Indigenous films, a secret network of abortion providers, and Chinese survivors of the Titanic – these plus a list of my work in this month’s Reading Roundup. Get those tabs ready!
My Writing
Comics review: Pull List: Bow Down Before Raven the Pirate Princess and The Prince and the Dressmaker
Book review: John Scalzi’s Head On Stands Tall
Book list: Brujas, Ships, and Zombies in This Season’s New Young Adult Fiction
TV review: Legion Season Two Is More of the Same, For Better and For Worse
Book review: A Tale of Two Americas: Dread Nation by Justina Ireland
Other Works
“There’s a massive free catalogue of Indigenous films online — and we have 6 picks to get you started” for CBC: “Last month, the National Film Board of Canada launched Indigenous cinema, an extensive online library of over 200 films by Indigenous directors — part of a three-year Indigenous Action Plan to “redefine” the NFB’s relationship with Indigenous peoples.”
“The origins of Pama-Nyungan, Australia’s largest family of Aboriginal languages” by Claire Bowern for The Conversation: “The approximately 400 languages of Aboriginal Australia can be grouped into 27 different families. To put that diversity in context, Europe has just four language families, Indo-European, Basque, Finno-Ugric and Semitic, with Indo-European encompassing such languages as English, Spanish, Russian and Hindi.”
“Here’s Why You’ve Never Heard Of The Titanic’s Chinese Survivors” by Kimberly Yam for Huffington Post: “While the RMS Titanic left a lasting cultural legacy, the fate of its wealthiest passengers discussed in news and entertainment media, the history of the ship’s Chinese passengers has remained largely hidden. And racist policies have a lot to do with it.”
“ICE held an American man in custody for 1,273 days. He’s not the only one who had to prove his citizenship” by Paige St. John and Joel Rubin for LA Times: “Since 2012, ICE has released from its custody more than 1,480 people after investigating their citizenship claims, according to agency figures. And a Times review of Department of Justice records and interviews with immigration attorneys uncovered hundreds of additional cases in the country’s immigration courts in which people were forced to prove they are Americans and sometimes spent months or even years in detention.”
“Why America’s Black Mothers and Babies Are in a Life-or-Death Crisis” by Linda Villarosa for New York Times: “Black infants in America are now more than twice as likely to die as white infants — 11.3 per 1,000 black babies, compared with 4.9 per 1,000 white babies, according to the most recent government data — a racial disparity that is actually wider than in 1850, 15 years before the end of slavery, when most black women were considered chattel. In one year, that racial gap adds up to more than 4,000 lost black babies. Education and income offer little protection. In fact, a black woman with an advanced degree is more likely to lose her baby than a white woman with less than an eighth-grade education.”
““Whatever’s your darkest question, you can ask me.” A secret network of women is working outside the law and the medical establishment to provide safe, cheap home abortions” by Lizzie Presser for California Sunday Magazine: “After a while, the workshops began to look like a network. There was no formal structure, no bylaws, no office. The women exchanged numbers, and some with more clinical experience agreed to coach those with less. The training manual grew to 800 pages. Licensed practitioners offered to help out, putting in orders for MVA kits and cannulas. After a year and a half, though, some women wondered if the network had reached its peak — the demand for workshops had started to dwindle. Then Donald Trump was elected president. He had promised to defund Planned Parenthood and appoint justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade. In the following days, a dozen requests for training were made — women said they would fly thousands of miles to join. Within months, the network had extended into every region of the country.”
“The Autistic Non-binary Queer Law Student Fighting for Disability Justice” by Molly Callahan for News@Northwestern: ““So much of this invokes the larger language of disability,” Brown said, voice rising with passion. “Ableism is everywhere. Disability justice calls on us to fight this, to develop a deliberate consciousness—it is inherently intersectional.””
School District Civil Rights Data Collection from the Department of Education
Punk-Ass Book Jockey 