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Mar

28

2022

Weekly Roundup - 3/28

This week: A folio of five essays about Toni Morrison’s only short story, Recitatif. Yousef Munayyer contrasts some of the less effective forms of boycott against Russia with what the BDS movement calls for against Israel. From the newsletter, Isaac Scher reports on the Sierra Club’s reversals over its Israel trips under pressure from both Palestinian and Israel advocates, and David Klion interviews historian and foreign policy expert Stephen Wertheim about the dangers of a “new cold war” with Russia.

Plus, a poem by Donika Kelly, introduced by Claire Schwartz.

The Education of Desire

On putting the world back together

A Lesson in Arabic Grammar by Toni Morrison

On the syntax of relation

Reading Otherwise

On kinship, racial pedagogy, and reading as revision

Claire Schwartz

The Matter of Who’s Who

On solving for race

Lauren Michele Jackson

Handle with Care

On invisible ink and archival imagination

The Wrong Way to Boycott

In contrast to ineffective—or even unethical—actions targeting Russian culture and individuals, the Palestinian BDS campaign is a model of how to use boycott and divestment efforts strategically.

Yousef Munayyer

Facing Questions About Its Israel Trips, the Sierra Club Falters

Under pressure first from Palestinian and then from Israel advocates, the environmental group has struggled to navigate travel to the region.

The Dangers of a “New Cold War” with Russia

A conversation with the historian and foreign policy expert Stephen Wertheim.

The Bone Museum

“I approached the bones— / the skeleton mounted / an echo of kinship”