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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.

Essay
The Education of Desire
On putting the world back together
Dionne Brand
Essay
A Lesson in Arabic Grammar by Toni Morrison
On the syntax of relation
Adania Shibli
Essay
Reading Otherwise
On kinship, racial pedagogy, and reading as revision
Claire Schwartz
Essay
The Matter of Who’s Who
On solving for race
Lauren Michele Jackson
Essay
Handle with Care
On invisible ink and archival imagination
Simone Browne
Analysis
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
Newsletter
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.
Isaac Scher
Newsletter
The Dangers of a “New Cold War” with Russia
A conversation with the historian and foreign policy expert Stephen Wertheim.
David Klion
Poetry
The Bone Museum
“I approached the bones— / the skeleton mounted / an echo of kinship”
Donika Kelly