“To make a difference,” feminist Marilyn Frye writes in a collection of her essays, “women have to do impossible things and think impossible thoughts, and that is only done in community.”
Women doing impossible things: Agnes Chow, a young leader of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, currently imprisoned by Bejing as part of an ongoing crackdown against opposition figures. Renee Montgomery, a former WNBA player who became part-owner of her former team after helping oust Kelly Loeffler from the franchise following Loeffler’s racist senate campaign. Anne Barrett Doyle, a Catholic laywoman who maintains a massive archive of public records on clergy abuse to hold the Church accountable.
But also: My own colleagues navigating grief, exhaustion, child care, and virtual school. Sister-friends dealing with loneliness, grad school, new jobs, and the bizarre world of pandemic dating. And all of us who’ve had the courage to admit that nope, we’re not okay, and this is hard. We are all doing impossible things right now, even if that just means getting through the day; these stories echo these experiences.
1. Can This Woman Save the Catholic Church From Itself?
Anne Barrett Doyle is one of the world’s fiercest crusaders against clergy sex abuse. By Rose Minutaglio via ELLE.com.
2. No Matter Who Is in the White House, We Will Continue to Fight
This year is the best chance we have had in nearly a decade to change our broken immigration system. By Paola Fuentes Gleghorn via sojo.net.
3. The Extremely Online Mind
A review of Patricia Lockwood’s novel, No One Is Talking About This. By Katie Daniels via Commonweal.
4. Lament Is Prophetic in Hong Kong’s Democracy Movement
As Beijing continues to arrest Hong Kong’s pro-democracy leaders, the temptation is to just fight harder, not to mourn — but prophetic work requires both. By Easten Law via sojo.net.
5. Kelly Loeffler Just Lost Her WNBA Team to a Player She Refused to Meet
A massive story just went down in Atlanta, if we take the time to acknowledge it. By Dave Zirin via The Nation.
6. Even You Have the Right to Pontificate About Vemeer
Art isn’t a stuffy thing behind glass but a conversation hundreds of years in the making. By Faith-Marie Zamblé via Sojourners.
7. What People in Prison Need to Know About the COVID-19 Vaccine
Over 100 incarcerated people around the country asked their questions about the vaccine. Here’s information about whether it’s safe, when it could be available and more. By Ariel Goodman via The Marshall Project.
8. The Problem With ‘Historic Firsts’
Institutions have the capacity to assimilate and co-opt critique instead of being transformed by it. By Jeania Ree V. Moore via Sojourners .
9. The Wasting of the Evangelical Mind
The peculiarities of how American Christianity took shape help explain believers’ vulnerability to conspiratorial thinking and misinformation. By Michael Luo via newyorker.com.
10. A California City Gave Some Residents $500 Per Month. After a Year, the Group Wound Up With More Full-Time Jobs and Less Depression
Unemployment among basic-income recipients in Stockton, California, dropped to 8 percent in February 2020 from 12 percent in February 2019. By Aria Bendix via Business Insider.
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