Before we delve into the posts we’re reading and loving elsewhere on the internet, don’t miss Darrin DuFord’s review of Boarding House Reach, one of our most popular posts last week!
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‘I Walked from Selma to Montgomery‘ (Rahawa Haile for Buzzfeed)
Haile is one of the most compelling essayists about exploring the natural world working in the U.S. today, weaving a love for nature, historic hikes, and the culture of outdoor sports with a sharp look at the role of race and privilege in who gets to participate in these activities. This is an outstanding read.
At 54 miles, the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail is the shortest of America’s 19 National Historic Trails, the majority of which (including this one) are meant to be driven, not hiked. At present, no designated safe path exists for pedestrians hoping to walk between the two cities along the dangerous truck route; the road shoulders repeatedly switch sides or disappear altogether, though perhaps this may change someday.
‘Smashing Guiding’s Glass Ceiling‘ (Anna Callaghan for Outside)
This is smashing the ultimate glass ceiling, fighting for a chance to climb to the roof of the world. It’s a compelling read on the life of a woman who knew she wanted to be a sherpa from a very young age, but had to defy social attitudes at every step of the way.
More than 70 Sherpas from the Rolwaling Valley have summited Everest, mainly as part of high-altitude support teams. Dawa Yangzum, whose formal education ended at age 11, wanted to climb Everest too. But while the men in the Rolwaling Valley were encouraged to pursue this career, women were not. Women stayed back to tend the home. “Every year, it’s the same. You go to the field, grow potato, eat potato, collect wood, burn wood,” Dawa Yangzum says. “How long can you do this, you know? And what’s the point? All these climbers would come back to the village from expeditions and have all these fancy things and lots of stories. I was curious.”
‘Dangerous, growing, yet unnoticed: the rise of America’s white gangs‘ (Donna Ladd for The Guardian)
When people in the U.S. hear the word ‘gang,’ they often jump to conclusions. Those conclusions revolve around Black and Latinx people, thanks to a long history of building up racist narratives about criminality. But the real threat, and the area of greatest growth for gangs, actually lies with white people.
Surveys of young Americans have shown that 40% identifying as gang members are white, but police tend to undercount them at 10% to 14% and overcount black and Hispanic members, says Babe Howell, a criminal law professor at City University of New York who focuses on crime and race.
‘The ISIS Files‘ (Rukmini Callimachi for the New York Times)
This treasure trove of documents was painstakingly assembled and it’s beautifully presented in a rich narrative feature complete with multimedia. It’s an amazing find, and one we’ll be lingering over in the coming days as we explore the full breadth and scope of these original sources on Daesh.
But taken together, the documents in the trove reveal the inner workings of a complex system of government. They show that the group, if only for a finite amount of time, realized its dream: to establish its own state, a theocracy they considered a caliphate, run according to their strict interpretation of Islam.
‘The Silent Crisis Killing Puerto Ricans Months After Hurricane Maria‘ (Romina Ruiz-Goiriena for Splinter)
Natural disasters are often accompanied by significant mental health challenges for affected communities. When those communities lack adequate resources, that’s extremely bad news for the people most affected. In Puerto Rico, devastated infrastructure overlaid on existing funding shortages and other issues has created a perfect storm for a mental health crisis that didn’t have to happen.
Ortiz is an extreme case of what happens when mental illness goes undiagnosed or untreated. And he isn’t alone. Underneath the debris, a silent mental health crisis is burgeoning in Puerto Rico, with a record number of people reporting anxiety and depression. Others with pre-existing mental health conditions are finding little solace, as they are unable to keep their routines and have had difficulty refilling their prescriptions. According to local authorities, the territory was already struggling with an increasing onset of mental illness brought on by poverty, soaring unemployment, and family separation amid a decade-long recession.
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Photo: Kamelia Konstantinova/Creative Commons