like there’s an octopus in my chest, peacefully afloat, when danger suddenly appears. The animal contracts its jellied body and expels a gush of protective ink, then darts away in panic. Don’t belittle ‘Freedom,’ I hissed inside. ‘Freedom’ isn’t for a white girl in the Midwest taking up roller derby.” By Savala Nolan • Don’t Let It Get You Down • 25 min 2️⃣ An Interview With Susan Dominus: “I was just so inspired by the goodness of the people involved.” Many of you read and appreciated January’s article of the month, ”Someone Else’s Daughter,” by Susan Dominus, which told the story of a horrible IVF mistake that resulted in two women giving birth to the other woman’s genetic baby. More importantly, the piece illuminates the generosity of the human spirit, as the mothers, filled with grief and shame for an error they didn’t make, embrace each other and figure out a way to raise their children together. I got to interview Ms. Dominus a few weeks back, and hope you take a listen. Over and over again in our conversation, she shared how reporting and writing the piece left her inspired and hopeful. Here’s an excerpt: I would say the main thing that I really did want people to feel reading the piece was that same inspired feeling I felt in hearing their stories — that there is always a way, not always, but that when there is conflict or crisis, if you respond with openness and generosity, sometimes beautiful things come of that. That's what I took away as a human being, just being part of it. I was so inspired by the goodness of the people involved and the way that their goodness allowed them to turn something awful into something really beautiful. ➡️ Listen to the interview by clicking the play button below. 3️⃣ Her Job Is To Remove Homeless People From SF’s Parks. Her Methods Are Extraordinary. It’s easy to bewail the rise and intractability of homelessness. It’s much harder to do something about it. That’s why I appreciated...

Dear Loyal Readers, You and me, I’d venture to say, we like to read. This is why I put together this newsletter week after week. And this is why you generously subscribe to it. After all, this is Article Club, right? We’re here to read. But we also know (though I don’t like to admit it): Reading isn’t for everyone. This month’s article of the month, “Is This the End of Reading?” follows the downward trend of reading, especially among Gen Z college students. In her piece, writer Beth McMurtrie looks at the problem straght on: listening to professors, considering causes, and most importantly, thinking of ways to respond. There’s still room to join our discussion on Feb. 23, 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT. For more information and to sign up, click the button below. Leading this week’s issue is a conversation I had last week with Ms. McMurtrie. Especially if you’re an educator or a parent, I highly recommend that you listen. In the interview, Ms. McMurtrie shares the feelings of professors dealing with the abrupt shifts they’re witnessing in the classroom. Reading stamina has significantly declined, and so have critical reading skills. Gone are the days when students could read a book or an article on their own. Now, according to one professor, reading has become a “scavenger hunt,” in which students search for discrete answers to discrete questions, dipping in and out of short excerpts, rather than taking in a whole text. If that interview does not catch your interest, never fear. I urge you to read one of the other three articles in this week’s issue. They are about: * how we shouldn’t blame phones and the pandemic on the decline of reading * how a woman visiting an abortion clinic finds Christianity confusing * how a college in Texas espouses free speech, unless they don’t like it If you like what we’re doing here at Article Club, and want to support this venture with a paid subscription, I would be very grateful. It’s $5 a month or $36 a year. An interview with Beth McMurtrie, author of “Is This the End of Reading?” I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Beth McMurtrie this week. Senior writer at The Chronicle of Higher Education, Ms. McMurtrie knows what she’s talking about when it comes to the status of reading among college students. It was a delight to talk to her. I encourage you to listen to our entire conversation. Here’s an excerpt: If you think of teaching as a vocation, a calling, which a lot of academics do, [the decline of reading] is really an existential crisis because you’re seeing harm come to your students. I didn’t find many professors who were angry at their students; they were sad for their students. They were certainly frustrated and sometimes wanted to beat their head against the walls, but they were sad for their students because they could see the anxiety that the students felt when they couldn’t do the work. [The professors] would often say to me, These students have no idea how much less I’m asking of them than I asked of students 10 or 15 years ago. It changes what you can do in the classroom and how you can teach. You can’t get through as much material, which means students just simply aren’t as learning as much content. If you can't get through as much content, you may end up having to teach the skills that you thought students had learned in high school. So then your teaching becomes a different kind of teaching. And if you don't do those things, then you kind of have a dead classroom, or you might have a discussion that goes off the rails because the students are not interpreting kind of what they're learning in a useful way. 2️⃣ The Loss Of Things I Took For Granted I included this fair, well-written piece last year when it was published, but I’m sharing it again, especially since Ms. McMurtrie highlighted it in our interview. Focusing on the decline of reading among college students, it’s a great companion piece to hers. Prof. Adam Kotsko writes: “For most of my career, I assigned...

Dear Readers, First things first: Let’s welcome our 51 new subscribers Violet, Rae, Olga, Taylor, Joyce, Sogo, Emily, Callie, Angelina, Peter, Tya, Emily, Natalie, Christine, Heather, Mary, Hannah, Marie-Pierre, Kristy, Fernanda, Maurtini, Helen, Angelina, Colette, Ronald, Courtney, Kelley, Jaymi, Katy, Steph, Deborah, Cathy, Christina, Brenna, Megan, Jacki, Alina, Cynthia, Caryn, Brittany, Nimi, Katie, Shell, Jamie, Candice, Samuel, Leslie, and Stephanie. New subscribers, I hope you find the newsletter a solid addition to your email inbox. Welcome to Article Club. Make yourself at home. 🏠 A big thank you goes to Katy O., who writes The Mindful Librarian, for writing about last week’s issue and sharing it with her kind readers. I’m very grateful. As you can see, this week was a joyous one. Here are some more highlights: * HHH was a big success (see below) * We reached 1,500 subscribers (thank you for your readership!) * I interviewed Beth McMurtrie, author of “Is This the End of Reading?” (coming next week) * I interviewed Susan Dominus, author of “Someone Else’s Daughter” (coming later this month) * I got to chat with Melinda about “Is This the End of Reading?” (see below) Not a bad week at all, don’t you think? Let’s keep up this momentum. This week’s lead article, “After All This,” caught my interest from the first paragraph. Author Dana Salvador is a teacher and a parent who cannot fathom why we’ve done so little to protect our children against mass shootings. You might not want to read another article about guns in schools, but this one is tightly and beautifully written. I especially appreciated Ms. Salvador’s ability to create vivid images with spare, succinct prose. If that article does not catch your interest, never fear. Choose between: * reading about the end of reading and signing up for our discussion Feb. 23 * learning about what it takes to live like a hermit in the woods of central Maine * reminding yourself to follow your gut when searching for an apartment If you like what we’re doing here at Article Club, and want to support this venture with a paid subscription, I would be very grateful. It’s $5 a month or $36 a year. 1️⃣ After All This Dana Salvador was in college in 1999 when two young people killed 12 students and one teacher at Columbine High School. That fall, she became a teacher, and remains one to this day. Throughout her career, Ms. Salvador has ruminated on the vast harm that guns in schools have caused. She is devastated by our country’s inability to protect our children. In this powerful piece, Ms. Salvador juxtaposes her personal experiences as a teacher alongside our failures as a nation to stop the killing. “Every day I know I could be shot,” she writes. “I understand how someone who feels powerless might crave dominance, how someone who feels fragile might long to feel control.” Not to give away any spoilers, but the end is particularly illuminating, and sad. ➡️ In case you’re interested, here’s my hand-written annotated version. By Dana Salvador • The Sun Magazine • 10 min • Gift link 2️⃣ “Is This the End of Reading?” Join our discussion Feb. 23 Last week, I revealed February’s article of the month, “Is This the End of Reading?” Written by Beth McMurtrie and published in The Chronicle of Higher Education, the piece focuses on the decline of reading among college students. I highly recommend the article, especially if you’re a parent, educator, or worried about the state of reading. (I am worried. 😬) Already, several of you have signed up for our discussion on Feb. 23, 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT. This is great news. If you’re still on the fence, click on the play button below to listen to an introduction to the piece, which Melinda and I recorded last weekend. (Plus there’s an extra perk if you listen to the end!) Everyone is welcome to sign up for the discussion. This is how it’ll go: * We’ll sign up by clicking the button below * We’ll read and annotate the article...

Dear Loyal Readers, Happy Halloween! I wish you successful tricking and treating. In case this needs to be said, 100 Grand is the best candy bar. (It used to be Twix.) Thank you. Now let’s get to this month’s featured article. But before that: * If you’re a newish subscriber: Since January 2020, I’ve chosen one article every month for a deep dive. Folks who are interested read it, annotate it, and discuss it. The author generously records a podcast interview. It’s been fun. If you’ve never participated (that is to say, most of you), you’re invited. We’re a kind, thoughtful reading community. I think you’ll enjoy it. All right, let’s get down to business. I’m excited to announce this month’s article: “Athens, Revised.” Written by Erin Wood and published in The Sun, the article is equal parts devastating and uplifting. It’s raw and vulnerable. Throughout, it is brilliantly written. Here’s what you can expect in today’s issue: * My blurb about this month’s article * A short biography about the author * A podcast interview with the author * What you need to do if you’d like to participate Are you already confident that you’d like to join? We’re meeting up on Sunday, Dec. 1, 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT. All you need to do is click on the button below and sign up. 📖 Athens, Revised When she was 26, Erin Wood was on the last leg of a trip to Greece. On the afternoon before her flight, a man approached her, offered her a free tour of the Acropolis, a recommendation to a quality hotel, a meal, and a drink. Early the next morning, Ms. Wood woke up in her hotel bedroom, naked from the waist down, her body heavy, her sheets wet. “What have I allowed to happen?” she asked. In this article, Ms. Wood explores the answer to that question. At first, she considers two versions of what happened. She writes two narratives. They both don’t feel right. Then, after unhelpful couples therapy with her unhelpful husband, she realizes that she’s been asking herself the wrong question. One night, unable to sleep, Ms. Wood reads an essay online about a woman who survived a serial killer. “What if I am not alone?” she asks. This new, revised question — it’s the one. By Erin Wood • The Sun Magazine • 23 mins • Gift Link ✚ If you read Amanda E. Machado’s “The Abstract Rage To Protect,” June’s article of the month, this piece is a perfect complement. ⭐️ About the author Erin Wood writes, edits, and publishes from her home in Little Rock, Arkansas, and is a native Arkansan. Erin owns and runs Et Alia Press, a “small press for big voices,” publishing award-winning adult nonfiction and children’s books with strong ties to Arkansas. She provides publishing advice, editing, and coaching for creative writers, and loves helping businesses and nonprofits share their stories. Erin’s book, Women Make Arkansas: Conversations with 50 Creatives, was a silver medalist for “Best Nonfiction South” from the Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPYs) and was featured at the 2019 Arkansas Literary Festival. Erin’s work has been anthologized and is forthcoming or has appeared in The Sun, HuffPost Personal, River Teeth’s “Beautiful Things,” Scary Mommy, Catapult, The Rumpus, Ms. Magazine's Blog, Psychology Today, and elsewhere, and has been a notable in Best American Essays and nominated for a Pushcart Prize. ⭐️ About the interview I’m always deeply appreciative that authors agree to do an interview for Article Club. It’s a gift that they share with us their process, their craft, and their perspective. Thank you, Ms. Wood, for saying yes to participating in our reading community! I’m also grateful that loyal reader and co-host Melinda generously agreed to facilitate the conversation with Ms. Wood. I feel the interview was richer as a result. In the interview, Melinda and Ms. Wood discussed a number of topics, including: * how the essay originated in 2008 when Ms. Wood was in graduate school, and how the piece transformed through the support of three writing...

Dear Loyal Readers, Welcome to October. Thank you for being here. In just a moment, I’ll reveal this month’s featured article. But before that, two things: * If you’re a newish subscriber: Since January 2020, I’ve chosen one article every month for a deep dive. Folks who are interested read it, annotate it, and discuss it. The author generously records a podcast interview. It’s been fun. * A small celebration: This will be our 51st article of the month. 🎉 I’m very appreciative of the 150 of you and the 51 authors who have participated. If you’ve never participated (that is to say, most of you), you’re invited. We’re a kind, thoughtful reading community. I think you’ll enjoy it. All right, let’s get down to business. I’m excited to announce this month’s article: “The Sextortion of Teenage Boys” Written by Olivia Carville and published in Bloomberg, the article is equal parts devastating and crucial to read, especially if you’re an educator or a parent of teenagers. In short: I have no problem reading depressing articles. If you’ve subscribed to Article Club for a while, you understand this about me. But this piece was at a different level. In parts, not only was it sad, it was frightening. Here’s what you can expect in today’s issue: * My blurb about this month’s article * A short biography about the author * A podcast interview with the author * What you need to do if you’d like to participate Are you already confident that you’d like to join? All you need to do is click on the button below and sign up. 📖 1️⃣ The Sextortion Of Teenage Boys First, a warning: This article is sad and disturbing. It discusses the suicide of Jordan DeMay, a 17-year-old senior at Marquette Senior High School in Michigan. Jordan played football and basketball and was the school’s homecoming king. One Instagram message: That was all it took for scammers in Nigeria to convince Jordan DeMay that they were a sexy, innocent girl named Dani who liked to flirt and play “sexy games.” After sending a naked photo, Dani asked for one in return. Jordan’s decision to reciprocate cost him his life. Even though this is a harrowing story, I found myself riveted and could not put my phone down before finishing the article. Professor Olivia Carville does an outstanding job reporting on the latest horrible technology trend: the sextortion of boys. She also follows Jordan’s family’s response to the tragedy, as well as puts the blame on Meta, other social media companies, and Congress for allowing these horrors to continue. By Olivia Carville • Bloomberg • 26 min • Gift Link ✚ This article is free, but Bloomberg requires you to register your email. You can use the gift link above (made possible by paid subscribers). But for the full experience, which involves multimedia, I recommend the original link. ⭐️ About the author Olivia Carville is an investigative reporter at Bloomberg News. She writes about the intersection of child safety and the digital world for Businessweek magazine. Ms. Carville is president of the New York Financial Writers' Association and an adjunct professor at Columbia Journalism School, where she teaches investigative reporting techniques. Ms. Carville studied business and economics reporting at Columbia Journalism School in 2017. Prior to moving to the United States, she was working as a multi-media investigative reporter at the largest daily newspapers in both Canada and New Zealand. Ms. Carville’s stories influenced legislation in both countries. ⭐️ About the interview I’m always grateful that authors agree to do an interview for Article Club. I was deeply appreciative of Ms. Carville’s persistence and determination. It took us several tries and several months to schedule the interview, but Ms. Carville never gave up. I’m happy she didn’t, because the perspective she shared is very important. In our conversation, we discussed a number of topics about her article, including: * why Ms. Carville decided to write this...